A Study on Altitude Estimation in Multi-floor Environments Using Smartphone Barometer

Altitude estimation by Global Positioning System (GPS) is unreliable in multi-floor environments, and barometer readings can be affected by temporal atmospheric pressure variations, complicating floor-level determination. To address these issues, this study proposes a method that utilizes pressure data from both reference and mobile stations to estimate user altitude and floor level. A database is constructed by recording pressure data from reference and mobile stations at reference points (RPs) on each floor, from which differential altitudes are calculated. Finally, the user’s altitude and floor level are estimated by comparing real-time differential altitudes with the database. Simulations and real-time experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accurately estimates the user’s floor levels.