Optimization of Fingerprints Reporting Strategy for WLAN Indoor Localization

This paper investigates how to optimize the fingerprints reporting strategy to improve localization accuracy, and how the optimal strategy theory can be utilized to streamline the design of WLAN fingerprinting localization systems. In particular, we first reveal that the fingerprints reporting problem is essentially an NP-Hard size-constrained supermodular maximization problem, and then show the inapplicability of the state-of-the-art approximation algorithms to the problem. We then propose a new algorithm and show that if the number of fingerprints measurements is large enough, then the localization accuracy is at most 1 - ε times worse than the optimal value, with ε any given constant close to 0. Moreover, we demonstrate how the optimal strategy theory can be utilized to improve accuracy of location estimation by resolving the issue of similar fingerprints for both faraway and close-by locations, with an iterative algorithm developed to cross check fingerprints sampled in different locations, in order to derive the best possible result of localization. Further, we reveal the relationship between accuracy of location estimation and coverage of Wi-Fi signals in indoor spaces when planning deployment of APs. Experiment results are presented to validate our theoretical analysis.