A Survey of Positioning Techniques and Location Based Services in Wireless Networks

International audiencePositioning techniques are known in a wide variety of wireless radio access technologies. Traditionally, Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most popular outdoor positioning system. Localization also exists in mobile networks such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). Recently, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) become widely deployed, and they are also used for localizing wireless-enabled clients. Many techniques are used to estimate client position in a wireless network. They are based on the characteristics of the received wireless signals: power, time or angle of arrival. In addition, hybrid positioning techniques make use of the collaboration between different wireless radio access technologies existing in the same geographical area. Client positioning allows the introduction of numerous services like real-time tracking, security alerts, informational services and entertainment applications. Such services are known as Location Based Services (LBS), and they are useful in both commerce and security sectors. In this paper, we explain the principles behind positioning techniques used in satellite networks, mobile networks and Wireless Local Area Networks. We also describe hybrid localization methods that exploit the coexistence of several radio access technologies in the same region, and we classify the location based services into several categories. When localization accuracy is improved, position-dependant services become more robust and efficient, and user satisfaction increases

Innovative Tools and Methods Using BIM for an Efficient Renovation in Buildings

This open access book describes a BIM-based toolkit that has been developed according to the latest research activities on building information modelling and semantic interoperability to optimize the building process. It highlights the impacts of using such new tools to fast renovation activities starting from the decision-making and design stages to the construction site management with the possibility to monitor occupants' and owners’ feedback during the realization process. In this process, a framework has been developed and implemented to allow stakeholders involved in a renovation project to efficiently compile, maintain, and add data about (i) building elements, (ii) building services systems, (iii) tenants, operators, and owners of the building, and (iv) current and predicted performance of the building from the various data sources available. The framework applies and specializes the existing practices in the Semantic Web, Linked Data, and ontology domain to the management of renovation projects. It has been designed to be open so that any system which implements the required functions and uses the specified conventions will be able to achieve semantic interoperability with other framework-compliant systems in the renovation domain. Finally, this book represents the validation process of the toolkit that has been held in three demo sites: a social housing building in Italy and two private residential buildings in Poland and Finland. The outcome shows that the toolkit facilitates the renovation process with relevant reductions of time, costs, and energy consumption and that the inhabitants can take advantage of the increase in building performances, quality, and comfort

An Indoor Positioning System Based on Wearables for Ambient-Assisted Living

The urban population is growing at such a rate that by 2050 it is estimated that 84% of the world’s population will live in cities, with flats being the most common living place. Moreover, WiFi technology is present in most developed country urban areas, with a quick growth in developing countries. New Ambient-Assisted Living applications will be developed in the near future having user positioning as ground technology: elderly tele-care, energy consumption, security and the like are strongly based on indoor positioning information. We present an indoor positioning system for wearable devices based on WiFi fingerprinting. Smart-watch wearable devices are used to acquire the WiFi strength signals of the surrounding Wireless Access Points used to build an ensemble of Machine Learning classification algorithms. Once built, the ensemble algorithm is used to locate a user based on the WiFi strength signals provided by the wearable device. Experimental results for five different urban flats are reported, showing that the system is robust and reliable enough for locating a user at room level into his/her home. Another interesting characteristic of the presented system is that it does not require deployment of any infrastructure, and it is unobtrusive, the only device required for it to work is a smart-watch.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the “Proyectos I + D Excelencia” programme (TIN2015-70202-P) and the “Redes de Excelencia” programme (TEC2015-71426-REDT), and from the Regional Government of Valencia (‘Proyectos de I + D para Grupos de Investigación Emergentes’ GV/2016/159). Special thanks to Víctor, Maricarmen, Inma and Daniel who lent their houses for performing the experiments

Construction safety and digital design: a review

As digital technologies become widely used in designing buildings and infrastructure, questions arise about their impacts on construction safety. This review explores relationships between construction safety and digital design practices with the aim of fostering and directing further research. It surveys state-of-the-art research on databases, virtual reality, geographic information systems, 4D CAD, building information modeling and sensing technologies, finding various digital tools for addressing safety issues in the construction phase, but few tools to support design for construction safety. It also considers a literature on safety critical, digital and design practices that raises a general concern about ‘mindlessness’ in the use of technologies, and has implications for the emerging research agenda around construction safety and digital design. Bringing these strands of literature together suggests new kinds of interventions, such as the development of tools and processes for using digital models to promote mindfulness through multi-party collaboration on safet

In-home monitoring system based on WiFi fingerprints for ambient assisted living

This paper presents an in-home monitoring system based on WiFi fingerprints for Ambient Assisted Living. WiFi fingerprints are used to continuously locate a patient at the different rooms in her/his home. The experiments performed provide a correctly location rate of 96% in the best case of all studied scenarios. The behavior obtained by location monitoring allows to detect anomalous behavior such as long stays in rooms out of the common schedule. The main characteristics of the presented system are: a) it is robust enough to work without an own WiFi access point, which in turn means a very affordable solution; b) low obtrusiveness, as it is based on the use of a mobile phone; c) highly interoperable with other wireless connections (bluetooth, RFID) present in current mobile phones; d) alarms are triggered when any anomalous behavior is detected

Real-Time Human Trajectory Dataset Capture Model (RT-HTDCM) using GPS and Assisted-GPS Technologies: African Perspective

Movement is one of the characteristics of human beings that allow them change their location with time in their environment to obtain essential requirements of life and also take part in other social life activities. A moving person always leave trajectory (trace) through which he/she passed. But it is often difficult for people to divulge information about their trajectories.  However, the information is often needed or required, for business, security, social, etc, reasons to monitor their trajectories and infer what led them through these trajectories. With the recent development in Telecommunications and ICT (Information & Communications Technology ) in combination with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, traces of moving persons can be recorded digitally on real-time using GPS-enabled devices such as Smartphones, PDAs, Pads, and Cameras assigned to them. In this paper, we proposed a model for developing real-time human trajectory dataset capture software that uses GPS and Assisted-GPS Technologies on Smartphones for tracking and recording of such movement traces of individuals in African developing country, Nigeria. Some smartphones installed with the model (RT-HTDC software) were tested in geographical areas of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria, and samples of date/time-stamped location points of these smartphone-users were captured and recorded. These location points if connected sequentially can form trajectories (traces) of smartphone-users. Keywords: GPS, Assisted-GPS, Smartphones, location-log, Trajectory, Moving Objects

3D Indoor Positioning in 5G networks

Over the past two decades, the challenge of accurately positioning objects or users indoors, especially in areas where Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are not available, has been a significant focus for the research community. With the rise of 5G IoT networks, the quest for precise 3D positioning in various industries has driven researchers to explore various machine learning-based positioning techniques. Within this context, researchers are leveraging a mix of existing and emerging wireless communication technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Visible Light Communication (VLC), etc., as well as integrating any available useful data to enhance the speed and accuracy of indoor positioning. Methods for indoor positioning involve combining various parameters such as received signal strength (RSS), time of flight (TOF), time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), direction of arrival (DOA) and more. Among these, fingerprint-based positioning stands out as a popular technique in Real Time Localisation Systems (RTLS) due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Positioning systems based on fingerprint maps or other relevant methods find applications in diverse scenarios, including malls for indoor navigation and geo-marketing, hospitals for monitoring patients, doctors, and critical equipment, logistics for asset tracking and optimising storage spaces, and homes for providing Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) services. A significant challenge facing all indoor positioning systems is the objective evaluation of their performance. This challenge is compounded by the coexistence of heterogeneous technologies and the rapid advancement of computation. There is a vast potential for information fusion to be explored. These observations have led to the motivation behind our work. As a result, two novel algorithms and a framework are introduced in this thesis

Low-Cost Bluetooth Mobile Positioning for Location-based Application

Bluetooth is a promising short-range radio network technology. We present a low cost and easily deployed, scalable infrastructure for indoor location-based computing of mobile devices based on Bluetooth technology. The system consists of 2 main components, namely the Bluetooth (BT) Sensor System and the Central Navigation System which have been developed using the JDK 6.0. The Bluetooth Sensor System allows mobile devices whose Bluetooth mode is set to discoverable, to be scanned and detected, and they receive customizable text message of their positioning information, e.g. room identity. The positioning information is also sent to the Central Navigation System which in turn displays and updates the navigation map. The system is also used to track the movement of different BT mobile devices within the implemented environment.Comment: 4 pages 3rd IEEE/IFIP International Conference in Central Asia on Internet 2007, ICI 200