Indoor localization using smartphone sensors and iBeacons

Outdoor localization can be readily obtained by Global Positioning System (GPS). Since GPS signals are denied in indoor environments, technology for accurate indoor localization is still an active on-going research topic. In this paper, we present a framework of combining smartphone sensors and iBeacons for accurate indoor localization. The Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) can be applied for localization using smartphone sensors. Unfortunately, it will drift with walking distance. Therefore, iBeacons are leveraged to correct the drift of the PDR approach. A particle filter is performed for the correction. Real experiments show a significant improvement of the localization accuracy with sparse iBeacon deployment in a 47.3m × 15.9m area. Moreover, since the estimation accuracy of the initial point is vital for the PDR approach, we evaluate the performance of our proposed approach with respect to the estimation error of the initial point. The results underline the robustness of our proposed approach for the initial point estimation error.