Sensing and visualizing spatial relations of mobile devices

Location information can be used to enhance interaction with mobile devices. While many location systems require instrumentation of the environment, we present a system that allows devices to measure their spatial relations in a true peer-to-peer fashion. The system is based on custom sensor hardware implemented as USB dongle, and computes spatial relations in real-time. In extension of this system we propose a set of spatialized widgets for incorporation of spatial relations in the user interface. The use of these widgets is illustrated in a number of applications, showing how spatial relations can be employed to support and streamline interaction with mobile devices

Smart Signs: Showing the way in Smart Surroundings

This paper presents a context-aware guidance and messaging system for large buildings and surrounding venues. Smart Signs are a new type of electronic door- and way-sign based on wireless sensor networks. Smart Signs present in-situ personalized guidance and messages, are ubiquitous, and easy to understand. They combine the easiness of use of traditional static signs with the flexibility and reactiveness of navigation systems. The Smart Signs system uses context information such as user’s mobility limitations, the weather, and possible emergency situations to improve guidance and messaging. Minimal infrastructure requirements and a simple deployment tool make it feasible to easily deploy a Smart Signs system on demand. An important design issue of the Smart Signs system is privacy: the system secures communication links, does not track users, allow almost complete anonymous use, and prevent the system to be used as a tool for spying on users

COMPASS: A Probabilistic Indoor Positioning System Based on 802.11 and Digital Compasses

Positioning systems are one of the key elements required by context-aware application and location-based services. This paper presents the design, implementation and anaylsis of a positioning system called COMPASS which is based on 802.11 compliant network infrastructure and digital compasses. On the mobile device, COMPASS samples the signal strength values of different access points in communication range and utilizes the orientation of the user to preselect a subset of the training data. The remaining training data is used by a probabilistic position determination algorithm to determine the position of the user. While prior systems show only limited accuracy due to blocking effects caused by human bodies, we apply digital compasses to detect the orientations of the users so that we can handle these blocking effects. After a short period of training our approach achieves an average error distance of less than 1.65~meters in our experimental environment of 312 square meters

An ultrasonic compass for context-aware mobile applications

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-96).This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.If we are to realize the everyday benefits promised by pervasive computing and context-aware applications, we must first develop the infrastructure to provide contextual location and orientation information through pervasive computing elements. I lay the foundations for leveraging the Cricket indoor location system to supply orientation information. I first characterize the use of ultrasound in Cricket for distance and orientation measurements. I then propose a set of methods to calculate 3-DOF orientation from an array of well placed ultrasonic sensors operating in the Cricket system. I design and implement a prototype of this Cricket Compass using a combination of hardware and software and demonstrate end-to-end functionality of the system.by Kevin John Wang.M.Eng

Autonomous Devices to Map Rooms and Other Indoor Spaces and Storing Maps in the Cloud

The publication presents a three wheeled robot that has been designed to map rooms, halls and other indoor areas. The device uses an ultrasonic sensor for measuring distance, which is later used for both navigation and obstacle detection. Data were used later to compose a matrix – the schematic map of the room. This map could be uploaded to the cloud for later use by other 3rd party devices so they do not have to redo the mapping process again

Acoustic indoor localization employing code division multiple access

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Izmir, 2010Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 107-108)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxvi, 160 69 leavesIndoor localization becomes a demand that comes into prominence day by day. Although extensively used outdoor location systems have been proposed, they can not operate in indoor applications. Hence new investigations have been carried on for accurate indoor localization in the last decade. In this thesis, a new indoor location system, that aims to locate an entity within an accuracy of about 2 cm using ordinary and inexpensive off-the-shelf devices, has been proposed and an implementation has been applied to evaluate the system performance. Therefore, time of arrival measurements of acoustic signals, which are binary phase shift keying modulated Gold code sequences using direct sequence spread spectrum technique, are done. Direct sequence-code division multiple access is applied to perform simultaneous accurate distance measurements and provides immunity to noise and interference. Two methods have been proposed for the location estimation. The first method takes the average of four location estimates obtained by trilateration technique. In the second method, only a single robust position estimate is obtained using three distances while the least reliable fourth distance measurement is not taken into account. The system performance is evaluated at positions from two height levels using two sets of variables determined by experimental results. The precision distributions in the work area and the precision versus accuracy plots depict the system performance for different sets of variables. The proposed system provides location estimates of better than 2 cm accuracy within 99% precision. Eventually, created graphical user interface provides a user friendly environment to adjust the parameters

Indoor Sound Based Localization: Research Questions and First Results

Part 17: TelecommunicationsInternational audienceThis PhD work has the goal to develop an inexpensive, easily deployable and widely compatible localization system for indoor use, suitable for pre-installed public address sound systems, avoiding costly installations or significant architectural changes in spaces. Using the audible sound range will allow the use of low cost off-the-shelf equipment suitable for keeping a low deployment cost. The state-of-the-art presented in this paper evidences a technological void in low-cost, reliable and precise localization systems and technologies. This necessity was also confirmed by the authors in a previous project (NAVMETRO®) where no suitable technological solution was found to exist to overcome the need to automatically localize people in a public space in a reliable and precise way.Although research work is in its first steps, it already provides a thorough view on the problem while discussing some possible approaches and predicting strategies to overcome the key difficulties. Some experiments were already conducted validating some initial premises and demonstrating how to measure the signal’s time-of-flight necessary to infer on distance calculations