Seamless indoor outdoor navigation for smartphone users

Abstract

As mobile technology continues to evolve, the demand for context-aware applications has grown substantially. One crucial aspect of context awareness is accurately detecting whether a user is indoors or outdoors, as it allows personalized and location-based services. This project presents a novel approach for indoor-outdoor detection using a fusion of Wi-Fi, GPS, and Android sensor data to enhance the accuracy and reliability of context-aware mobile applications. To ensure our desired realistic and ubiquitous principles, we offer a unique indoor-outdoor system comprised of four primary modules: (1) GPS, (2) Wi-Fi, (3) Magnetism, and (4) light intensity. The GPS sensor on Android devices provides precise outdoor location information, while the Wi-Fi sensor continuously scans for nearby wireless networks. By analyzing the characteristics of Wi-Fi signals, the system can detect indoor locations with high accuracy. The android sensors, including accelerometer, light, magnetometer, and orientation sensors, enhance the detection system's accuracy. Extensive real-world experiments were conducted in various indoor and outdoor environments to evaluate the proposed approach. The results demonstrate the system’s robustness and effectiveness, achieving accurate indoor-outdoor detection under different scenarios.