Communications and High-Precision Positioning (CHP2): Joint Position and Orientation Tracking

Future radio systems must rely on co-existence and co-operation techniques to adapt to limited spectral resources and increasing demand. Motivated by the promise of RF Convergence co-design techniques, we designed and implemented the Communications and High-Precision Positioning (CHP2) system for flying ad hoc networks (FANETs). CHP2 simultaneously synchronizes distributed users, performs carrier-phase-accurate localization and enables network communications using limited bandwidth. We previously demonstrated rapid (<100 ms) and precise (<1 cm) ranging capabilities using limited signal bandwidth (10 MHz) in over-the-air experiments using re-configurable base stations and unmanned aerial systems (UASs). In this study, we investigate methods of leveraging these ranging estimates to localize multiantenna users. We discuss joint position and orientation tracking methodologies for multi-antenna platforms that leverage time-of-flight (ToF) estimates between cross-platform antenna pairs. This formulation is novel and accurately represents a target's movement as an integration of its translation and rotation. We acknowledge and discuss the limitations imposed by geometric dilution of precision (GDOP). We assert that the these capabilities make CHP2 a suitable candidate to provide both communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) and alternative positioning, navigation, and timing (APNT) services for safety-critical transport applications on a variety of vehicular platforms.