Improving Visible Light Positioning Accuracy Using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for Deep Learning Hyperparameter Updating in Received Signal Strength (RSS)-Based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)

Chun-Ming Chang, Yuan-Zeng Lin, Chi-Wai Chow

Visible light positioning (VLP) has emerged as a promising indoor positioning technology, owing to its high accuracy and cost-effectiveness. In practical scenarios, signal attenuation, multiple light reflections, or light-deficient regions, particularly near room corners or furniture, can significantly degrade the light quality. In addition, the non-uniform light distribution by light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires can also introduce errors in VLP estimation. To mitigate these challenges, recent studies have increasingly explored the use of machine learning (ML) techniques to model the complex nonlinear characteristics of indoor optical channels and improve VLP performance. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have demonstrated strong potential in reducing positioning errors and improving system robustness under non-ideal lighting conditions. However, the performance of CNN-based systems is highly sensitive to their hyperparameters, including learning rate, dropout rate, batch size, and optimizer selection. Manual tuning of these parameters is not only time-consuming but also often suboptimal, particularly when models are applied to new or dynamic environments. Therefore, there is a growing need for automated optimization techniques that can adaptively determine optimal model configurations for VLP tasks. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a VLP system that integrates received signal strength (RSS) signal pre-processing, a CNN, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) for automated hyperparameter tuning. In the proof-of-concept VLP experiment, three different height layer planes (i.e., 200, 225, and 250 cm) are employed for the comparison of three different ML models, including linear regression (LR), an artificial neural network (ANN), and a CNN. For instance, the mean positioning error of a CNN + pre-processing model at the 200 cm receiver (Rx)-plane reduces from 9.83 cm to 5.72 cm. This represents an improvement of 41.81%. By employing a CNN + pre-processing + PSO, the mean error can be further reduced to 4.93 cm. These findings demonstrate that integrating PSO-based hyperparameter tuning with a CNN and RSS pre-processing significantly enhances positioning accuracy, reliability, and model robustness. This approach offers a scalable and effective solution for real-world indoor positioning applications in smart buildings and Internet of Things (IoT) environments.