A method, apparatus and computer readable storage medium permit an updated radio map to be determined. In an iteration, the method obtains or holds available current radio map data representing a current radio map for a site and track data of a mobile device. The track data includes sensor data and radio signal observation data representing sets of radio signal observation results captured at different observation positions. The method estimates the observation positions on the track based on the current radio map data and the track data including the sensor data and the radio signal observation data and associates each estimated observation position with a respective set of radio signal observation results represented by the radio signal observation data to determine a sequence of radio fingerprints for the track. The method provides or uses the sequence of radio fingerprints for determining an updated radio map for the site.

A method for geolocating a terminal of a wireless communication system. A set of reference elements is determined with the aid of messages transmitted by calibration terminals during a calibration phase. Each reference element includes a radio signature and a geographical position of a calibration terminal when a message is transmitted. A refinement phase makes it possible to clean and/or to enrich the set of reference elements by virtue of the identification of points of interest corresponding to preferential positions of transmission of messages by the terminals. During a search phase, the position of a terminal of interest is determined based on its radio signature and of the modified set of reference elements.

Systems and methods for indoor tracking via Wi-Fi fingerprinting and electromagnetic fingerprinting are provided and can include a gateway receiver device measuring a RSSI value of a signal transmitted by a Wi-Fi transmitter device, the gateway receiver device measuring an EMF value of an interference in an electromagnetic field created by the gateway receiver device that is caused by the Wi-Fi transmitter device, the gateway receiver device determining whether the RSSI value matches any of a plurality of Wi-Fi fingerprints associated with a monitored region and whether the EMF value matches any of a plurality of electromagnetic fingerprints associated with the monitored region, and responsive thereto, the gateway receiver device identifying that a location of the Wi-Fi transmitter device is within the monitored region.

Systems and methods for positioning a terminal device are disclosed. The method may include determining, by a positioning device, a first position of the terminal device in an area at a first time point; determining, by the positioning device, a second position of the terminal device in the area at a second time point; determining, by the positioning device, a plurality of hypothetical positions of the terminal device at a third time point; and providing, by the positioning device, a third position of the terminal device at the third time point, based on the first position, the second position, and the hypothetical positions using a transition model.

Time and effort to generate an electric field map to realize high-accuracy positioning is reduced. In an electric field map generation device (10) that generates an electric field map in which RSSI obtained when radio waves transmitted from a beacon (60) are observed at each of a plurality of points in the same space is associated with each of coordinates at the plurality of points, a radio wave strength acquisition unit (12) acquires RSSI observed at each of at least three observation points different in distance from the beacon (60), a space propagation characteristics estimation unit (14) estimates space propagation characteristics of the radio waves transmitted from the beacon (60) in the same space using the acquired RSSI at the observation points, a radio wave strength estimation unit (16) estimates RSSI at estimation points on the basis of the estimated space propagation characteristics and distances between the estimation points different from the observation points and the beacon (60), and a generation unit (18) generates the electric field map (26) using the RSSI at the observation points and the estimation points.

A positioning method is disclosed, including: collecting a location fingerprint; searching by using the CellID of the first base station, an offline fingerprint database for a first offline fingerprint that matches the CellID of the first base station, where the offline fingerprint database is stored in the terminal device, and the offline fingerprint database is configured to manage a plurality of offline fingerprints; searching based on a reference point location in the first offline fingerprint and the channel parameters of the Q neighboring cell base stations, the offline fingerprint database for a plurality of second offline fingerprints that meet a first condition; and determining a location of the terminal device based on a signal identifier and the reference point location in the first offline fingerprint, signal identifiers and reference point locations in the plurality of second offline fingerprints, and the Q+1 signal identifiers in the location fingerprint.

A computing device loads signal strengths of wireless communication signals collected at a plurality of first collection areas and position information of the first collection areas, sets positions of a plurality of virtual transmitting apparatuses. The computing device estimates signal strengths of wireless communication signals in a plurality of second collection areas based on a distance between a position of each of the virtual transmitting apparatuses and each of the first collection areas, a signal strength collected at each of the first collection areas, and a distance between a position of each of the virtual transmitting apparatuses and each of the second collection areas. The computing device determines an optimal virtual transmitting apparatus among the virtual transmitting apparatuses, and generates positioning data at the second collection areas based on signal strengths in the second collection areas which are estimated based on a position of the optimal virtual transmitting apparatus.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to fingerprint positioning in a wireless communication network. A method for establishing a positioning model comprises: obtaining, at a first device, a set of training data comprising historical measurements and historical regions, a historical measurement being associated with a second device, the second device being within one of the historical regions when the historical measurement is obtained; and training the positioning model by using the historical measurements as input of the positioning model and the historical regions as output of the positioning model to obtain parameter sets of Gaussian distributions of the positioning model, the Gaussian distributions indicating probabilities that a third device is positioned in the historical regions, and the parameter sets corresponding to respective non-light of sight levels of the historical regions. In this way, the positioning accuracy of fingerprint positioning method can be greatly improved.

The present invention discloses, inter alia, a computerized system for building a multisensory location map, the system comprising an interface for receiving multiple multisensory data vectors acquired by multiple mobile devices at multiple locations and accelerometer readings obtained upon movement of at least one device carried by at least one user between the multiple locations; at least a portion of said movement being walking; at least a majority of the multiple locations are located within an area in which an accuracy of global positioning system (GPS) based navigation is below an allowable threshold; and a processor, interconnected with said interface, with accelerometers, a magnetometer and a map calculator, configured for: extracting, out of accelerometer readings, accelerometer information related to multiple walking phases of the walking; for at least two of said multiple walking phases, real-time correcting a currently measured Z vector, and a pitch angle and a roll angle thereof, thereby compensating for horizontal accelerations, thereby obtaining a Z vector pointing toward Earth's center; calculating, from said Z vector pointing toward earth's center, a surface parallel to Earth's face (perpendicular to said Z vector pointing toward earth's center); estimating, from said surface parallel to Earth's face and from a magnetic north measured by at least one built-in magnetometer in said at least one device, an offset selected from a group consisting of: an azimuth offset from magnetic north and a heading offset from geometric north; processing the accelerometer information related to said at least two of said multiple walking phases to determine a direction of propagation of the at least one user and correcting said direction of propagation based on said offset; and estimating, from said corrected direction of propagation, at least one location of said at least one user; and the map calculator calculating, in response to the multiple multisensory data vectors and said at least one estimated location, a location fingerprinting map that comprises multiple grid points; each of the multiple grid points comprising a multisensory grid point fingerprint and grid point location information derivable from said at least one estimated location.

A mobile device collects data, which enables a generation of a radio map for a site. The collection comprises detecting at least one indication of a floor, at which a user is located, in a user input; and performing measurements on radio signals to obtain for each of a plurality of locations of the site a set of characteristics of radio signals. The mobile device receives, during the collection of data, data from a barometer, verifies a most recent indication of a floor in a user input based on changes in the data from the barometer, and outputs a warning to the user in the case of a discrepancy. The mobile device associates each set of characteristics with a floor indicated by a user. The mobile device provides the sets of characteristics and their association with a floor for a generation a radio map supporting a positioning at the site.