An indoor-location sensing system using WLAN and ultrasonic/radio technologies
Ubiquitous location-aware systems and services are becoming a reality as made evident by the widely known Global Position System (GPS). However, indoor location-aware sensing systems are not yet commercially viable since: (i) for a GPS-based system, the signals attenuate and can multipath indoors causing weak signal and poor location (ii) for a Radiolocation-based system, the propagation of radio signals are complex and difficult to model. In this paper, we present RadLoco, a location-sensing system that uses IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN survey techniques to create a radio Received Signal Strength (RSS) map of the propagation environment. To provide accurate location estimation, we make use of a kernel-window estimation algorithm
that is used to approximate the probability density function of RSS measurement and location. Unlike parametric estimators, this non-parametric kernel approach requires less knowledge of the distributions of location and measurements, and also makes use of the prior knowledge of mobile terminal location to reduce the estimation error. The novelty of the system is an innovative radio/ultrasonic sensory network which allows for rapid data collection whereas the standard technique of defining a grid of survey points with measuring rulers, chalk, and tape would require a great amount of manpower. Using this sensory network, a 2000m sq. office building is surveyed in four hours by a single technician. Our experimental results indicate the mobile terminal is located on the correct
oor with over 98% accuracy and with a mean error of less than 2.5m from the true location.
Advisor:McGuire, Michael; Sima, Mihai
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Keywords:wlan location sensing rss ultrasonic sensory network kernel estimation non parametric mmse radio received signal strength wireless lan uvic subject index sciences and engineering electrical
Date of Publication:01/01/2008