ENGG407 and ENEL407 Assignment 4

Least Squares Beacon Position Estimation

Due Nov 19,2007

A radio beacon is located at some initially unknown position and generates a radio signal
that is simultaneously picked up by 4 receivers. By decoding the signal received from the
beacon, the receivers are able to measure the radial distance between the beacon and the
receiver. The measured distances in meters from the receivers are relayed back to a
central processor that computes the estimate of the beacon location. The table below
gives the location of the receivers as well as the measured distances to the beacon.

receiver xr yr zr measured range

r
1 100 100 20 157.2419
2 100 -100 50 240.8838
3 400 200 20 468.7483
4 400 -200 40 530.7777
The objective of this assignment is to write a program that computes the beacon position
estimate. This is very similar to the algorithm found in GPS receivers.

A) Assume that the actual beacon position is at

�xb �
�y �
�b �
�
�zb �
�

List the equations that are required to be simultaneously solved assuming the measured
range between the beacon and the ith receiver is denoted as rk and that the location of the
kth receiver is

�xrk �
�y �
�rk �
�zrk �
� �

B) Determine the Jacobian matrix for the set of equations of part A.

C) Write the iteration steps required for the Newton Raphson update with the least
squares solution of the position step increment. That is

1
 Dxo � �xi +1 - xi �
�
�
Dyo � �yi +1 - yi �
� �= � �
D
� z �z -
� o � �i +1 i �
� z �

xo � ��
� 0
� � ��
yo �= ��
0 . Solve for the
D) Assuming that the initial estimate for the beacon position is �
�
�zo �
� ��
0
��
�xi �
�y �
iterations of �i �using Newton Ralphson least squares method. Plot out the estimates
�
�zi �
�
of the sequential estimations. Generate two plots of the various iterations of the beacon
position. 1) 2D plot in the xy plane where z is ignored. 2) A 3D plots based on plot3() in
x, y and z. For both 2D and 3D plots restrict the axis as: -50 �x �0 and 0 �y �80 .
Also, the initial guess (0,0,0) should be included on the plots. Don’t limit the z axis and
plot is as it is. (This makes the plots easier to mark)

E) Determine the error as a function of the iteration where the error is defined as the
distance between the measured range values and the ranges calculated based on the
estimated beacon position.

Note: x axis (denoting the iteration number) should be restricted to be between 0 and 25
on the error plot. The error according to initial guess also has to be included. For the error
plot don’t cut the y-axis (corresponding to the error) and plot it as it is.

F) Now consider that there are errors in the measured ranges such that the following table
applies:
receiver xr yr zr measured range
r
1 100 100 20 150
2 100 -100 50 250
3 400 200 20 460
4 400 -200 40 500
Use the same procedure as in the first part to arrive at the estimate for the final beacon
position estimate after about 20 iterations. Plot the error as a function of the iteration as
in part d. Comment on the results.

Note: for both 2D and 3D plots restrict the axis as: -20 �x �0 and 0 �y �80 . Also, the
initial guess (0,0,0) should be included on the plots.
For the error plot don’t cut the y-axis (corresponding to the error) and plot it as it is.