Effects of building materials on UHF ranging signals

Abstract

Positioning and tracking inside buildings using wireless location methods has recently received considerable attention. One method is the estimation of the time of arrival of satellite or terrestrial-based radio frequency signals in order to produce ranges from the transmitter to the receiver. This paper investigates the effect of walls made of various construction materials on the penetration of ranging signals. In the tests conducted, a GPS pseudo-satellite transmits a pseudorandom noise code at a carrier frequency of 1.57542 GHz. After penetrating walls made of plywood, gyprock and cinder blocks, the signal is received by a GPS receiver which measures the carrier phase and the pseudorange between the transmitter and receiver using code correlation. Compared to measurements obtained with no walls present, the effect on the measurements is determined. The results indicate that the carrier phase measurement is superior to the pseudorange in terms of noise, stability, and the magnitude of the effect of the walls on the range obtained. Ranges based on the carrier phase only change by a few centimeters. Given that the integer number of cycles of the phase can be determined and phase lock is maintained, the carrier phase measurement shows considerable promise for indoor ranging.