Energy Efficient Trajectory Recording of Mobile Devices Using WiFi Scanning

Efficient user location tracking is a key prerequisite of many mobile applications that aim at A/B, usability or Quality of Experience tests. The purpose of these tests may require that location tracking is energy efficient, transparent to the user. Even though most mobile devices are equipped with a GPS receiver, its frequent use can cause a high battery drain. Our design of continuous location tracking aims at providing a reasonable trade-off between energy consumption, location acquisition accuracy. We use WiFi scanning for decisions about when to start using GPS receiver, as the user moves we adjust sensing approach for best fit to current situation scenario. Our experiments were performed with Android powered smart phones. The experiments show that our design provides significant energy savings when compared to other continuous location tracking alternatives. We also provide a detailed discussion of challenges, existing techniques for user location tracking.