Accurate Indoor-Positioning Model Based on People Effect and Ray-Tracing Propagation

Wireless local area networks (WLAN)-fingerprinting has been highlighted as the preferred technology for indoor positioning due to its accurate positioning and minimal infrastructure cost. However, its accuracy is highly influenced by obstacles that cause fluctuation in the signal strength. Many researchers have modeled static obstacles such as walls and ceilings, but few studies have modeled the people’s presence effect (PPE), although the human body has a great impact on signal strength. Therefore, PPE must be addressed to obtain accurate positioning results. Previous research has proposed a model to address this issue, but these studies only considered the direct path signal between the transmitter and the receiver whereas multipath effects such as reflection also have a significant influence on indoor signal propagation. This research proposes an accurate indoor-positioning model by considering people’s presence and multipath using ray-tracing, we call it (AIRY). This study proposed two solutions to construct AIRY: an automatic radio map using ray tracing and a constant of people’s effect for the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) adaptation. The proposed model was simulated using MATLAB software and tested at Level 3, Menara Razak, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. A K-nearest-neighbor (KNN) algorithm was used to define a position. The initial accuracy was 2.04 m, which then reduced to 0.57 m after people’s presence and multipath effects were considered.