Phase-based Distance Estimation Integrated With IEEE 802.15.4 TSCH Communication

Current solutions for distance estimation using the IEEE 802.15.4 TSCH standard mainly focus on improving localization performance, but in turn reduce communication performance. In this paper, we propose a novel improvement to the TSCH protocol that enables distance estimation between two devices without compromising the ongoing communication. We further improve the current state-of-the art phase-based distance estimation algorithm by combining conclusions from several research works into a single solution, that reduces energy consumption while maintaining the accuracy and sensitivity of the distance estimation results. We implemented the proposed method in the Contiki-NG OS and created a real-world measurement campaign to study the impact of the proposed solution on communication and energy consumption, which is of great concern in low-power IoT networks.