PRIDE: Path Integration Based Delay Estimation in Multi-Device Multi-Path Environments

Massive connectivity in the near future puts forward an urgent demand for the accurate time delay estimation (TDE). However, the accuracy of the traditional TDE methods is severely degraded by the multi-path interference (MPI) and multi-device interference. In this paper, we propose a path integration based delay estimation (PRIDE) method. For the first time, the unique delay structure of each device is utilized, and the MPI is converted to an assistance. Considering the practical case where multi-path delays are non-integer times of the sampling period, PRIDE is carried out in two steps to estimate the integer and fractional parts of the delay sequentially. Theoretical analysis and simulations show that the TDE accuracy in the multi-device multi-path environment can be greatly improved by the proposed PRIDE method with comparatively low computational complexity.