The prior art includes beacon positioning systems which use sonic or electromagnetic signals, but these system only make use of either time of flight or angular information. If one of the beacons in these systems becomes unreachable they can no longer function. A system and method for positioning is needed which will provide increased precision and robustness compared to the prior art positioning systems. Also the systems in the prior art do not take full advantage of encoding useful information into the signals, calculating the impact of changes in terrain, nor do they adequately compensate for varying environmental conditions and their effect upon a calculated position.