GPS-Denied Swarm Surveillance via Multi-Technology Local Positioning: From Indoor Wi-Fi Fingerprinting to Kilometre-Scale LoRa Ranging

GPS-Denied Swarm Surveillance via Multi-Technology Local Positioning: From Indoor Wi-Fi Fingerprinting to Kilometre-Scale LoRa Ranging | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article GPS-Denied Swarm Surveillance via Multi-Technology Local Positioning: From Indoor Wi-Fi Fingerprinting to Kilometre-Scale LoRa Ranging Pruthviraj Banne, Madhav kuber This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9342533/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Autonomous swarm robotics for surveillance and defence critically depends on reliable self-localization, yet GPS signals are frequently unavailable in indoor facilities, underground environments, and adversarial zones subject to jamming or spoofing. This paper addresses that gap by presenting a unified, minimal-sensor local positioning framework that spans five wireless ranging technologies—Wi-Fi RSSI, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), LoRa RSSI, ZigBee, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)—and demonstrates how the same anchor–tag architecture and KNearest Neighbors (KNN) machine learning pipeline can be applied across radically different scales: from a 2m×2m indoor arena to a 1km×1km outdoor field. Indoor experiments with four Wi-Fi ESP32 anchors and an 81-point fingerprint database (8,100 RSSI samples) show KNN achieving a mean localization error of 0.32m versus 1.05m for geometric trilateration. Outdoor LoRa experiments using four RA-09H SX1262 anchors over a 1km×1km area confirm spatially unique RSSI fingerprints at 20m resolution—establishing LoRa as a viable GPS-free positioning approach at large scales. To support autonomous navigation between localization fixes, a magnetometer-coupled boundary-following obstacle avoidance algorithm is introduced that requires only three ultrasonic sensors and an HMC5883L compass, with no map or lidar. Bio-inspired aggregation logic, triggered by event-driven alarm broadcasts, coordinates five ESP32-based ground robots to converge on detected threats in under 10 s. Hardware trials and multi-agent simulation validate the complete system. A technology selection framework based on coverage-accuracy tradeoffs guides deployment across indoor, campus, and wide-area scenarios. GPS-denied navigation local positioning system Wi-Fi RSSI fingerprinting LoRa RSSI KNN regression swarm robotics obstacle avoidance surveillance autonomous patrol anchor–tag localization HMC5883L ESP32 Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 20 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 16 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 07 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9342533","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":629409555,"identity":"e26a8b14-ea73-447e-8d1f-23f143558bb5","order_by":0,"name":"Pruthviraj Banne","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABMElEQVRIie2RQUvDMBSAUwLpJbXXlur8CykFa1HmbxmFnQZSvCiCswRyKp4t/omdgseMHnbJdi7sYt0vGENQPGjag1Pazqtgv0Py8nhf8sIDoKPjjwIBsNQmq0MPQS1+UgHeazc0+l3xTJ1SUipot1KCq3WQJjNW3gDaFN+R/ipix+dmPJ9uosdTbZIP2NXLqL+PACye87oS3I1cmjIruBeL0EnlEBKlLA94qBpDnjeqK0Ril2JpESAkcQyWoUqxOVQKRs4u5VBI791gH7hULmw+/kW5tAgR8ki9Iiw7mTJtzbNWJUhQ9FAqrlgMTwwWElOPqaPxGUaw+S8+hpMNJjekl8+zpcH6Ywb1Yv3Gr8/UgIpVU2NfkSW2WVjNCNbLfyrm7TarvTZXd3R0dPxPPgFVOWIF7G2s3AAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Defence Institute of Advanced Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pruthviraj","middleName":"","lastName":"Banne","suffix":""},{"id":629409557,"identity":"017bc92c-1359-48ce-a51e-13df41e7d3c7","order_by":1,"name":"Madhav kuber","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Defence Institute of Advanced Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Madhav","middleName":"","lastName":"kuber","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-07 09:23:42","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9342533/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9342533/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107874584,"identity":"1dfaab27-625c-4f31-8255-3117b9395c93","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-27 08:06:59","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":6020615,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"JOURNELpaperfinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9342533/v1_covered_32b3423e-4d77-4c46-9cc9-f2a5bd8d55f6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"GPS-Denied Swarm Surveillance via Multi-Technology Local Positioning: From Indoor Wi-Fi Fingerprinting to Kilometre-Scale LoRa Ranging","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-intelligent-and-robotic-systems","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Intelligent \u0026 Robotic Systems](https://link.springer.com/journal/10846)","snPcode":"10846","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/10846/3","title":"Journal of Intelligent \u0026 Robotic Systems","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Open","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"GPS-denied navigation, local positioning system, Wi-Fi RSSI fingerprinting, LoRa RSSI, KNN regression, swarm robotics, obstacle avoidance, surveillance, autonomous patrol, anchor–tag localization, HMC5883L, ESP32 ","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9342533/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9342533/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAutonomous swarm robotics for surveillance and defence critically depends on reliable self-localization, yet GPS signals are frequently unavailable in indoor facilities, underground environments, and adversarial zones subject to jamming or spoofing. 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