WiNar: RTT-based Sub-meter Indoor Localization using Commercial Devices

WiFi time of flight (ToF) measurement has been supported recently by the wireless LAN protocols to improve WiFi localization. Specifically, the IEEE 802.11-2016 standard has a fine-time measurement (FTM) protocol that can be used to measure the WiFi signal round trip time (RTT). In this paper, we present the design and implementation of WiNar, a WiFi RTT-based indoor location determination system that combines the advantages of both fingerprint and ranging-based techniques to overcome the different challenges of indoor environments. Using commercial-off-the-shelf access points and mobile phones, WiNar leverages the propagation time of the wireless signal with a fingerprinting model to address the multipath, non-line-of-sight, signal attenuation, and interference challenges of the indoor environments. Moreover, when leveraging the round trip time measurements, WiNar does not require clock synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. We discuss the different components of the system and its implementation on the Android operating system. Our results show that WiNar has a sub-meter localization accuracy with an average localization error of less than 0.86 meters for two different testbeds. This accuracy outperforms the performance of the traditional signal strength (RSS) fingerprinting technique by at least 38% and ranging-based multi-lateration technique by at least 148%. Finally, our system is also robust to heterogeneous devices.

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