Optical Wireless-Based Indoor Localization System Employing a Single-Channel Imaging Receiver

The indoor localization is a highly demanded function in high-speed wireless communication systems due to their limited directivity and mobility features. In this paper, we propose an indoor localization system based on the use of optical wireless technology in conjunction with a single-channel imaging receiver. The localization function can be realized by using either the received optical signal strength or the angle-of-arrival information. Proof-of-concept experiments are carried out and results show that a localization accuracy of about 4 cm can be realized with the received signal strength method, and that accuracy can be further improved to about 3 cm through angle-of-arrival detection. In addition, the impact of the transmission power level on the system performance is investigated, and results show that, for the system based on received signal strength, increasing the transmitted power of the input optical signal improves the localization accuracy. Furthermore, a novel three-dimensional indoor localization system with height estimation capability is proposed, based on measuring the received signal power strength and signal angle-of-arrival information simultaneously. Demonstration experiments show that the localization accuracy for this system is better than 7 cm and the height estimation error is smaller than 6 cm.