Comparison of Localization Methods Using Calibrated and Simulated Fingerprints for Indoor Systems Based on Bluetooth and WLAN Technologies

Abstract

This paper compares two different localization algorithms to face the problem of indoor positioning using Bluetooth and WLAN technologies, which we have called: the fusion algorithm and the combination algorithm. The first algorithm is based on the construction of a fusion map using WiFi and Bluetooth power values. Considering the three lowest values of a defined distance, we compute the coordinates of the target point that we want to localize. In the second algorithm, the location determination is carried out independently with every single technology; then, results are combined to obtain a final estimated position. The performance of these methods has been tested experimentally using a simulated map and a real calibrated one. Using a real calibrated map, the localization errors obtained with the fusion algorithm are smaller than with the combination one, while when using a simulated map there is almost no difference between both algorithms. The results of the experiments made with the real calibrated map are a little better than using the simulated map, but the improvement obtained using the real map is not enough to confirm that using this one is worth, because of the effort necessary to build it.