Enhancing RFID indoor localization with cellular technologies

Abstract

Indoor localization, this means solutions providing the position of mobile objects/persons in indoor environments (e.g., hospitals, malls, etc.), is one of the most cutting-edge services with growing demand in smart applications such as robotics for care, pedestrian navigations, etc. With the objective of providing indoor localization, this paper presents the experimental analysis of simultaneous radio frequency measurements from two different radio frequency systems: Ultra High Frequency Radio Frequency IDentification (UHF RFID) and macrocellular networks. Extensively deployed cellular technologies (Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)) are here evaluated with the purpose of enhancing pre-existent RFID-based localization systems at reduced costs. Temporal and statistical analysis of the measurements gathered from each technology is performed, and its applicability for localization is assessed. Based on this analysis, a RFID localization mechanism that is able to integrate macrocellular technologies information is proposed, showing improved results in terms of accuracy.