A pipeline architecture for indoor location tracking

Indoor location tracking based on wireless sensors such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth has recently received increased public attention in the context of location-based services (e.g. location-based advertising) and indoor navigation. However, until now, no clear best practices for filters, algorithms and sensor fusion have emerged, and, in fact, different use cases may require different sets of techniques for optimal results. In this paper, we thus present a sensor fusion approach that can integrate results from heterogeneous tracking algorithms based on discrete, symbolic locations and a reference architecture based on a pipeline approach that offers the necessary flexibility to easily adapt location tracking applications or -services to both future discoveries in tracking techniques and varying use cases. We also report on a comprehensive evaluation of a tracking application we built using the named architecture and sensor fusion in a large (ca. 2600 square meters) open space office under day-to-day business conditions.