Continuous Space Estimation: Increasing WiFi-Based Indoor Localization Resolution without Increasing the Site-Survey Effort.

Noelia Hernández,Euntai Kim,Jose Alonso,Manuel Ocaña

doi:10.3390/s17010147

Abstract

Although much research has taken place in WiFi indoor localization systems, their accuracy can still be improved. When designing this kind of system, fingerprint-based methods are a common choice. The problem with fingerprint-based methods comes with the need of site surveying the environment, which is effort consuming. In this work, we propose an approach, based on support vector regression, to estimate the received signal strength at non-site-surveyed positions of the environment. Experiments, performed in a real environment, show that the proposed method could be used to improve the resolution of fingerprint-based indoor WiFi localization systems without increasing the site survey effort.

Highlights

Location-Based Services (LBSs) can be defined as the services that integrate a mobile device’s location or position with other information to provide added value to the user
In this paper, we propose an approach to increase the resolution of fingerprint-based methods without the need for increasing the number of positions where fingerprints are collected and, as a consequence, the time required to build the database
This section describes the results of the experiments locating a WiFi device at the discrete positions used to create the reference surfaces and in motion

Summary

Introduction

Location-Based Services (LBSs) can be defined as the services that integrate a mobile device’s location or position with other information to provide added value to the user. Mobile Life study of 2012 [1], TNS found that 19% of the world’s six billion mobile users were already using LBSs, with 62% of the non-LBS users aspiring to do so in the future. They have found that navigation was the most popular motivation behind LBSs (46%). Global localization has been carried out through the Global Positioning System (GPS) [9], which provides accurate localization when working outdoors. This way, GPS has become the main technology for positioning in outdoor environments. Encouraged by the accuracy of the GPS outdoors and due to the fact that almost every new smartphone and tablet has built-in GPS receivers, Sensors 2017, 17, 147; doi:10.3390/s17010147 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors

Methods

Results

Conclusion