RF fingerprinting for location estimation

1. A method of estimation of a location of a terminal within an area of coverage of a wireless network comprising at least one fixed node, the method comprising:

estimating the location of the terminal on the basis of at least a comparison between data representing a first metric of a complex frequency response of a radio channel between the terminal and one of said at least one fixed node and data representing a plurality of stored metrics, and

each of said plurality of stored metrics being related to one of a plurality of different locations within the network and each stored metric being of a complex frequency response measured between the said one of said fixed nodes and the location within the network to which the metric relates,

wherein the data representing the first metric of the complex frequency response of the radio channel between the terminal and said one of said fixed nodes is determined by:

receiving pilot tone values of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex symbol;

estimating the complex frequency response of the radio channel on the basis of the received pilot tones; and

evaluating the first metric on the basis of an autocorrelation function of the estimated complex frequency response.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are frequency coherence functions.

3. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are normalised frequency coherence functions.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the data representing the first metric of the complex frequency response of the radio channel between the terminal and said one of said fixed nodes is determined from a signal transmitted from a selected one of the terminal and the said one of the said fixed nodes, the signal being received by the other of the terminal and the said one of the said fixed nodes.

5. A method according to claim 1 , in which said estimating comprises:

evaluating a measure of the difference between the first metric and each of the stored metrics; and

estimating the position of the terminal on the basis of the location related to the stored metric for which the evaluated measure of the difference is a minimum.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless network further comprises a plurality of fixed nodes, the method further comprising;

measuring a set of a complex frequency responses, the set comprising a complex frequency response for a radio channel between the terminal and each of two or more of said plurality of fixed nodes;

determining a set of first metrics, each first metric corresponding to one of the measured set of complex frequency responses; and

estimating the location of the terminal on the basis of a comparison between each first metric in the set of first metrics and corresponding metrics in a plurality of stored sets of metrics,

each stored set of metrics being related to one of a plurality of different locations within the network and each set of stored metrics comprising a stored metric for a complex frequency response measured between each of the said two or more of the plurality of fixed nodes and the location within the network to which the stored set of metrics relates.

7. A method according to claim 6 , in which said estimating comprises:

evaluating a measure of the difference between each first metric in the set of first metrics and the corresponding metric in each of said plurality of stored sets of metrics;

calculating a mean squared difference between the set of first metrics and each of the stored sets of metrics, on the basis of the evaluated measures; and

estimating the position of the terminal on the basis of one of said plurality of locations for which the evaluated mean squared difference is a minimum.

8. A method according to claim 6 , in which said estimating comprises:

evaluating a measure of the difference between each first metric in the set of first metrics and the corresponding metric in each of said plurality of stored sets of metrics;

calculating a mean squared difference between the set of first metrics and each of the stored sets of metrics, on the basis of the evaluated measures;

selecting two or more locations from said plurality of locations having lower evaluated mean squared difference than the other locations; and

estimating the position of the terminal on the basis of an interpolation between the selected locations.

9. A processor arranged to estimate a location of a terminal within an area of coverage of a wireless network comprising at least one fixed node,

wherein the processor is arranged to receive a complex frequency response of a radio channel between the terminal and one of said fixed nodes, and

the processor is arranged to estimate the location of the terminal on the basis of at least a comparison between data representing a first metric of the complex frequency response and data representing a plurality of stored metrics,

each of said plurality of stored metrics being related to one of a plurality of different locations within the network and each stored metric being of a complex frequency response between the said one of said fixed nodes and the location within the network to which the metric relates,

wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are autocorrelation functions.

10. A processor according to claim 9 , wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are frequency coherence functions.

11. A processor according to claim 10 , wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are normalised frequency coherence functions.

12. A processor according to claim 9 , wherein said the complex frequency response of the radio channel between the terminal and said one of said fixed nodes is determined from a signal transmitted from a selected one of the terminal and the said one of the said fixed nodes, the signal being received by the other of the terminal and the said one of the said fixed nodes.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with non-transitory computer executable instructions for causing a processor to estimate a location of a terminal within an area of coverage of a wireless network comprising at least one fixed node by:

receiving a complex frequency response of a radio channel between the terminal and one of said fixed nodes, and

estimating the location of the terminal on the basis of at least a comparison between data representing a first metric of the complex frequency response and data representing a plurality of stored metrics,

each of said plurality of stored metrics being related to one of a plurality of different locations within the network and each stored metric being of a complex frequency response between the said one of said fixed nodes and the location within the network to which the metric relates, wherein the first metric and the plurality of stored metrics are autocorrelation functions.