Mobile Crowdsourced Guiding and Finding With Precise Target Positioning Based on Internet-of-Things Localization

In this article, we propose a mobile crowdsourced guiding and finding (MCGF) framework using smartphones to guide indoor people and find missing targets through Internet-of-Things (IoT) localization. The MCGF framework can cooperatively find lost/stolen targets equipped with mobile iBeacon nodes through participatory sensing networks formed by mobile users using smartphones in places with static iBeacon nodes. To precisely localize the missing target, fundamental target localization cases in distinct crowdsourced environments are formally classified and efficiently addressed to reduce the positioning errors with different numbers of smartphones detecting the missing target and different numbers of fixed iBeacon nodes nearby these target-detecting smartphones. According to our review of relevant research, this is the first solution that can provide the crowdsourced guiding path to a missing target with high localization accuracy for all densities of participating smartphones and iBeacon nodes. In particular, an Android-based prototype with static and mobile iBeacon nodes is implemented to verify the feasibility and superiority of our framework. Experimental results show that MCGF outperforms the existing methods and can significantly reduce the localization errors of mobile users and missing targets.