Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies

Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies is a research topic within Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Science Explorer counts 42k research works in it since 1951. 23.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on wireless indoor localization techniques and systems, covering topics such as RF-based positioning, inertial sensors, WiFi fingerprinting, ultra-wideband signals, mobile positioning, and RSSI-based localization. The research explores various methods for accurately estimating the location of devices within indoor environments, with applications in smart homes, pedestrian navigation, activity recognition, and IoT services.

  • Indoor Localization
  • Wireless Sensor Networks
  • RF-Based Positioning
  • Inertial Sensors
  • WiFi Fingerprinting
  • Ultra-Wideband Signals
  • Location Estimation
  • Mobile Positioning
  • RSSI-Based Localization
  • Indoor Tracking
Research works
42k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
9.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+19%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.1k and 803 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 4.1k works
  2. 2 United States 803 works
  3. 3 India 620 works
  4. 4 Japan 350 works
  5. 5 South Korea 330 works
  6. 6 Germany 281 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 278 works
  8. 8 Italy 260 works
  9. 9 Canada 194 works
  10. 10 France 164 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 55.3%United States: 10.9%India: 8.5%Japan: 4.8%6 others listed: 20.5%55%largest
China4,059 · 55.3%United States803 · 10.9%India620 · 8.5%Japan350 · 4.8%6 others listed1,507 · 20.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications publishes the most Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research, followed by Southeast University and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Who are the leading researchers in Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies include Sebastian Thrun, H. Vincent Poor and Ian F. Akyildiz.

  1. 1 Sebastian Thrun United States 10k citations
  2. 2 H. Vincent Poor United States 9.5k citations
  3. 3 Ian F. Akyildiz United States 8.2k citations
  4. 4 Thomas S. Huang United States 7.4k citations
  5. 5 Robert W. Heath United States 7.1k citations
  6. 6 Wolfram Burgard Germany 6.3k citations
  7. 7 Deborah Estrin United States 5.9k citations
  8. 8 Mohamed‐Slim Alouini Saudi Arabia 5.9k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research done?

The largest centres of Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Xi'an (China) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 843 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 374 works
  3. 3 Xi'an China 303 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 244 works
  5. 5 Wuhan China 218 works
  6. 6 Chengdu China 171 works
  7. 7 Shenzhen China 154 works
  8. 8 Seoul South Korea 154 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 146 works
  10. 10 Harbin China 140 works
See Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Southeast University and Wuhan University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 30.86%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Singapore University of Technology and Design: 12, 39.3%Southeast University: 114, 29.1%Wuhan University: 78, 38.3%Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen: 17, 39.4%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 60, 35.8%Harbin Engineering University: 65, 28.4%University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: 109, 20.0%Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications: 118, 21.0%National University of Defense Technology: 74, 22.6%Nanyang Technological University: 45, 34.7%Chinese University o…Singapore University…Wuhan UniversitySoutheast University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Singapore University of Technology and DesignSingapore 75.639.3%14.5×12 +220.2%
2 Southeast UniversityChina 74.329.1%9.2×114 +140.3%
3 Wuhan UniversityChina 71.738.3%7.0×78 +152.6%
4 Chinese University of Hong Kong, ShenzhenChina 69.539.4%10.2×17 +91.5%
5 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong 69.435.8%7.5×60 +35.3%
6 Harbin Engineering UniversityChina 65.728.4%13.6×65 +63.4%
7 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 64.020.0%10.5×109 +51.6%
8 Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 63.821.0%20.9×118 +39.5%
9 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 60.522.6%10.3×74 +41.4%
10 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 59.734.7%6.1×45 +0.1%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 19% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.