An Ultrasonic Multiple-Access Ranging Core Based on Frequency Shift Keying Towards Indoor Localization

• Main Authors: Laurent Segers, David Van Bavegem, Sam De Winne, An Braeken, Abdellah Touhafi, Kris Steenhaut
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-07-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: indoor ultrasound localization; indoor ultrasound ranging; FPGA ranging; FPGA correlator; ultrasound orthogonal frequency shift keying; ultrasound MEMS
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/15/8/18641

This paper describes a new approach and implementation methodology for indoor ranging based on the time difference of arrival using code division multiple access with ultrasound signals. A novel implementation based on a field programmable gate array using finite impulse response filters and an optimized correlation demodulator implementation for ultrasound orthogonal signals is developed. Orthogonal codes are modulated onto ultrasound signals using frequency shift keying with carrier frequencies of 24.5 kHz and 26 kHz. This implementation enhances the possibilities for real-time, embedded and low-power tracking of several simultaneous transmitters. Due to the high degree of parallelism offered by field programmable gate arrays, up to four transmitters can be tracked simultaneously. The implementation requires at most 30% of the available logic gates of a Spartan-6 XC6SLX45 device and is evaluated on accuracy and precision through several ranging topologies. In the first topology, the distance between one transmitter and one receiver is evaluated. Afterwards, ranging analyses are applied between two simultaneous transmitters and one receiver. Ultimately, the position of the receiver against four transmitters using trilateration is also demonstrated. Results show enhanced distance measurements with distances ranging from a few centimeters up to 17 m, while keeping a centimeter-level accuracy.