Automatic anchor calibration in IEEE 802.15.4a networks

IEEE 802.15.4a networks provide a flexible and inexpensive facility for localizing mobile devices by time based range measurements. A mobile tag localizes itself by measuring the distances to a set of fixed reference points, called anchors. One problem prior to the localization of mobile devices is to determine the positions of these anchor nodes. Typically the anchor calibration is performed based on manually measured ranges and provided to the localization algorithm, but this approach is not always applicable or desired. In this paper experimental results of an algorithm, which automatically computes anchor positions from noisy range measurements between the anchor nodes, are presented. The used algorithm is able to localize all anchors of a bilateration network.