Wireless indoor localization has attracted significant research interest due to its high accuracy, low cost, lightweight design, and low power consumption. Specifically, ultra-wideband (UWB) time difference of arrival (TDOA)-based localization has emerged as a scalable positioning solution for mobile robots, consumer electronics, and wearable devices, featuring good accuracy and reliability. While UWB TDOA-based localization systems rely on the deployment of UWB radio sensors as positioning landmarks, existing works often assume these placements are predetermined or study the sensor placement problem alone without evaluating it in practical scenarios. In this article, we bridge this gap by approaching the UWB TDOA localization from a system-level perspective, integrating sensor placement as a key component and conducting practical evaluation in real-world scenarios. Through extensive real-world experiments, we demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of our localization system, comparing its performance to the theoretical lower bounds. Using a challenging multi-room environment as a case study, we illustrate the full system construction process, from sensor placement optimization to real-world deployment. Our evaluation, comprising a cumulative total of 39 minutes of real-world experiments involving up to five agents and covering 2608 meters across four distinct scenarios, provides valuable insights and guidelines for constructing UWB TDOA localization systems.

翻译：无线室内定位因其高精度、低成本、轻量化设计和低功耗特性而备受研究关注。具体而言，基于超宽带（UWB）到达时间差（TDOA）的定位技术已成为移动机器人、消费电子和可穿戴设备领域一种可扩展的定位解决方案，具有良好的精度和可靠性。尽管基于UWB TDOA的定位系统依赖于部署UWB无线电传感器作为定位信标，但现有研究通常假设这些布设位置是预先确定的，或仅孤立地研究传感器布设问题而未在实际场景中进行系统评估。本文通过从系统层面研究UWB TDOA定位，将传感器布设作为关键环节纳入整体框架，并在真实场景中进行实际评估，从而弥补了这一空白。通过大量实地实验，我们验证了所提定位系统的精度与鲁棒性，并将其性能与理论下界进行了对比。以具有挑战性的多房间环境为案例，我们完整展示了从传感器布设优化到实际部署的全系统构建流程。本次评估累计包含39分钟的实地实验数据，涉及最多五个移动终端，在四种不同场景下覆盖2608米轨迹，为构建UWB TDOA定位系统提供了有价值的见解与指导。