SBIR Phase I: A Robust Indoor Localization System for Mobile Devices

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过智能手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑等现有移动的电子设备向用户提供准确的室内定位服务。这项技术将为室内市场带来许多由卫星定位系统驱动的应用，如导航、跟踪和基于位置的广告。我们建议使用一个混合的超声波和基于RF的信标系统，使亚米级的定位精度在大型GPS拒绝的环境。我们的方法是独一无二的，因为它与当前的智能手机兼容，只需下载一个应用程序。该系统使用由信标组成的基础设施，可以通过室内太阳能收集供电，而不需要昂贵的交流布线。精确的室内位置感知移动的应用可以增强从零售和制造到建筑导航、资产跟踪和帮助视障人士的应用。拟议的项目旨在开发一个强大的定位平台，该平台可以在无法访问GPS的室内位置定位智能手机和平板电脑等现成设备以及低成本RF标签，精度超过1米。目前用于智能手机的室内定位技术通常在准确性方面不足，特别是在具有障碍物的高度动态环境中。我们的系统利用能量收集信标与扬声器阵列来传输近超声波频谱中的飞行时间测距信号。这些信号可以通过商品智能手机在软件中记录和解调，而人类听不见。该阶段的研究旨在开发扩展这种定位技术所需的方法和技术，以便它可以支持需要数十到数百个信标的机场和会议中心等大型设施。这涉及开发用于超声通信的可扩展多路访问协议、用于同步和数据收集的网络协议、用于稳健和准确定位的惯性传感器融合算法以及用于第三方应用程序集成的API。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide accurate indoor location services to users via existing mobile electronic devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. This technology will bring many of the applications powered by satellite-based positioning systems like navigation, tracking and location-based advertising to indoor markets. We propose using a hybrid ultrasound and RF-based beaconing system to enable sub-meter location accuracy within large GPS-denied environments. Our approach is unique in that it is compatible with current smartphones by simply downloading an app. The system uses an infrastructure comprised of beacons, which can be powered through indoor solar energy-harvesting instead of requiring expensive AC wiring. Accurate indoor location-aware mobile applications can enhance applications ranging from retail and manufacturing all the way to building navigation, asset tracking and aiding the visually impaired.The proposed project aims to develop a robust localization platform which can localize off-the-shelf devices like smartphones and tablets as well as low-cost RF tags to better than 1 meter of accuracy in indoor locations that do not have access to GPS. Current indoor localization technologies for smartphones often fall short in terms of accuracy, especially in highly dynamic environments with obstructions. Our system utilizes energy harvesting beacons with an array of speakers to transmit time-of-flight ranging signals in the near-ultrasound spectrum. These signals can be recorded and demodulated in software by commodity smartphones, while being inaudible to humans. The research in this phase will aim to develop the methods and technologies required to scale this localization technology so that it can support large facilities like airports and convention centers that would require tens to hundreds of beacons. This involves the development of scalable multiple access protocols for ultrasound communication, networking protocols for synchronization and data collection, inertial sensor fusion algorithms for robust and accurate localization and APIs for app integration by third parties.