Work

An Improved Particle Swarm Optimization for Three-Dimensional Indoor Positioning with Ultra-Wideband Communications for LOS/NLOS Channels

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In this study, an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is designed to construct a weighting model for line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channels in an ultra-wideband (UWB) indoor positioning system. In the proposed algorithm, the particle position represents candidate weight vectors, and the fitness function is defined by the 3D positioning error over multiple test points. An optimized weight modeling framework is proposed for a multi-anchor, three-dimensional UWB indoor positioning system under LOS and NLOS channels. First, the three-dimensional positioning problem is formulated as a multilateration model, and the tag coordinates are estimated via a linearized matrix equation solved by the least-squares method, which explicitly links anchor geometry and ranging errors to the positioning accuracy. To evaluate the proposed method, extensive ranging and positioning experiments are conducted in a realistic indoor environment using up to eight anchors with different LOS/NLOS configurations, including dynamic scenarios with varying numbers of NLOS anchors. The results show that, compared with the conventional unweighted multi-anchor scheme, the PSO-based weighting model can reduce the average 3D positioning error by more than 30% in typical LOS-dominant settings and significantly suppress error bursts in severe NLOS conditions. These findings demonstrate that the combination of mathematical modeling, least-squares estimation, and swarm intelligence optimization provides an effective tool for designing intelligent engineering positioning systems in complex indoor environments, which aligns with the development of smart factories and industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) applications.

Source: Mathematics

DOI: 10.3390/math14030493

Authors: Yung-Fa Huang, Tung-Jung Chan, Guan-Yi Chen, Hsing-Wen Wang

Institutions: Chaoyang University of Technology, National Penghu University of Science and Technology, National Changhua University of Education

Language: English

Topic: Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: National Science and Technology Council