LOCALIZATION AND POSITIONING via Wi-Fi SIGNALS

MOHD IDZWAN BIN OTHMAN

This Report Is Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of Requirements

For The Bachelor Degree of Electronic Engineering

(Telecommunication Electronics) with Honours

Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

JUNE 2013

UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

Tajuk Projek : LOCALIZATION AND POSITIONING via Wi-Fi SIGNALS

Sesi Pengajian : 2 / 2012/2013

Saya MOHD IDZWAN BIN OTHMAN

mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.

3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara

institusi pengajian tinggi.

4. Sila tandakan ( √ ) :

SULIT*

(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau

kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA

RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

TERHAD*

(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh:

__________________________ ___________________________________

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (COP DAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Tarikh: 10 Jun 2013 Tarikh: 10 Jun 2013

iii

DECLARATIONS

“I hereby declare that this report is the result of my own work except for quotes as

cited in the references.”

Signature : ..................................................

Author : MOHD IDZWAN BIN OTHMAN

Date : 10th June 2013

iv

“I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is

sufficient in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic

Engineering (Telecommunication Engineering) With Honours”.

Signature : …………………………………………

Supervisor’s Name : ABD. SHUKUR BIN JA’AFAR

Date : 10th June 2013

v

Special thanks to my parents and family, my colleagues and friends, and project

supervisor who have been supporting me all the time.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First and foremost, praise to Allah the Almighty because without His grace I will

not be able to complete this Projek Sarjana Muda and report as well as possible. Here, I

wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Abd. Shukur bin Ja’afar for

his germinal ideas, invaluable guidance, continuous encouragement and constant

support. I also sincerely thanks for the time spent proofreading and correcting my

mistakes.

I acknowledge my sincere indebtedness and gratitude to my parents for their

love, dream and sacrifice throughout my life. I cannot find the appropriate words that

could properly describe my appreciation for their devotion, support and faith in my

ability to attain my goals.

Finally, I also would like to thanks for those who are involved directly and

indirectly through out completing the project and report successfully.

vii

ABSTRACT

Global Positioning System (GPS) is widely used as public location and

positioning system in locating and localizing geo-location coordinates of user. However,

this application signal is limited, not operational, not available and inefficient for indoor

environment. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to develop localization and

positioning system utilizing Wi-Fi signals. Wireless position estimation is based on

distance measurement in determining the coordinates of user. Scene analysis which

called fingerprinting technique is chosen in this project with measurement of received

signal strength at specific locations. This fingerprint positioning algorithm has two

phases to go through which is surveying phase and online phase. The unknown location

of user will be located during online phase based on database comparison that has been

collected on surveying phase. MATLAB Graphic User Interface was developing as user

interface for simulation purpose. Several analysis has been done to determine the

accuracy and effectiveness of the positioning error due to numbers of access point and

environment traffic condition.

viii

ABSTRAK

Sistem Kedudukan Global (GPS) telah digunakan secara meluas sebagai

penunjuk lokasi awam dan sistem kedudukan dalam mencari dan menentu koordinat

lokasi geografi pengguna. Walaubagaimanapun, isyarat aplikasi penerima ini adalah

terhad, tidak beroperasi, tidak berfungsi dan tidak cekap untuk persekitaran dalaman.

Oleh itu, tujuan projek ini adalah untuk membangunkan menentu dan sistem mencari

kedudukan menggunakan isyarat Wi-Fi. Anggaran kedudukan tanpa wayar berdasarkan

ukuran jarak digunakan dalam menentukan koordinat pengguna. Analisis pemandangan

iaitu algoritma fingerprint teknik telah dipilih dalam projek ini dengan pengukuran

kekuatan isyarat yang diterima. Algoritma kedudukan fingerprint ini mempunyai dua

fasa yang perlu dilalui iaitu fasa pengukuran dan fasa dalam talian. Lokasi yang tidak

diketahui pengguna akan terletak semasa fasa dalam talian berdasarkan perbandingan

pangkalan data yang telah dikumpul semasa fasa pengukuran. MATLAB Grafik Antara

Muka Pengguna dibangunkan sebagai antara pengguna bagi tujuan simulasi. Beberapa

analisis telah dilakukan untuk menentukan ketepatan dan keberkesanan kedudukan

terhadap jumlah akses pusat dan keadaan lalu lintas persekitaran.

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

PROJECT TITLE i

COMFIRMATION OF STATUS REPORT ii

DECLARATION iii

SUPERVISOR DECLARATION iv

DEDICATION v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi

ABSTRACT vii

ABSTRAK viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

LIST OF TABLES xii

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv

LIST OF APPENDICES xvi

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview of Technologies 1

1.2 Project Background 5

1.3 Problem Statement 6

1.4 Objectives 6

1.5 Scope of Project 7

x

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Triangulation 9

2.2 Trilateration 11

2.3 Scene Analysis 15

2.3.1 Ekahau Site Survey 20

2.3.2 VisiWave Site Survey 21

2.3.3 TamoGraph Site Survey 22

2.4 Comparison between Positioning Algoritm 23

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Project Methodology 24

3.1.1 Phase 1 - Planning 25

3.1.1.1 Data Collection 26

3.1.1.2 Hardware and software requirements 26

3.1.2 Phase 2 - Measurement 27

3.1.2.1 Scene Analysis Technique 28

3.1.3 Phase 3 - Development 35

3.1.3.1 Development of Distance Algorithm 35

3.1.3.2 Development of Graphical User Interface 37

3.1.4 Phase 4 - Testing 37

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Distance Estimation Algorithm 38

4.1.1 Location Estimation Calculation 39

4.1.2 Analysis of Algorithm Effectiveness

4.1.2.1 Comparison between Numbers of 49

xi

Access point Access point

3.1.3 4.1.2.2 Comparison between Numbers of

Access Point Access Point and Traffic Condition

50

5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS

5.0 Conclusion 51

5.1 Future Works 52

REFERENCES 53

APPENDICES 55

xii

LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE PAGE

1.1 Indoor versus outdoor positioning 2

1.2 Indoor Positioning Technologies 3

2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of positioning algorithm 23

3.1 Received Signal Strength color level 30

3.2 Region color description 31

3.3 Received Signal Strength database in dBm 33

3.4 Received Signal in matrix form 34

4.1 Received Signal Strength database in dBm at each Reference Location 40

4.2 Received Signal Strength database Normalized at Access Point 1 41

4.3 Received Signal Strength database between User Normalized and

database values

43

4.4 Received Signal Strength at sample location 47

4.5 Location estimation in real time 47

4.6 Comparison between Numbers of Access Point 49

4.7 Comparison between Traffic Conditions 50

xiii

LIST OF FIGURES

NO TITLE PAGE

1.1 Indoor technologies in dependence on accuracy and coverage 4

1.2 Indoor technologies dependence on accuracy and carrier wavelength 4

1.3 Positioning system block diagram 5

1.4 Flow chart scope of project 8

2.1 Triangulation algorithm in 2D 10

2.2 Graph of relative position error versus target angle 11

2.3 Trilateration positioning algorithms 12

2.4 2D target location by TOA measurement technique 13

2.5 Geometric relationship between target and two APs 14

2.6 Surveying phase 16

2.7 Online phase 16

2.8 Scene analysis system 17

2.9 Offline phase and online phase of scene analysis technique 17

2.10 Database comparison 18

2.11 Wi-Fi contour power (dBm) line coverage 19

2.12 Ekahau Site Survey icon 20

2.13 Ekahau Site Survey window 20

2.14 VisiWave Site Survey icon 21

2.15 VisiWave Site Survey window 21

2.16 TamoGraph Site Survey icon 22

2.17 Tamograph Site Survey window 22

3.1 Design phase 25

3.2 Steps of Methodology 25

3.3 Flow chart of surveying phase 27

3.4 Orientations during taking measurement 28

xiv

3.5 Orientations affect on Received Signal Strength 28

3.6 Block B, ground Floor, FKEKK 29

3.7 Surveying phase on coverage area 29

3.8 Data extracted in WordPad 30

3.9 Coverage area 31

3.10 Coverage area plotting point in MATLAB 32

3.11 MATLAB Simulink icon 35

3.12 MATLAB Simulink window 35

3.13 Flow chart of distance algorithm 36

4.1 Theorem Pythagoras area 39

4.2 Coverage area plotting point in matrix 39

4.3 Location estimation area 45

4.4 Scale on the coverage area 46

4.5 Sample location 46

4.6 Location estimation of sample location taken 47

4.7 MATLAB GUI 48

4.8 MATLAB GUI output 48

5.1 Example of ToA location estimation 52

xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATION MEANING

GPS Global Positioning System

RFID Radio Frequency IDentification

laser Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

RSS Received Signal Strength

AP Access Point

FKEKK Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektronik dan Kejuruteraan Komputer

PSM Projek Sarjana Muda

UTeM Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melak

RSS Received Signal Strength

AoA Angle Of Arrival

2D Two Dimensions

ToA Time Of Arrival

TDoA Time Difference Of Arrival

TOF Time Of Flight

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

UWB Ultra-Wideband

Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity

A-GPS Assisted Global Positioning System

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

RTLS Real-time Locating System

ANSI American National Standards Institute

ISO International Organization for Standardization

SSID Service Set Identifier

LBS Location-based Service

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

NO TITLE PAGE

A Euclidean distance program 55

B MATLAB GUI program 57

C Gantt Chart of project planning 63

D Poster 64

E IEEE report 65

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter will discuss briefly the background of the project that has been

chosen. It will also discuss the problem statement, main objective and the scope of

the project.

1.1 Overview of Technologies

Positioning system is a technology that is used in locating and tracking user or

property. Location, defined as coordinates or places either room, street, building and

house. Position, is refer to the distance or location from some area. Positioning,

usually refers to the process of finding the two-or-three-dimensional coordinates of a

terminal but can mean determination of distance or range [1]. A beacon is a

2

continuous or periodic transmission that facilitates timing synchronization or position

measurements between terminals. Terminal refers to the either side of the

communication link.

Positioning system technologies can be divided into two categories, outdoor

and indoor positioning. Table 1.1 [6] shows different between indoor and outdoor

positioning.

Table 1.1: Indoor versus outdoor positioning [6]

INDOOR OUTDOOR

WLAN

Client-based system design

Client-assisted system design

GPS

Requires minimal obstructions

Long acquisition times (30s-

15min)

Has to be synchronous

High power consumption and

high unit cost A-GPS

Sensor Network

Localization with beacons

Localization with moving

beacons

Beacon-free localization

UWB

A promising approach for indoor

geolocation

Can achieve very accurate short

distance estimation

A-GPS

Much more accurate: accuracy of

10-50m can be used even for

indoor positioning

Improves acquisition time (<10s)

Synchronous or asynchronous

More cost effective than GPS

Little/no hardware changes

required in base stations

The most popular outdoor positioning system is Global Positioning System

(GPS). This system uses satellites to navigate the location of the target or user. The

current indoor positioning systems technology is Wi-Fi, RFID (Radio Frequency

IDentification), laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation),

infrared, and ultrasound. Table 1.2 [14]shows the specification of indoor

technologies for nowadays. Figure 1.1 and 1.2 [14] show dependency of accuracy to

the coverage and carrier wavelength.

3

Table 1.2: Indoor Positioning Technologies [14]

Technology Typical

Accuracy

Typical

Coverage (m)

Typical Measuring

Principle

Typical

Application

Cameras 0.1mm -

dm 1 – 10

Angle

measurements from

images

Metrology,

robot

navigation

Infrared Cm – m 1 - 5 Thermal imaging,

active beacons

People

detection,

tracking

Tactile & Polar

Systems µm – mm 3 – 2000

Mechanical,

interferometry

Automotive,

metrology

Sound cm 2 – 10 Distances from time

of arrival

Hospitals,

tracking

WLAN/Wi-Fi m 20 – 50 Fingerprinting

Pedestrian

navigation,

LBS

RFID dm - m 1 – 50 Proximity detection,

fingerprinting

Pedestrian

navigation

Ultra-

Wideband cm - m 1 – 50

Body reflection,

time of arrival

Robotics,

automation

High Sensitive

GNSS 10 m „global‟

Parallel correlation,

assistant GPS

Location based

services

Pseudolites cm - dm 10 – 1000 Carrier phase

ranging

GNSS

challenged pit

mines

Other Radio

Frequencies m 10 – 1000

Fingerprinting,

proximity

Person

tracking

Inertial

Navigation 1% 10 – 100 Dead reckoning

Pedestrian

navigation

Magnetic

Systems mm – cm 1 – 20

Fingerprinting and

ranging

Hospitals,

mines

Infrastructure

Systems cm - m building

Fingerprinting,

capacitance

Ambient

assisted living

4

Figure 1.1: Indoor technologies in dependence on accuracy and coverage [14]

Figure 1.2: Indoor technologies dependence on accuracy and carrier wavelength [14]

5

1.2 Project Background

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.11 all means the

same [5]. It is an industrial standard that used for wireless data transmission. Wi-Fi

used electromagnetic waves in order to transmit data over the airwaves medium.

Obviously, they are not designed and deployed for the purpose of positioning.

However, measurements of received signal strength (RSS) of the signal transmitted

by either access point (AP) imply the location of any mobile user [9].

There are several positioning algorithms that can be used in determining the

current position of user like triangulation, trilateration and scene analysis. From the

RSS, it can be used to compute to determine the location or coordinate of the user.

Figure 1.3: Positioning system block diagram

Figure 1.3 shows the block diagram of the system. There is a vector power

between the user referenceor target to the AP. This vector can be used to determine

the distance by using positioning algorithm that will be discuss in Chapter 2,

literature review. Then, the position or coordinates of the user will display on

MATLAB Graphic User Interface (GUI).

This project using an existing Wi-Fi infrastructure in localizing and positioning

even it was never designed to do so. The coverage area of this project was at Block

B, Ground Floor, FKEKK (Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektronik dan Kejuruteraan

Komputer) because of the number of APs located there.

6

1.3 Problem Statement

Indoor location sensing systems has become very important and popular in

recent years [3][8]. They, gradually play an important role in all aspects of people‟s

daily lives including e.g. living assistant, navigation, emergency detection,

surveillance or tracking target-of-interest and many other location-based services [4].

Nowadays, WLAN technology can be found in almost every building [5]. It is

because an advancement of technology in developing devices like smartphones

which can directly connected to the internet. Internet has become a daily needs

especially for getting knowledge.

GPS is the most popular positioning system for outdoor environment and

plays a dominant role in localization. It can provide precise locations of mobile

devices within worldwide coverage.

However, GPS has shadow problem and is not available, not operate and not

suitable for indoor environments [9][10][12]. This inefficiency is due to the

weakness of signals emitted and their disability to penetrate most building materials

[4]. It performance deteriorates in indoor use and in urban environments [1].

1.4 Objectives

The main objectives of this project can be summarized as follows:

i. To develop a location and positioning simulation estimation using MATLAB

software at FKEKK, UTeM.

ii. To analyze the performance of location estimation based on fingerprint

technique.

7

1.5 Scope of Project

Development of the Localization and Positioning via Wi-Fi signals have

chosen after doing research from the books, internet, electronic magazine and other

resources due to human demand for indoor positioning system. This project needs no

hardware modification for Wi-Fi infrastructure and no cost required.

Localization and Positioning via Wi-Fi signals is an innovation of locating

and tracking user or property. The scopes of this project require using of hardware

and software for measurement phase and software development for testing phase.

For the first phase of the project development, data collection (offline phase)

has been done at Block B, Ground Floor, FKEKK, UTeM. The process of collecting

data is called surveying phase where at each point need to collect RSS in determining

the distance during online phase. The collected data will used as database for

applying the location estimation algorithm in MATLAB software. After completed

this phase, GUI will be develop to display the current location and position of the

user. Figure 1.4 shows an overall flow chart of the scope of project.

8

Figure 1.4: Flow chart scope of project

End

Start

Surveying phase

Scene analysis technique

Literature reviews:

Triangulation

Trilateration

Scene analysis

GUI development

Software

accuracy?

Yes

No

Scene analysis techniques based on

Nearest Neighbor method

Development of location estimation

with MATLAB software