Multitarget Device-Free Localization via Cross-Domain Wi-Fi RSS Training Data and Attentional Prior Fusion

Abstract

Device-free localization (DFL) using easily-obtained Wi-Fi received signal strength (RSS) has wide real-world applications for not requiring people to carry trackable devices. However, accurate multitarget DFL remains challenging due to the unknown number of targets, multipath interference (MPI), especially between nearby targets, and limited real-world data. In this study, we pioneeringly propose a transformer-based learning method with Wi-Fi RSS as input, and an attentional prior fusion module, to simultaneously locate an unknown number of people at random positions. To overcome the multitarget data collection challenges, we contribute a large-scale cross-domain real-simulation-augmentation training dataset with one and two real-world nearby non-person objects at limited positions and up to five simulated and augmented randomly distributed targets. Experimental results demonstrate our method's improved accuracy, generalization ability, and robustness with fewer Wi-Fi nodes than previous methods.