Hybrid indoor localization using WiFi and UWB technologies

The interest in indoor localization has been increasing in the last few years because of the numerous important applications related to the pervasive diffusion of mobile smart devices that could benefit from localization. Various wireless technologies are in use to perform indoor localization, and, among them, WiFi and UWB technologies are appreciated when robust and accurate localization is required. The major advantage of WiFi technology is that it is ubiquitous, and therefore it can be used to support localization without the introduction of a specific infrastructure. The major drawback of WiFi technology is that it does not often ensure sufficient accuracy. On the contrary, indoor localization based on UWB technology guarantees higher accuracy with increased robustness, but it requires the use of UWB-enabled devices and the deployment of specific infrastructures made of UWB beacons. Experimental results on the synergic use of WiFi and UWB technologies for localization are presented in this paper to show that hybrid approaches can be used to effectively to increase the accuracy of WiFi-based localization. Actually, presented experimental results show that the use of a small number of UWB beacons together with an ordinary WiFi infrastructure is sufficient to significantly increase the accuracy of localization and to make WiFi-based localization adequate to implement relevant location-based services and applications.