Distributed UWB-Based Ranging for Particle Tracking in Avalanches

The inner dynamics and transport mechanisms of avalanches - especially on a particle level - remain hidden for most observation approaches. Knowledge of these processes is essential to develop and test analytical models that describe detailed processes in snow flows or the successful simulation of avalanche velocities and runouts. In this paper, we present a particle based, distributed tracking system that is based on ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging and localization. UWB-based positioning is particularly challenging in outdoor scenarios covering large distances in complex topography and fast moving, mobile systems. Our system model considers multiple anchor nodes distributed with inter-node distances in the order of a few hundred meters. Mobile nodes, which move with the avalanche in the field, are tracked via UWB measurements. We present our prototype and demonstrate through first experiments the general feasibility of UWB-based tracking in snow environments.