Cited By
View all- Toledo S(2025)A Review of Miniature Radio Transmitters for Wildlife TrackingSensors10.3390/s2502051725:2(517)Online publication date: 17-Jan-2025
Global Localization of Energy-Constrained Miniature RF Emitters using Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Authors: 
Yunfan Wang, Steve Young, Demba Komma, Jaechan Lim, Zhen Feng, Zichen Fan, Chien-wei Tseng, Hun-Seok Kim, David BlaauwAuthors Info & Claims
Yunfan Wang, Steve Young, Demba Komma, Jaechan Lim, Zhen Feng, Zichen Fan, Chien-wei Tseng, Hun-Seok Kim, David BlaauwAuthors Info & ClaimsPages 403 - 416
Abstract
Daily tracking of small objects or animals anywhere on earth for long time-periods is a long sought-after goal. Recently, the emergence of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites offers a unique pathway to achieve this goal. However, to date, LEO trackers have not achieved cm-size. While the integrated chip can be readily scaled to sub-cm size, the size of trackers remains limited by their battery and antenna size. To address these two fundamental size limiting factors, this paper presents a LEO satellite localization system that is specifically optimized to reduce antenna size and transmit power, thereby reducing battery size. To reduce power, a new cooperative waveform is designed which enhances the localization accuracy, combined with an increased packet length to enable low transmit power while maintaining packet energy. However, this long packet length introduces a intra-packet Doppler shift which we address by proposing a localization algorithm that includes a Doppler shift correction. The final result is a 50 kHz periodic BPSK signal with 23 dBm equivalent isotropic radiation power (EIRP), and 120 ms packet length (> 10 × longer than conventional), at a 60 s interval. The proposed solution enables 7 months operation on a 2.5 × 1.2 cm LiPo battery within a North American search area. To address the antenna size, the optimal transmit frequency was studied and a 1 cm loop antenna with 65% radiation efficiency was designed with internal matching to 50 Ohm. Using the proposed techniques, three satellite flyover experiments were performed to confirm the accuracy of the proposed tracking system and localization algorithms using a USRP-X310, a custom 1 cm-size antenna, and a commercial satellite cluster. The measured average localization error is 320 - 840 m depending on satellite trajectories, demonstrating an improved accuracy in real life measurements compared to prior art with experimental result while simultaneously achieving 15 -- 26 dB lower transmit power and > 3 × lower packet energy.
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Index Terms
- Global Localization of Energy-Constrained Miniature RF Emitters using Low Earth Orbit Satellites
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November 2023
574 pages
ISBN:9798400704147
DOI:10.1145/3625687
- General Chair:
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View all- Toledo S(2025)A Review of Miniature Radio Transmitters for Wildlife TrackingSensors10.3390/s2502051725:2(517)Online publication date: 17-Jan-2025
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