A simple ray-sector signal strength model for indoor 802.11 networks

In this paper we present a simple ray-sector model of signal strength for indoor 802.11 networks. Signal strength is an important parameter for a variety of important wireless networking tasks, such as localization and topology control. A sufficiently accurate, yet generic, method of generating signal strength maps is needed in order to accurately simulate, design and evaluate these systems. Our ray-sector model constructs signal maps by adding signal bias with sectors defined by rings and randomized rays, using a traditional log-linear decay model as a baseline. We show our model generates distortions similar to measured radio maps by quantitatively comparing the behavior of micro-benchmarks using maps from two buildings and those generated by our model. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of our model for higher-level applications by showing it accurately predicts the performance for two dissimilar localization algorithms.