Linear Regression Algorithm against Device Diversity for the WLAN Indoor Localization System

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in using WLAN fingerprint-based methods for the indoor localization system because of their cost-effectiveness and availability compared to other localization systems. In this system, the received signal strength (RSS) values are measured as the fingerprint from the access points (AP) at each reference point (RP) in the offline phase. However, signal strength variations across diverse devices become a major problem in this system, especially in the crowdsourcing-based localization system. In this paper, the device diversity problem and the adverse effects caused by this problem are analyzed firstly. Then, the intrinsic relationship between different RSS values collected by different devices is mined by the linear regression (LR) algorithm. Based on the analysis, the LR algorithm is proposed to create a unique radio map in the offline phase and precisely estimate the user’s location in the online phase. After applying the LR algorithm in the crowdsourcing systems, the device diversity problem is solved effectively. Finally, we verify the LR algorithm using the theoretical study of the probability of error detection. Experimental results in a typical office building show that the proposed method results in a higher reliability and localization accuracy.