Sensor Fusion-based Framework for Floor Localization

Abstract

Floor localization is at the heart of indoor positioning systems (IPSs) in multi-storey buildings with a variety of commercial, industrial, and health and safety applications. The prevalence of wireless technologies along with the integration of micro electro-mechanical sensors (e.g. barometers) in handheld devices and wearable gadgets of current vintage have prompted a surge in research and development efforts in the IPS area. Received signal strength (RSS), barometric altimetry (BA), and differential barometric altimetry (DBA) are three well-known methods of floor localization. However, the RSS-based methods lack the required accuracy, BA-based methods are prone to random errors due to local changes in the air pressure, e.g. from approaching weather systems, and DBA-based methods require installation of additional infrastructure (e.g. reference nodes and ad-hoc network for real-time information exchange). Fusion of BA and RSS is a viable solution for floor localization; nevertheless, available fusion algorithms are rather heuristic. In this dissertation, a theoretical framework is developed for fusing BA and Wi-Fi RSS measurements. The proposed framework involves a novel Monte Carlo Bayesian inference algorithm, for processing RSS measurements, and then fusion with BA using a Kalman Filter scheme. As demonstrated by our experimental results, the proposed sensor fusion algorithm achieves floor localization accuracy of 97% on average. The algorithm does not require new infrastructure, and has low computational complexity, hence, can be readily integrated into various state-of-the-art mobile devices.