Recently, the detection, localization and tracking of moving persons in emergency situations using ultra-wideband (UWB) sensors have attracted the attention of researchers and final users as well. Experiences with single UWB sensors in real applications have shown that their reliability and accuracy in person detection and localization may be considerably reduced. In contrast, the improved performance of a UWB sensor-based localization system can be provided by a UWB sensor network, which benefits from cooperation among spatially distributed sensor nodes. This cooperation extends the coverage of the monitored area and improves detection capability and localization performance, especially in the case of complex environments and multiple targets. In this paper, we will introduce a new approach to cooperative localization of a target, referred to as the time of arrival complementing method (TOACOM). TOACOM, developed for a two-node UWB sensor network, is based on the time of arrival (TOA) complementing and combining algorithms in combination with the conventional direct calculation method (DC). Its properties will be analyzed for through-the-wall single moving person localization. The obtained results will show the superior performance of TOACOM as compared with person localization by a single UWB sensor, or by a two-node sensor network. In the conclusion, we will outline that the presented version of TOACOM can be further modified for a multiple target scenario and an N-node sensor network.
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