Indoor localization based on distance-illuminance model and active control of lighting devices

In this paper, we propose an indoor localization method using a distance-illuminance model of lighting devices and trilateration. We propose a method that estimates distance from three controllable lighting devices based on the illuminance at the target point, by alternately turning on each of the devices. Then, the proposed method estimates the position of the target point based on trilateration. The proposed method are two merits. First, it can be realized at low cost because only three lighting devices and an illuminance sensor are required. Second, it is robust against influences by external lighting devices (or sunlight) since the proposed method measures the difference of the illuminance before and after turning on a lighting device. We conducted experiments in a room in an ordinary home environment and confirmed that the proposed method could estimate the position of the illuminance sensor within 0.5m error on average.