Intelligent Luminaire based Real-time Indoor Positioning for Assisted Living

This paper presents an experimental evaluation on the accuracy of indoor localisation. The research was carried out as part of a European Union project targeting the creation of ICT solutions for older adult care. Current expectation is that advances in technology will supplement the human workforce required for older adult care, improve their quality of life and decrease healthcare expenditure. The proposed approach is implemented in the form of a configurable cyber-physical system that enables indoor localization and monitoring of older adults living at home or in residential buildings. Hardware consists of custom developed luminaires with sensing, communication and processing capabilities. They replace the existing lighting infrastructure, do not look out of place and are cost effective. The luminaires record the strength of a Bluetooth signal emitted by a wearable device equipped by the monitored user. The system's software server uses trilateration to calculate the person's location based on known luminaire placement and recorded signal strengths. However, multipath fading caused by the presence of walls, furniture and other objects introduces localisation errors. Our previous experiments showed that room-level accuracy can be achieved using software-based filtering for a stationary subject. Our current objective is to assess system accuracy in the context of a moving subject, and ascertain whether room-level localization is feasible in real time

Received Signal Strength Indicator-Based Adaptive Localization Algorithm for Indoor Wireless Sensor Networks

Solutions for indoor localization have become more critical with recent advancement in context and location-aware technologies. When wireless sensor network (WSN) used in complex indoor environment, great propagation loss will be caused and it is very difficult to estimate adaptively the location of target nodes when environment changed. In this paper, an indoor adaptive localization algorithm based on received signal strength indication (RSSI) for wireless sensor networks is proposed. The algorithm utilizes the RSSI of radio signals radiating from two other fixed nodes to generate the local parameters of signal propagation model for each fixed node, and the parameters are updated online according to environmental variation. According to the estimated parameters of the signal propagation model, iteration method is applied to estimate the position of target node. Through actual experimental tests, the validity of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated

Usability of open-source hardware based platform for indoor positioning systems

The application of indoor location systems (also known as indoor positioning systems, IPS) has significantly increased in the past decade. Those systems find their role in the broad range of possible implementations, especially in the applications in the area of resource management and location tracking. Their applications can be in safety management, material, construction, and inventory management. Since, those systems are designed for indoor and closed areas where GPS, GLONASS, and other navigation systems are not applicable, a different approach should be used to determine the location. This paper presents a brief overview of indoor localization technologies and methods. The focus of this paper is on RSSI based methods for positioning. The contribution of this paper is in analyses of usability of platforms built on Arduino/Genuino development boards and similar devices and open-source hardware for usage in RSSI based indoor positioning systems. The presented platform is designed and evaluated with the two experiments, with two different technologies

Modelling the Effect of Human Body around User on Signal Strength and Accuracy of Indoor Positioning

WLAN indoor positioning system (IPS) has high accurate of position estimation and minimal cost. However, environmental conditions such as the people presence effect (PPE) greatly influence WLAN signal and it will decrease the accuracy. This research modelled the effect of people around user on signal strength and the accuracy. We have modelled the human body around user effects by proposed a general equation of decrease in RSSI as function of position, distance, and number of people. RSSI decreased from 5 dBm to 1 dBm when people in LOS position, and start from 0.5 dBm to 0.3 dBm when people in NLOS position. The system accuracy decreases due to the presence of people. When the system in NLOS case (ΔRSSI = 0.5 dBm), the presence of people causes a decrease in accuracy from 33% to 57%. Then the accuracy decrease from 273% to 334% in LOS case (ΔRSSI = 5 dBm)

Modelling the effect of human body around user on signal strength and accuracy of indoor positioning

WLAN indoor positioning system (IPS) has high accurate of position estimation and minimal cost. However, environmental conditions such as the people presence effect (PPE) greatly influence WLAN signal and it will decrease the accuracy. This research modelled the effect of people around user on signal strength and the accuracy. We have modelled the human body around user effects by proposed a general equation of decrease in signal strength as function of position, distance, and number of people. Signal strength decreased from 5 dBm to 1 dBm when people in line of sight (LOS) position, and start from 0.5 dBm to 0.3 dBm when people in non-line of sight (NLOS) position. The system accuracy decreases due to the presence of people. When the system is in NLOS case, the presence of people causes a decrease in accuracy from 33% to 57%. Then the accuracy decrease from 273% to 334% in LOS case

Localization in Low Luminance, Slippery Indoor Environment Using Afocal Optical Flow Sensor and Image Processing

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2017. 8. 조동일.실내 서비스로봇의 위치 추정은 자율 주행을 위한 필수 요건이다. 특히 카메라로 위치를 추정하기 어려운 실내 저조도 환경에서 미끄러짐이 발생할 경우에는 위치 추정의 정확도가 낮아진다. 미끄러짐은 주로 카펫이나 문턱 등을 주행할 때 발생하며, 휠 엔코더 기반의 주행기록으로는 주행 거리의 정확한 인식에 한계가 있다. 본 논문에서는 카메라 기반 동시적 위치추정 및 지도작성 기술(simultaneous localization and mappingSLAM)이 동작하기 어려운 저조도, 미끄러운 환경에서 저가의 모션센서와 무한초점 광학흐름센서(afocal optical flow sensorAOFS) 및 VGA급 전방 단안카메라를 융합하여 강인하게 위치를 추정하는 방법을 제안했다. 로봇의 위치 추정은 주행거리 순간 변화량과 방위각 순간 변화량을 누적 융합하여 산출했으며, 미끄러운 환경에서도 좀 더 정확한 주행거리 추정을 위해 휠 엔코더와 AOFS로부터 획득한 이동 변위 정보를 융합했고, 방위각 추정을 위해 각속도 센서와 전방 영상으로부터 파악된 실내 공간정보를 활용했다. 광학흐름센서는 바퀴 미끄러짐에 강인하게 이동 변위를 추정 하지만, 카펫처럼 평평하지 않은 표면을 주행하는 이동 로봇에 광학흐름센서를 장착할 경우, 주행 중 발생하는 광학흐름센서와 바닥 간의 높이 변화가 광학흐름센서를 이용한 이동거리 추정 오차의 주요인으로 작용한다. 본 논문에서는 광학흐름센서에 무한초점계 원리를 적용하여 이 오차 요인을 완화하는 방안을 제시하였다. 로봇 문형 시스템(robotic gantry system)을 이용하여 카펫 및 세가지 종류의 바닥재질에서 광학흐름센서의 높이를 30 mm 에서 50 mm 로 변화시키며 80 cm 거리를 이동하는 실험을 10번씩 반복한 결과, 본 논문에서 제안하는 AOFS 모듈은 1 mm 높이 변화 당 0.1% 의 계통오차(systematic error)를 발생시켰으나, 기존의 고정초점방식의 광학흐름센서는 14.7% 의 계통오차를 나타냈다. 실내 이동용 서비스 로봇에 AOFS를 장착하여 카펫 위에서 1 m 를 주행한 결과 평균 거리 추정 오차는 0.02% 이고, 분산은 17.6% 인 반면, 고정초점 광학흐름센서를 로봇에 장착하여 같은 실험을 했을 때에는 4.09% 의 평균 오차 및 25.7% 의 분산을 나타냈다. 주위가 너무 어두워서 영상을 위치 보정에 사용하기 어려운 경우, 즉, 저조도 영상을 밝게 개선했으나 SLAM에 활용할 강인한 특징점 혹은 특징선을 추출하기 어려운 경우에도 로봇 주행 각도 보정에 저조도 이미지를 활용하는 방안을 제시했다. 저조도 영상에 히스토그램 평활화(histogram equalization) 알고리즘을 적용하면 영상이 밝게 보정 되면서 동시에 잡음도 증가하게 되는데, 영상 잡음을 없애는 동시에 이미지 경계를 뚜렷하게 하는 롤링 가이던스 필터(rolling guidance filterRGF)를 적용하여 이미지를 개선하고, 이 이미지에서 실내 공간을 구성하는 직교 직선 성분을 추출 후 소실점(vanishing pointVP)을 추정하고 소실점을 기준으로 한 로봇 상대 방위각을 획득하여 각도 보정에 활용했다. 제안하는 방법을 로봇에 적용하여 0.06 ~ 0.21 lx 의 저조도 실내 공간(77 sqm)에 카펫을 설치하고 주행했을 경우, 로봇의 복귀 위치 오차가 기존 401 cm 에서 21 cm로 줄어듦을 확인할 수 있었다.제 1 장 서 론 1 1.1 연구의 배경 1 1.2 선행 연구 조사 6 1.2.1 실내 이동형 서비스 로봇의 미끄러짐 감지 기술 6 1.2.2 저조도 영상 개선 기술 8 1.3 기여도 12 1.4 논문의 구성 14 제 2 장 무한초점 광학흐름센서(AOFS) 모듈 16 2.1 무한초점 시스템(afocal system) 16 2.2 바늘구멍 효과 18 2.3 무한초점 광학흐름센서(AOFS) 모듈 프로토타입 20 2.4 무한초점 광학흐름센서(AOFS) 모듈 실험 계획 24 2.5 무한초점 광학흐름센서(AOFS) 모듈 실험 결과 29 제 3 장 저조도영상의 방위각보정 활용방법 36 3.1 저조도 영상 개선 방법 36 3.2 한 장의 영상으로 실내 공간 파악 방법 38 3.3 소실점 랜드마크를 이용한 로봇 각도 추정 41 3.4 최종 주행기록 알고리즘 46 3.5 저조도영상의 방위각 보정 실험 계획 48 3.6 저조도영상의 방위각 보정 실험 결과 50 제 4 장 저조도 환경 위치인식 실험 결과 54 4.1 실험 환경 54 4.2 시뮬레이션 실험 결과 59 4.3 임베디드 실험 결과 61 제 5 장 결론 62Docto

Indoor positioning model based on people effect and ray tracing propagation

WLAN-fingerprinting has been highlighted as the preferred technology in an Indoor Positioning System (IPS) due to its accurate positioning results and minimal infrastructure cost. However, the accuracy of IPS fingerprinting is highly influenced by the fluctuation in signal strength as a result of encountering obstacles. Many researchers have modelled static obstacles such as walls and ceilings, but hardly any have modelled the effect of people presence as an obstacle although the human body significantly impacts signal strength. Hence, the people presence effect must be considered to obtain highly accurate positioning results. Previous research proposed a model that only considered the direct path between the transmitter and the receiver. However, for indoor propagation, multipath effects such as reflection can also have a significant influence, but were not considered in past work. Therefore, this research proposes an accurate indoor positioning model that considers people presence using a ray tracing (AIRY) model in a dynamic environment which relies on existing infrastructure. Three solutions were proposed to construct AIRY: an automatic radio map using ray tracing (ARM-RT), a new human model in ray tracing (HUMORY), and a people effect constant for received signal strength indicator (RSSI) adaptation. At the offline stage, 30 RSSIs were recorded at each point using a smartphone to create a radio map database (523 points). The real-time RSSI was then compared to the radio map database at the online stage using MATLAB software to determine the user position (65 test points). The proposed model was tested at Level 3 of Razak Tower, UTM Kuala Lumpur (80 × 16 m). To test the influence of people presence, the number, position, and distance of the people around the mobile device (MD) were varied. The results showed that the closer the people were to the MD in both the Line of Sight (LOS) and Non-LOS position, the greater the decrease in RSSI, in which the increment number of people will increase the amount of reflection signals to be blocked. The signal strength reduction started from 0.5 dBm with two people and reached 0.9 dBm with seven people. In addition, the ray tracing model produced smaller errors on RSSI prediction than the multi-wall model when considering the effect of people presence. The k-nearest neighbour (KNN) algorithm was used to define the position. The initial accuracy was improved from 2.04 m to 0.57 m after people presence and multipath effects were considered. In conclusion, the proposed model successfully increased indoor positioning accuracy in a dynamic environment by overcoming the people presence effect

Internet of Things-Based Smart Classroom Environment

Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel paradigm that is gaining ground in the Computer Science field. There’s no doubt that IoT will make our lives easier with the advent of smart thermostats, medical wearable devices, connected vending machines and others. One important research direction in IoT is Resource Management Systems (RMS). In the current state of RMS research, very few studies were able to take advantage of indoor localization which can be very valuable, especially in the context of smart classrooms. For example, indoor localization can be used to dynamically generate seat map of students in a classroom. Indoor localization is not the only concept which was not thoroughly researched in RMS. Another valuable proposition is to treat physical chairs as “smart” devices, which can report their occupancy, user information, and duration of presence to a cloud data store. Interconnected smart chairs consisting of pressure sensors, RFID readers, wireless communication capabilities, indoor localization and useful mobile application can serve as a powerful tool for instructors and other stakeholders. In this thesis we propose a complete smart classroom system consisting of smart chairs, anchor nodes, cloud storage and Android application. Implementation of indoor localization is a challenging and intricate task. Furthermore, since GPS chips cannot be used indoors, different and more challenging techniques have to be used. We developed a special protocol to handle communication and data flow of localization between smart chairs and the master node. Finally, the system was evaluated and special algorithm was developed to improve the accuracy of indoor localization in the context of smart classroom