Method for improved indoor positioning and crowd sourcing using PDR

1. A method for determining a position of a mobile device, the method comprising:

scanning a wireless signal associated with the mobile device;

measuring a signal strength associated with the wireless signal;

determining a timestamp associated with the measurement;

estimating a position of the mobile device based on a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) technique; and

determining an actual position of the mobile device by modeling a signal strength at the estimated position and comparing the signal strength measurement with the modeled signal strength to map the scanned wireless signal to a position of the mobile device at a time associated with the timestamp.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein there is a delay between the scanning of the wireless signal and reporting of a result of the scanning of the wireless signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal comprises at least one wireless fidelity (WiFi) signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one wireless fidelity WiFi signal comprises a 5 GHz signal and a 2.4 GHz signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a modeled signal strength for the signal strength measurement based on the determined position.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the position based on a particle-filter technique.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the position based on at least one of a least squares technique or a Kalman filter technique.

8. The method claim 1 , further comprising locating an access point based on the signal strength measurement and the determined position.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal comprises a radio signal associated with at least one of Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, or a cellular network.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the scanning, measuring, determining the timestamp, and determining the position steps.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring a time-of-flight associated with the wireless signal; and wherein determining the position further comprises determining the position based on the time-of-flight associated with the wireless signal.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the position further comprises determining the position based on a time difference of arrival technique associated with the wireless signal and a second wireless signal.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device comprises at least one of a mobile phone, a mobile computing device, a mobile television, a laptop computer, a smart screen, a tablet computer, a portable desktop computer, an e-reader, a scanner, a portable media device, eyewear, a gaming device, eyeglasses, headgear, a camera, a watch, or a band or other wearable device.

14. A system for determining a position of a mobile device, the system comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a module, stored in the memory, executable by the processor, and configured to:

scan a wireless signal associated with the mobile device,

measure a signal strength associated with the wireless signal,

determine a timestamp associated with the measurement,

estimate a position of the mobile device based on a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) technique, and

determine an actual position of the mobile device by modeling a signal strength at the estimated position and comparing the signal strength measurement with the modeled signal strength to map the scanned wireless signal to a position of the mobile device at a time associated with the timestamp.

15. A non-transitory computer program product for determining a position of a mobile device, the non-transitory computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code configured to:

scan a wireless signal associated with the mobile device;

measure a signal strength associated with the wireless signal;

determine a timestamp associated with the measurement;

estimate a position of the mobile device based on a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) technique; and

determine an actual position of the mobile device by modeling a signal strength at the estimated position and comparing the signal strength measurement with the modeled signal strength to map the scanned wireless signal to a position of the mobile device at a time associated with the timestamp.