On the Use and Construction of Wi-Fi Fingerprint Databases for Large-Scale Multi-Building and Multi-Floor Indoor Localization: A Case Study of the UJIIndoorLoc Database.

Large-scale multi-building and multi-floor indoor localization has recently been the focus of intense research in indoor localization based on Wi-Fi fingerprinting. Although significant progress has been made in developing indoor localization algorithms, few studies are dedicated to the critical issues of using existing and constructing new Wi-Fi fingerprint databases, especially for large-scale multi-building and multi-floor indoor localization. In this paper, we first identify the challenges in using and constructing Wi-Fi fingerprint databases for large-scale multi-building and multi-floor indoor localization and then provide our recommendations for those challenges based on a case study of the UJIIndoorLoc database, which is the most popular publicly available Wi-Fi fingerprint multi-building and multi-floor database. Through the case study, we investigate its statistical characteristics with a focus on the three aspects of (1) the properties of detected wireless access points, (2) the number, distribution and quality of labels, and (3) the composition of the database records. We then identify potential issues and ways to address them using the UJIIndoorLoc database. Based on the results from the case study, we not only provide valuable insights on the use of existing databases but also give important directions for the design and construction of new databases for large-scale multi-building and multi-floor indoor localization in the future.

Wi-Fi Fingerprint Indoor Localization by Semi-Supervised Generative Adversarial Network.

Wi-Fi fingerprint indoor localization uses Wi-Fi signal strength measurements obtained from a number of access points. This method needs manual data collection across a positioning area and an annotation process to label locations to the measurement sets. To reduce the cost and effort, this paper proposes a Wi-Fi Semi-Supervised Generative Adversarial Network (SSGAN), which produces artificial but realistic trainable fingerprint data. The Wi-Fi SSGAN is based on a deep learning, which is extended from GAN in a semi-supervised learning manner. It is designed to create location-labeled Wi-Fi fingerprint data, which is different to unlabeled data generation by a normal GAN. Also, the proposed Wi-Fi SSGAN network includes a positioning model, so it does not need a external positioning method. When the Wi-Fi SSGAN is applied to a multi-story landmark localization, the experimental results demonstrate a 35% more accurate performance in comparison to a standard supervised deep neural network.

Indoor Localization Algorithm Based on a High-Order Graph Neural Network.

Given that fingerprint localization methods can be effectively modeled as supervised learning problems, machine learning has been employed for indoor localization tasks based on fingerprint methods. However, it is often challenging for popular machine learning models to effectively capture the unstructured data features inherent in fingerprint data that are generated in diverse propagation environments. In this paper, we propose an indoor localization algorithm based on a high-order graph neural network (HoGNNLoc) to enhance the accuracy of indoor localization and improve localization stability in dynamic environments. The algorithm first designs an adjacency matrix based on the spatial relative locations of access points (APs) to obtain a graph structure; on this basis, a high-order graph neural network is constructed to extract and aggregate the features; finally, the designed fully connected network is used to achieve the regression prediction of the location of the target to be located. The experimental results on our self-built dataset show that the proposed algorithm achieves localization accuracy within 1.29 m at 80% of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) points. The improvements are 59.2%, 51.3%, 36.1%, and 22.7% compared to the K-nearest neighbors (KNN), deep neural network (DNN), simple graph convolutional network (SGC), and graph attention network (GAT). Moreover, even with a 30% reduction in fingerprint data, the proposed algorithm exhibits stable localization performance. On a public dataset, our proposed localization algorithm can also show better performance.

Graph Optimization Model Fusing BLE Ranging with Wi-Fi Fingerprint for Indoor Positioning.

To improve the user's positioning accuracy of a Wi-Fi fingerprint-based positioning algorithm, this study proposes a graph optimization model based on the framework of g2o that fuses a Wi-Fi fingerprint and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) ranging technologies. In our model, the improvement in positioning can be formulated as a nonlinear least-squares optimization problem that a graph can represent. The graph regards users as nodes and our self-designed error functions between users as edges. In the graph, the nodes obtain the initial coordinates through Wi-Fi fingerprint positioning, and all error functions aggregate to a total error function to be solved. To improve the solution effect of the total error function and weaken the influence of measurement error, an information matrix, an edge selection principle, and a Huber kernel function are introduced. The Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm is used to solve the total error function and the affine transformation estimation is used for the drifting solution. Through experiments, the influence of the threshold in the Huber kernel function is explored, the relationship between the number of nodes in the graph and the optimization effect is analyzed, and the impact of the distribution of nodes is researched. The experimental results show improvements in the positioning accuracy of four common Wi-Fi fingerprint-matching algorithms: KNN, WKNN, GK, and Stg.

Wi-Fi Fingerprint-Based Indoor Localization Method via Standard Particle Swarm Optimization.

With the continuous development and improvement in Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology, indoor localization has received considerable attention. Particularly, owing to its unique advantages, the Wi-Fi fingerprint-based indoor-localization method has been widely investigated. However, achieving high-accuracy localization remains a challenge. This study proposes an application of the standard particle swarm optimization algorithm to Wi-Fi fingerprint-based indoor localization, wherein a new two-panel fingerprint homogeneity model is adopted to characterize fingerprint similarity to achieve better performance. In addition, the performance of the localization method is experimentally verified. The proposed localization method outperforms conventional algorithms, with improvements in the localization accuracy of 15.32%, 15.91%, 32.38%, and 36.64%, compared to those of KNN, SVM, LR, and RF, respectively.

An RSS Transform-Based WKNN for Indoor Positioning.

An RSS transform-based weighted k-nearest neighbor (WKNN) indoor positioning algorithm, Q-WKNN, is proposed to improve the positioning accuracy and real-time performance of Wi-Fi fingerprint-based indoor positioning. To smooth the RSS fluctuation difference caused by acquisition equipment, time, and environment changes, base Q is introduced in Q-WKNN to transform RSS to Q-based RSS, based on the relationship between the received signal strength (RSS) and physical distance. Analysis of the effective range of base Q indicates that Q-WKNN is more suitable for regions with noticeable environmental changes and fixed access points (APs). To reduce the positioning time, APs are selected to form a Q-WKNN similarity matrix. Adaptive K is applied to estimate the test point (TP) position. Commonly used indoor positioning algorithms are compared to Q-WKNN on Zenodo and underground parking databases. Results show that Q-WKNN has better positioning accuracy and real-time performance than WKNN, modified-WKNN (M-WKNN), Gaussian kernel (GK), and least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) algorithms.

LightGBM Indoor Positioning Method Based on Merged Wi-Fi and Image Fingerprints.

Smartphones are increasingly becoming an efficient platform for solving indoor positioning problems. Fingerprint-based positioning methods are popular because of the wide deployment of wireless local area networks in indoor environments and the lack of model propagation paths. However, Wi-Fi fingerprint information is singular, and its positioning accuracy is typically 2-10 m; thus, it struggles to meet the requirements of high-precision indoor positioning. Therefore, this paper proposes a positioning algorithm that combines Wi-Fi fingerprints and visual information to generate fingerprints. The algorithm involves two steps: merged-fingerprint generation and fingerprint positioning. In the merged-fingerprint generation stage, the kernel principal component analysis feature of the Wi-Fi fingerprint and the local binary pattern features of the scene image are fused. In the fingerprint positioning stage, a light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) is trained with mutually exclusive feature bundling and histogram optimization to obtain an accurate positioning model. The method is tested in an actual environment. The experimental results show that the positioning accuracy of the LightGBM method is 90% within a range of 1.53 m. Compared with the single-fingerprint positioning method, the accuracy is improved by more than 20%, and the performance is improved by more than 15% compared with other methods. The average locating error is 0.78 m.

JLGBMLoc-A Novel High-Precision Indoor Localization Method Based on LightGBM.

Wi-Fi based localization has become one of the most practical methods for mobile users in location-based services. However, due to the interference of multipath and high-dimensional sparseness of fingerprint data, with the localization system based on received signal strength (RSS), is hard to obtain high accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel indoor positioning method, named JLGBMLoc (Joint denoising auto-encoder with LightGBM Localization). Firstly, because the noise and outliers may influence the dimensionality reduction on high-dimensional sparseness fingerprint data, we propose a novel feature extraction algorithm-named joint denoising auto-encoder (JDAE)-which reconstructs the sparseness fingerprint data for a better feature representation and restores the fingerprint data. Then, the LightGBM is introduced to the Wi-Fi localization by scattering the processed fingerprint data to histogram, and dividing the decision tree under leaf-wise algorithm with depth limitation. At last, we evaluated the proposed JLGBMLoc on the UJIIndoorLoc dataset and the Tampere dataset, the experimental results show that the proposed model increases the positioning accuracy dramatically compared with other existing methods.

An Automatized Contextual Marketing System Based on a Wi-Fi Indoor Positioning System.

A complete contextual marketing platform including an indoor positioning system (IPS) for smartphones is proposed and evaluated to later be deployed in large infrastructures, such as malls. To this end, we design and implement a novel methodology based on location-as-a-service (LAAS), comprising all the required phases of IPS generation: mall digital map creation, the tools/procedures for offline calibration fingerprint acquisition, the location algorithm, the smartphone app acquiring the fingerprint data, and a validation procedure. To select an appropriate fingerprint location algorithm, a comparison among K-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and Freeloc is accomplished by employing a set of different smartphones in two malls and assessing different occupancy levels. We demonstrate that our solution can be quickly deployed at shop level accuracy in any new location, resulting in a robust and scalable proposal.

Movement Path Data Generation from Wi-Fi Fingerprints for Recurrent Neural Networks.

The recurrent neural network (RNN) model, which is a deep-learning network that can memorize past information, is used in this paper to memorize continuous movements in indoor positioning to reduce positioning error. To use an RNN model in Wi-Fi-fingerprint based indoor positioning, data set must be sequential. However, Wi-Fi fingerprinting only saves the received signal strength indicator for a location, so it cannot be used as RNN data. For this reason, we propose a movement path data generation technique that generates data for an RNN model for sequential positioning from Wi-Fi fingerprint data. Movement path data can be generated by creating an adjacency list for Wi-Fi fingerprint location points. However, creating an adjacency matrix for all location points requires a large amount of computation. This problem is solved by dividing indoor environment by K-means clustering and creating a cluster transition matrix based on the center of each cluster.

An Efficient Indoor Positioning Method Based on Wi-Fi RSS Fingerprint and Classification Algorithm.

Wi-Fi received signal strength (RSS) fingerprint-based indoor positioning has been widely used because of its low cost and universality advantages. However, the Wi-Fi RSS is greatly affected by multipath interference in indoor environments, which can cause significant errors in RSS observations. Many methods have been proposed to overcome this issue, including the average method and the error handling method, but these existing methods do not consider the ever-changing dynamics of RSS in indoor environments. In addition, traditional RSS-based clustering algorithms have been proposed in the literature, but they make clusters without considering the nonlinear similarity between reference points (RPs) and the signal distribution in ever-changing indoor environments. Therefore, to improve the positioning accuracy, this paper presents an improved RSS measurement technique (IRSSMT) to minimize the error of RSS observation by using the number of selected RSS and its median values, and the strongest access point (SAP) information-based clustering technique, which groups the RPs using their SAP similarity. The performance of this proposed method is tested by experiments conducted in two different experimental environments. The results reveal that our proposed method can greatly outperform the existing algorithms and improve the positioning accuracy by 89.06% and 67.48%, respectively.

A Calibration-Free Method Based on Grey Relational Analysis for Heterogeneous Smartphones in Fingerprint-Based Indoor Positioning.

The fingerprint method has been widely adopted in Wi-Fi indoor positioning because of its advantage in non-line-of-sight channels between access points (APs) and mobile users. However, the received signal strength (RSS) during the fingerprint positioning process generally varies due to the dissimilar hardware configurations of heterogeneous smartphones. This difference may degrade the accuracy of fingerprint matching between fingerprint and test data. Thus, this paper puts forward a fingerprint method based on grey relational analysis (GRA) to approach the challenge of heterogeneous smartphones and to improve positioning accuracy. Initially, the grey relational coefficient (GRC) between the RSS comparability sequence of each reference point (RP) and the RSS reference sequence of the test point (TP) is calculated. Subsequently, the grey relational degree (GRD) between each RP and TP is determined on the basis of GRC, and the K most relational RPs are selected in accordance with the value of GRD. Finally, the user location is determined by weighting the K most relational RPs that correspond to the coordinates. The main advantage of this GRA method is that it does not require device calibration when handling heterogeneous smartphone problems. We further carry out extensive experiments using heterogeneous Android smartphones in an office environment to verify the positioning performance of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms the existing ones no matter whether heterogeneous smartphones are used.

Geomagnetism-Aided Indoor Wi-Fi Radio-Map Construction via Smartphone Crowdsourcing.

Wi-Fi radio-map construction is an important phase in indoor fingerprint localization systems. Traditional methods for Wi-Fi radio-map construction have the problems of being time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this paper, an indoor Wi-Fi radio-map construction method is proposed which utilizes crowdsourcing data contributed by smartphone users. We draw indoor pathway map and construct Wi-Fi radio-map without requiring manual site survey, exact floor layout and extra infrastructure support. The key novelty is that it recognizes road segments from crowdsourcing traces by a cluster based on magnetism sequence similarity and constructs an indoor pathway map with Wi-Fi signal strengths annotated on. Through experiments in real world indoor areas, the method is proved to have good performance on magnetism similarity calculation, road segment clustering and pathway map construction. The Wi-Fi radio maps constructed by crowdsourcing data are validated to provide competitive indoor localization accuracy.