Performance of ML Range Estimator in Radio Interferometric Positioning Systems

The radio interferometric positioning system (RIPS) is a novel positioning solution used in wireless sensor networks. This letter explores the ranging accuracy of RIPS in two configurations. In the linear step-frequency (LSF) configuration, we derive the mean square error (MSE) of the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator. In the random step-frequency (RSF) configuration, we introduce average MSE to characterize the performance of the ML estimator. The simulation results fit well with theoretical analysis. It is revealed that RSF is superior to LSF in that the former is more robust in a jamming environment with similar ranging accuracy.