SurroundSense: mobile phone localization via ambience fingerprinting

A growing number of mobile computing applications are centered around the user’s location. The notion of location is broad, ranging from physical coordinates (latitude/longitude) to logical labels (like Starbucks, McDonalds). While extensive research has been performed in physical localization, there have been few attempts in recognizing logical locations. This paper argues that the increasing number of sensors on mobile phones presents new opportunities for logical localization. We postulate that ambient sound, light, and color in a place convey a photo-acoustic signature that can be sensed by the phone’s camera and microphone. In-built accelerometers in some phones may also be useful in inferring broad classes of user-motion, often dictated by the nature of the place. By combining these optical, acoustic, and motion attributes, it may be feasible to construct an identifiable fingerprint for logical localization. Hence, users in adjacent stores can be separated logically, even ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: MOBICOM
• Authors: Martin Azizyan, Ionut Constandache, Romit Roy Choudhury
• Keywords: Communications, Logical Localization, MOBICOM 2009, Mobile Computing Applications, Mobile Phones