Impact of Frequency on Diffraction-Aided Wireless Positioning

Abstract

This paper tackles the challenge of accurate positioning in Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) environments, with a focus on indoor public safety scenarios where NLoS bias severely impacts localization performance. We explore Diffraction MultiPath Components (MPC) as a critical mechanism for Outdoor-to-Indoor (O2I) signal propagation and its role in positioning. The proposed system comprises outdoor Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) transmitters and indoor receivers that require localization. To facilitate diffraction-based positioning, we develop a method to isolate diffraction MPCs at indoor receivers and validate its effectiveness using a ray-tracing-generated dataset, which we have made publicly available. Our evaluation across the FR1, FR2, and FR3 frequency bands within the 5G/6G spectrum confirms the viability of diffraction-based positioning techniques for next-generation wireless networks.