RSSI channel effects in cellular and WLAN positioning

Indoors wireless propagation effects in the context of positioning are still not deeply understood or reported in the existing literature. For an indoor localization system based on Received Signal Strength Indicator measurements, deriving suitable path loss models with adequate shadowing or shadow fading modeling is of utmost importance in order to be able to build low complexity positioning estimators. In this paper we analyze in depth the basic path loss and shadowing models and their parameters, based on extensive measurement campaigns with WLAN and cellular signals. We also discuss the similarities and differences between cellular and WLAN wireless propagation models.