An Iterative 5G Positioning and Synchronization Algorithm in NLOS Environments with Multi-Bounce Paths

5G positioning is a very promising area that presents many opportunities and challenges. Many existing techniques rely on multiple anchor nodes and line-of-sight (LOS) paths, or single reference node and single-bounce non-LOS (NLOS) paths. However, in dense multipath environments, identifying the LOS or single-bounce assumptions is challenging. The multi-bounce paths will make the positioning accuracy deteriorate significantly. We propose a robust 5G positioning algorithm in NLOS multipath environments. The corresponding positioning problem is formulated as an iterative and weighted least squares problem, and different weights are utilized to mitigate the effects of multi-bounce paths. Numerical simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Compared with the benchmark positioning algorithms only using the single-bounce paths, similar positioning accuracy is achieved for the proposed algorithm.