A comparative performance evaluation of RSS-based positioning algorithms used in WLAN networks

The wireless local area network (WLAN) has been an emerging technology in the residential and enterprise market by providing high data rates at low cost. Future trends in the WLAN industry are targeted towards new applications with higher data rates, wider coverage, and increased QoS requirements. A user tracking system based on the WLAN infrastructure is a new service that helps network operators to monitor different aspects of their networks in addition to providing location aware services to their customers. We provide an overview of traditional location sensing algorithms and compare their performance with the new distance variance (DV) algorithm. These algorithms use the existing IEEE 802.11 infrastructure to locate a terminal. The newly introduced DV algorithm uses indoor radio propagation models to reduce the complexity of the calibration process used in conventional algorithms. The performances of the existing and new algorithm are compared using Monte Carlo simulations based on IEEE 802.11 channel models.