Precision Time Synchronization System over Wireless Networks for TDOA-based Real Time Locating Systems

RTLS is a system for automatically locating and tracking people and objects. The TDOA-based RTLS determines the location of the tag by calculating the time differences of a signal received from the tag. In TDOA-based RTLS, time synchronization is essential to calculate the time difference between readers. This paper presents a precision time synchronization method for TDOA-based RTLS over IEEE 802.15.4. In order to achieve precision time synchronization in IEEE 802.15.4 radio, we analyzed the error factors of delay and jitter. We also deal with the implementation of hardware assisted time stamping and the Kalman filtering method to minimize the error factors. In addition, this paper described the experiments and performance evaluation of the proposed precision time synchronization method in IEEE 802.15.4 radio. The results show that the nodes in a network can maintain their clocks to within 10 nanoseconds offset from the reference clock.