A system for self and group location and tracking based on ultra wide band ranging among members of the group, comprising: a plurality of nodes forming a group, each node obtaining a forward facing vector providing an estimated direction of the node, and each node having at least knowledge of all pair wise distances among all of the plurality of nodes based on ultra wide band ranging among the plurality of nodes, and having means to exchange information among the nodes; characterized in further comprising an anchored station, one or more relays, and a leader node among the plurality of nodes adapted to maintain communications with all other nodes in the group and with the anchored station, wherein the leader node is adapted to determine placement of the one or more relays by detecting a weak signal from the anchored station, said system is adapted to perform an adaptive search process to find a new position estimate of the group based on constraints of the pair wise distances and the forward facing vectors of the nodes, said adaptive search process enabling extracting of directional information of the group and adaptively stabilizing orientation of the group, and the means to exchange information are adapted to exchange forward facing vector information and pair wise ranging measurements and comprise a WLAN device; wherein adaptively stabilizing the orientation of the group is performed using an orientation-correcting polygon matching process, the process comprising the steps of: initializing a first orientation and a second orientation for each node at a first time; for an orientation-correcting interval, incrementing the first time by one and obtaining (S3-S4) a polygon matching result, and calculating an error function value for the first orientation and the second orientation at a second time; and if the error function of the first orientation is greater than the error function of the second orientation, setting a second-interval-first orientation for a second interval to the first orientation less a constant and setting a second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation less the constant, otherwise setting the second-interval first orientation for the second interval to the first orientation plus the constant and setting the second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation plus the constant. a plurality of nodes forming a group, each node obtaining a forward facing vector providing an estimated direction of the node, and each node having at least knowledge of all pair wise distances among all of the plurality of nodes based on ultra wide band ranging among the plurality of nodes, and having means to exchange information among the nodes; characterized in further comprising an anchored station, one or more relays, and a leader node among the plurality of nodes adapted to maintain communications with all other nodes in the group and with the anchored station, wherein the leader node is adapted to determine placement of the one or more relays by detecting a weak signal from the anchored station, said system is adapted to perform an adaptive search process to find a new position estimate of the group based on constraints of the pair wise distances and the forward facing vectors of the nodes, said adaptive search process enabling extracting of directional information of the group and adaptively stabilizing orientation of the group, and the means to exchange information are adapted to exchange forward facing vector information and pair wise ranging measurements and comprise a WLAN device; wherein adaptively stabilizing the orientation of the group is performed using an orientation-correcting polygon matching process, the process comprising the steps of: initializing a first orientation and a second orientation for each node at a first time; for an orientation-correcting interval, incrementing the first time by one and obtaining (S3-S4) a polygon matching result, and calculating an error function value for the first orientation and the second orientation at a second time; and if the error function of the first orientation is greater than the error function of the second orientation, setting a second-interval-first orientation for a second interval to the first orientation less a constant and setting a second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation less the constant, otherwise setting the second-interval first orientation for the second interval to the first orientation plus the constant and setting the second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation plus the constant. initializing a first orientation and a second orientation for each node at a first time; for an orientation-correcting interval, incrementing the first time by one and obtaining (S3-S4) a polygon matching result, and calculating an error function value for the first orientation and the second orientation at a second time; and if the error function of the first orientation is greater than the error function of the second orientation, setting a second-interval-first orientation for a second interval to the first orientation less a constant and setting a second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation less the constant, otherwise setting the second-interval first orientation for the second interval to the first orientation plus the constant and setting the second-interval-second orientation for the second interval to the second orientation plus the constant.