Localization Approach Based on Ray-tracing including the Effect of Human Shadowing

This work presents an accurate and realistic positioning approach for indoor environments based on fingerprinting and raytracing techniques. Fading caused by multipath seriously degrades the performance of communication systems operating inside buildings. For this reason, the proposed localization method considers multipath effects due to reflections and diffraction from walls, roof and floor. However, fading in indoor environments can also be caused by the movement of people or the presence of furniture. Because people are the primary absorption agents in indoor channels, their influence on the radio propagation channel must be considered. The proposed localization method takes into account the effects of human body shadowing to provide a realistic estimation of the mobile station position. Numerical calculations in real indoor scenarios show reasonable results.