A Grid based Indoor Radiolocation Technique Based on Spatially Coherent Path Loss Model

This thesis presents a grid-based indoor radiolocation technique based on a Spatially Coherent Path Loss Model (SCPL). SCPL is a path loss model which characterizes the radio wave propagation in an environment by solely using Received Signal Strength (RSS) fingerprints. The propagation of the radio waves is characterized by uniformly dividing the environment into grid cells, followed by the estimation of the propagation parameters for each grid cell individually. By using SCPL and RSS fingerprints acquired at an unknown location, the distance between an agent and all the access point in an indoor environment can be determined. A least-squares based trilateration is then used as the global fix of location the agent in the environment. The result of the trilateration is then represented in a probability distribution function over the grid cells induced by SCPL. Since the proposed technique is able to locally model the propagation accounting for attenuation of non-uniform environmental irregularities, the characterization of the path loss in the indoor environment and radiolocation technique might yield improved results. The efficacy of the proposed technique was investigated with an experiment comparing SCPL and an indoor radiolocation technique based on a conventional path loss model.