Fading compensation for improved indoor RF tracking based on redundant RSS readings

Abstract

In partially hazardous environments a high reliable tracking of humans is of interest. For example, the monitoring of maintenance staff in the underground longwall mining - in particular close to heavy weight self-advancing hydraulic shields - is crucial to safe human lives. A centroid location estimation technique based on received signal strength (RSS) readings offers a well known and low-cost tracking solution in such a rough environment where many other systems with optical, magnetical or ultrasound sensors fail. A redundant RF communication concept using spatial and frequency diversity compensates the influence of multipath fading and leads to a more precise and high available tracking. The experimental results on a motion test track show that an improved tracking performance can be reached with low infrastructural costs. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.