An in-building localization algorithm based on Wi-Fi signal fingerprint

Since GPS cannot be used under in-building environment and current in-building localization approaches require pre-installed infrastructure, in-building localization becomes a problem demanding prompt solutions for location-based services. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel room-level in-building localization algorithm R-kNN (relativity k-nearest neighbor), which solves the localization problem by leveraging MAC address and RSSI (received signal strength indication) of Wi-Fi access points (APs) deployed in buildings. R-kNN falls into category of property-weighted k-nearest neighbor algorithm. By assigning the weight of each AP according to the relativity between AP pairs, R-kNN can reduce the negative effect of dimension redundancy. Moreover, since it makes no assumption on the physical distribution of rooms and APs, R-kNN can work well with existing APs without deploying any new infrastructure or modifying the existing ones. Experimental results demonstrate that when a large number of APs are available, the localization accuracy of R-kNN is bigger than those of the original kNN algorithm and naïve Bayes classifier, while its false positive ratio and false negative ratio is smaller than those of the original kNN algorithm and Naïve Bayes classifier in most cases.