Wireless Positioning Technologies and Applications
Alan Bensky
In many wireless systems, distance measurement and position location capabilities have become necessary. A big thrust toward this was in 1995 when the FCC started requiring 911 caller location services for cellular phones. Other applications where position location has become important include RFID, WLAN and WPAN while GPS has been pervasive for several years.
Wireless Positioning Technologies and Applications covers the various wireless positioning technologies including the basic principles and applications plus the technology behind them. The first two chapters describe typical applications and give a basic description of positioning methods as well as definitions of important parameters and physical limitations of time measurement. The other chapters are organized in the three broad categories of technology, methods and application. They cover spread spectrum, time transfer, multicarrier phase measurement, received signal strength, time of arrival and time difference of arrival, and angle of arrival. Cellular networks, short-range wireless networks, RFID and UWB are also covered.
This book is primarily aimed at working engineers who are involved in projects with wireless distance measurement and location technologies or who want to expand their knowledge in the area. An understanding of basic engineering mathematics, including familiarity with Fourier analysis, matrix manipulation and probability are helpful for understanding some of the equations and examples. Along with theoretical information, this book also includes practical content on implementation. It discusses the challenges to achieving theoretical accuracy due to noise, multipath, and fading plus practical limitations of antenna directivity and time measurement precision.
Two examples are given in the final chapters for the ECMA-368 specification for high data rate personal area networks and IEEE 802.15.4a, which extends the capabilities of the physical layer of the ZigBee protocol for low-cost, low complexity sensor networks. The inclusion in this book of legacy navigation systems and the ranging features in the newest specification give a comprehensive review of distance measurement and location technologies. Typically, books only focus on one technology so this is a good resource covering the whole subject of wireless positioning.
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320 pages; $99 / £61