Radio Frequency-Based Indoor Localization in Ad-Hoc Networks

The increasing importance of location‐aware computing and context‐dependent infor‐ mation has led to a growing interest in low‐cost indoor positioning with submeter accuracy. Localization algorithms can be classified into range‐based and range‐free tech‐ niques. Additionally, localization algorithms are heavily influenced by the technology and network architecture utilized. Availability, cost, reliability and accuracy of localiza‐ tion are the most important parameters when selecting a localization method. In this chapter, we introduce basic localization techniques, discuss how they are implemented with radio frequency devices and then characterize the localization techniques based on the network architecture, utilized technologies and application of localization. We then investigate and address localization in indoor environments where the absence of global positioning system (GPS) and the presence of unique radio propagation properties make this problem one of the most challenging topics of localization in wireless networks. In particular, we study and review the previous work for indoor localization based on radio frequency (RF) signaling (like Bluetooth‐based localization) to illustrate localization chal‐ lenges and how some of them can be overcome.