An indoor localization algorithm in a small-cell LED-based lighting system

Nowadays, the use of Visible Light Communications is growing towards several applications, due to the many benefits of this technology. By efficiently modulating visible light, it is possible to reach very high data rates, while at the same time providing illumination. As a result, traditional indoor systems, like open offices and homes, become smarter, providing high efficient services i.e., localization, positioning and navigation. In this paper, we propose a simple method for indoor localization service provided by infrared LED devices. The positioning estimation can be calculated by exploiting the uniform deployment of LED-based transmitters, and the information of the impulse responses. The comparison to the impulse responses time samples of a room map, opportunely built according to the transmitters' deployment, allows to estimate the position of a mobile device inside the room. The estimation error can be then reduced on the basis of the number of LED devices used. © 2012 IEEE