Feasibility of GNSS-free Localization: A TDoA-based Approach Using LoRaWAN

LoRaWAN has garnered tremendous attention owing to the low power consumption of end nodes, long range, high resistance to multipath, low cost, and use of license-free sub-GHz bands. Consequently, LoRaWAN is gradually replacing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in sundry IoT applications including utility metering, smart cities, and localization. Localization, in particular, has already witnessed a surge of alternatives to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), based on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Band, 5G, etc. in indoor and low power domains due to the poor indoor coverage and high power consumption of GNSS. With the need for localization only shooting up with dense IoT deployments, LoRaWAN is seen as a promising solution in this context. Indeed, many attempts employing various techniques such as Time of Arrival (ToA), Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA), and Received Signal Strength Index (RSSI) have been made to achieve localization using LoRaWAN. However, a significant drawback in this scenario is the lack of extensive data on path loss and signal propagation modeling, particularly in Indian cityscapes. Another demerit is the use of GNSS at some stage primarily for time synchronization of gateways. In this work, we attempt to nullify these two disadvantages of LoRaWAN based localization. The first part of this work presents experimental data of LoRaWAN transmissions inside a typical city building to study signal propagation and path loss. The latter part proposes a standalone GNSS-free localization approach using LoRaWAN that is achieved by applying a collaborative, TDoA-based methodology. An additional stationary node is introduced into the network to allow the synchronization of gateways without GNSS. Finally, the distribution of localization error in a triangle of gateways and the effect of timing resolution, time-on-air, and duty cycle constraints on it are investigated.