SBIR Phase I: Accurate Indoor Location for Smartphones

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a systemfor locating a smartphone inside a building very accurately, helping usersnavigate and find items of interest indoors, where current systems do notfunction. Building on academic research from MIT, the system will useexisting Wi-Fi signals combined with motion sensors and map data to produceestimates with a 90th percentile accuracy of 1-3 m. This is significantlymore accurate than the currently available systems, which are accurate towithin 5-10 metres in the mean and worse in the 90th percentile. It usesexisting Wi-Fi signals, which means the system does not require additionalhardware in most buildings. The system incorporates three novel technologies:1) a novel training system that uses motion sensors and map data todramatically reduce the time it takes to calibrate the system in a newbuilding compared to existing technologies, 2) a new location matchingalgorithm that fuses motion sensors and WiFi signals to improve the accuracyand reliability of location estimates from limited training data, and 3) asystem to predict the accuracy using the available Wi-Fi access points, todetermine if new hardware or additional training is required. All threetechnologies are key competitive advantages essential to bring thistechnology to market. This proposal will develop a Wi-Fi-based indoorlocation system that is not only accurate, but also easy and cheap to deploy.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that smartphones,that have become indispensable tools for locating buildings and businesses in acity, can now also be used to show a user his/her location on an indoor map,and guide them to find what they are looking for inside large buildings wherepeople get lost all the time today --- while looking for points of interestlike ticket counters, products on shelves, airline gates, and stores. InFix'sapproach of using existing WiFi beacons, ubiquitous everywhere today, has thehighest potential to achieve scale and reach, and realize the vision of"precise location everywhere". This is in contrast to previous academic,research and commercial efforts that all require installing specializedhardware. Infix will license this technology to space owners, to integrate intotheir smartphone applications. As the map and location database grow, thecompany will allow third-parties to build their own innovative applications.