DecaDuino: An Open Framework for Wireless Time-of-Flight Ranging Systems

One of the objectives of applications based on Wireless Sensor Networks, and more generally the Device Layer of the Internet of Things, is to make human life better. In order to seamlessly become part of our daily lives, future networks may require nodes with the ability to self-localise: for instance, to map collected measurements to a precise location without human intervention. Localisation techniques have been studied for years, but a particular Physical Layer proposed in the IEEE 802.15.4-2011 standard, based on Ultra Wide Band (UWB), enables very precise ranging between neighbour nodes. By using the Time-of-Flight principle over UWB, a cm-level precision can be achieved. As UWB transceivers are hitting the market, evaluating this Physical Layer on a real testbed becomes possible. The aim of the paper is to present an Open Source Framework called DecaDuino, which enables fast prototyping of protocols based on this UWB Physical Layer. After a presentation of the related work and a classification of the localisation techniques used in the Wireless Network context, the DecaDuino Framework is presented, with several results from the implementation of classic protocols such as TWR and SDS-TWR, but also the original 2MTWR, to illustrate the possibilities of the framework