SBIR Phase I: Accurate Indoor Location for Smartphones

SBIR 第一阶段：智能手机的精确室内定位

• 批准号: 1215270
• 负责人: Arvind Thiagarajan
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Infix Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1215270&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Accurate; Indoor; Location

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.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种系统，可以非常准确地定位建筑物内的智能手机，帮助用户在当前系统无法运行的室内导航和查找感兴趣的物品。该系统以麻省理工学院的学术研究为基础，将使用现有的 Wi-Fi 信号与运动传感器和地图数据相结合，产生 90% 精度为 1-3 m 的估计。这比目前可用的系统准确得多，目前可用的系统平均准确度在 5-10 米之内，在第 90 个百分点内更差。它使用现有的 Wi-Fi 信号，这意味着该系统在大多数建筑物中不需要额外的硬件。该系统采用了三项新技术：1) 一种新颖的训练系统，与现有技术相比，使用运动传感器和地图数据，大大减少了在新建筑中校准系统所需的时间；2) 一种新的位置匹配算法，融合运动传感器和 WiFi 信号，以提高根据有限训练数据进行位置估计的准确性和可靠性；3) 一个使用可用 Wi-Fi 接入点预测准确性的系统， 确定是否需要新硬件或额外培训。所有这三项技术都是将该技术推向市场所必需的关键竞争优势。 该提案将开发一种基于 Wi-Fi 的室内定位系统，该系统不仅准确，而且易于部署且成本低廉。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，智能手机已成为定位城市中建筑物和企业不可或缺的工具，现在还可以用于在室内地图上向用户显示他/她的位置，并引导他们在当今人们经常迷路的大型建筑物内找到他们正在寻找的东西 --- 寻找兴趣点，例如售票柜台、货架上的产品、登机口和商店。 InFix 使用当今无处不在的现有 WiFi 信标的方法最有潜力实现规模化和覆盖范围，并实现“无处不在的精确定位”的愿景。这与之前的学术、研究和商业工作形成鲜明对比，这些工作都需要安装专门的硬件。 Infix 将向空间所有者授权这项技术，以将其集成到他们的智能手机应用程序中。随着地图和位置数据库的增长，该公司将允许第三方构建自己的创新应用程序。