Collaborative Smartphone-Based User Positioning in a Multiple-User Context Using Wireless Technologies

Area of Science:

• * Ubiquitous Computing
• * Wireless Sensor Networks
• * Indoor Localization

Background:

• * Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are common technologies for indoor positioning.
• * Both technologies suffer from signal noise and propagation uncertainties in complex environments.
• * Accurate multi-user localization is crucial for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose and evaluate novel collaborative positioning approaches combining Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data.
• * To improve the accuracy and robustness of indoor tracking for multiple users.
• * To address the inherent noise and uncertainties in radio-based positioning methods.

Main Methods:

• * Developed two collaborative positioning approaches: Non-temporal and Temporal.
• * Non-temporal approach: Minimizes an error observation function within specific Wi-Fi and Bluetooth output intervals.
• * Temporal approach: Utilizes an extended error model incorporating the time component of user movements.

Main Results:

• * Implemented and evaluated proposed methods in various multi-user indoor scenarios.
• * Achieved significant improvements in localization accuracy, exceeding 40% in certain scenarios.
• * Demonstrated the effectiveness of combining Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for enhanced tracking.

Conclusions:

• * The proposed Non-temporal and Temporal collaborative positioning methods effectively enhance indoor localization accuracy.
• * Combining Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data offers a robust solution for multi-user tracking in challenging environments.
• * These advancements have the potential to improve the performance of location-aware services.