In-building Location Sensing Based on WLAN Signal Strength

Exploiting context-aware environments, where sensors scattered in a environment update presence servers to indicate the environmental changes can be used to enable new services. Such systems have become feasible both in terms of technical difficulties and their cost. A current focus in this area of research is how a context-aware system should be designed so that it reduces both the cost and complexity of the infrastructure, but still provides the desired services. One of the key components of many context-aware systems is location sensing, because a user’s location is one of the most used elements of information in context-aware services. In this paper, we address cost effective location services by utilizing measurements of WLAN signal strength. We derive from these measurements an estimate of a device’s location, and make this location information available via a SIP Presence User Agent, thus making location information readily available to services that might wish to use this information while hiding details of how this information is acquired from these services.