E-Field Assessment Errors Caused by the Human Body on Localization Systems

Due to their availability and cost, Received Signal Strength (RSS) based techniques are the most spread localization schemes when a person who carries an RSS meter is going to be located. However, this techniques are subject to errors associated with perturbations of the fields by the presence of the human body. Although these alterations are complex they are not completely unpredictable. This paper presents a few simple case studies to assess the E-field strength errors caused by the presence of the human body on RSS based localization schemes in a theoretical and experimental approach. It can be concluded that in a common but conservative worst case scenario this error could reach up to 15 dB and therefore it is of concern for analysis. Also, useful insights into the overall problem based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations are given.