Evaluation of RSS-based Position Tracking using WSNs for Resource Localization in an Indoor Construction Environment

Abstract

Timely information of construction resource is always a concern and an essential task for construction engineers and managers. In the recent past, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as a promising means to improve the current construction localization applications due to the ease of deployment and expandability to large scale construction projects, low cost, and capacity to function efficiently under dynamic and rough environments. Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) based localization is a popular technique especially for indoor environments, where satellite based positioning is infeasible. This study evaluates multilateration localization, a popular localization technique, in construction environments as well as a second, profiling-based, localization technique. Both techniques RSSI values collected in a WSN. Indoor experiments were conducted and their results reveal that acceptable position accuracy can be obtained with the profiling-based architecture.