System and method for determining the location of a station in a wireless environment

A system for quantifying the shadow fading observed in a wireless environment having a plurality of wireless access points comprising:

• a distance determination module in signal communication with the plurality of wireless access points, the distance determination module
• selects a plurality of transceiver pairings from the plurality of wireless access points, and
• determines, based on location information that relates to respective locations of the plurality of wireless access points in the wireless environment, a distance between individual wireless access points associated with the transceiver pairings to obtain a plurality of distances;
• and
• a shadow fading determination module in signal communication with the plurality of wireless access points, the shadow fading determination module
• causes at least one wireless signal to be transmitted between each of the plurality of transceiver pairings,
• determines a plurality of shadow fading factors based on the plurality of distances and based on received signal strength (RSS) information respectively associated with the at least one wireless signal transmitted between each of plurality of transceiver pairings, and
• determines an average shadow fading factor based on the plurality of shadow fading factors.

A computer-implemented method of localizing a station in a wireless environment having a plurality of wireless access points comprising:

• receiving location information relating to respective locations of the plurality of wireless access points in the wireless environment;
• selecting a plurality of transceiver pairings from the plurality of wireless access points;
• determining, based on the location information, a distance between individual wireless access points associated with the transceiver pairings to obtain a first plurality of distances;
• causing at least one wireless signal to be transmitted between each of the plurality of transceiver pairings;
• determining a plurality of shadow fading factors based on the first plurality of distances and received signal strength (RSS) information respectively associated with the at least one wireless signal transmitted between each of the plurality of transceiver pairings;
• and
• determining an average shadow fading factor based on the plurality of shadow fading factors;
• determining a second plurality of distances between the station and individual wireless access points in the plurality of wireless access points based on the average shadow fading factor for the wireless environment and based on RSS information received from the individual wireless access points;
• identifying a sub-region in the wireless environment that the station is located in based on the second plurality of distances;
• and
• identifying a location associated with the sub-region that corresponds to an approximate location of the station in the wireless environment.

A system for localizing a station in a wireless environment having a plurality of wireless access points comprising:

• a first distance determination module in signal communication with the plurality of wireless access points, the distance determination module
• selects a plurality of transceiver pairings from the plurality of wireless access points, and
• determines, based on location information that relates to respective locations of the plurality of wireless access points in the wireless environment, a distance between individual wireless access points associated with the transceiver pairings to obtain a first plurality of distances;
• and
• a shadow fading determination module in signal communication with the plurality of wireless access points, the shadow fading determination module
• causes at least one wireless signal to be transmitted between each of the plurality of transceiver pairings,
• determines a plurality of shadow fading factors based on the first plurality of distances and based on received signal strength (RSS) information respectively associated with the at least one wireless signal transmitted between each of plurality of transceiver pairings, and
• determines an average shadow fading factor based on the plurality of shadow fading factors;
• a second distance determination module that determines a second plurality of distances between the station and individual wireless access points in the plurality of wireless access points based on the shadow fading factor for the wireless environment and based on RSS information received from individual wireless access points in the plurality of access points;
• and
• a localization module that identifies a sub-region in the wireless environment that the station is located in based on the second plurality of distances and identifies a location associated with the sub-region that corresponds to an approximate location of the station in the wireless environment.