Localization and radar systems

Radio-based localization systems achieve highest accuracy with Time-of-Flight approaches. Here, the propagation time of radio signals between two radio nodes will be measured, which allows the calculation of the distance of the nodes. Depending on the application requirements and circumstances in the communication network, different communication scenarios (point-to-point, point-to-multipoint) could be applied in order to create 3D position data. Typical localization schemes like Two-Way-Ranging (TWR) or Time-Difference-of-Arrival (TDOA) become most accurate, if large signal bandwidth is available as seen for instance in the UWB-band or in the 60 GHz-band.  

Radar systems measure the time between the transmission of a radio signal as well as the time for the reception of a reflected portion of that signal. In order to achieve better resolution the trend goes to higher carrier frequencies (60 – 300 GHz) where larger signal bandwidth is allowed. The employment of antenna phased arrays in multichannel-systems allows 2D-radar imaging, which could be used in different applications for monitoring the surrounding environment or tracking moving objects.