Collaborative Research: EAGER: Novel Theoretical Foundation for Wireless Positioning in Challenging Environments

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Positioning techniques for mobile devices play critical roles in many societal, industrial, and military activities. In current Global Positioning System (GPS), the triangulation and/or trilateration calculation approach dominates, where a system of four or more quadratic equations must be solved, obtained from four or more satellite signals. However, this system does not work in challenging environments such as downtown areas where satellite signals are blocked by skyscrapers. This work is to develop, analyze and evaluate computational methods that can improve the current GPS in terms of positioning accuracy and time efficiency. The proposed linearization approach in this project is unique in that it provides a closed form solution for quadratic equations in the calculation unit of GPS. The sensitivity analysis is derived to identify positioning error sources. The performance of GPS can then be significantly improved. Additionally, since the vulnerabilities in the positioning procedure are identified, this work is also a useful tool for solving security/privacy related issues. This work is applicable to other wireless environments and can be incorporated with other wireless techniques, such as WiFi and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Preliminary simulation results show that the performance of the proposed calculation method increases by 30% in terms of accuracy and 50% in terms of execution time complexity. The fundamental framework and robust positioning techniques developed from this project will have broad impacts on high-tech industries. The transformative research will lead to the development and deployment of a new generation of practical positioning systems that can work effectively and efficiently in various challenging environments. The impact of this project also extends to academia and education through publications and dedicated websites.