Using area-based presentations and metrics for localization systems in wireless LANs

Abstract

We show the utility of WLAN localization using areas and volumes as the fundamental localization unit. We demonstrate that area-based algorithms have a critical advantage over point-based approaches because they are better able to describe localization uncertainty, which is a common theme across WLAN based localization systems. Next, we present two novel area-based algorithms. To evaluate area-based approaches, we introduce several new localization performance metrics. We then evaluate the two algorithms using our metrics with data collected from our local WLAN. Finally, we compare our area-based algorithms against traditional point-based approaches. We find that using areas improves the ability of the localization system to give users meaningful alternatives in the face of position uncertainty.