People’s ppresence effect on wlan-based IPS’ accuracy

Abstract

In order to enable Location Based Service (LBS) closed environment, many technologies have been investigated to replace the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the localization process in indoor environments. WLAN is considered as the most suitable and powerful technology for Indoor Positioning System (IPS) due to its widespread coverage and low cost. Although WLAN Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSS) fingerprinting can be considered as the most accurate IPS method, this accuracy can be weakened due to WLAN RSS fluctuation. WLAN RSS fluctuates due to the multipath being influenced by obstacles presence. People presence under WLAN coverage can be considered as one of the main obstacles which can affect the WLAN-IPS accuracy. This research presents experimental results demonstrating that people’s presence between access point (AP) and mobile device (MD) reduces the received signal strength by -2dBm to -5dBm. This reduction in RSS can lead to distance error greater than or equal to 2m. Hence, any accurate IPS must consider the presence of people in the indoor environment.