u-locate: Indoor Positioning (2024)

FAQs

What are the methods of UWB positioning? ›

A UWB indoor positioning system relies on transmitting extremely short pulses and uses techniques that cause a spread of the radio energy (over a wide frequency band) with a very low power spectral density.

Indoor positioning is a system that allows the detection of objects inside buildings where satellite navigation practically doesn't work. The indoor position system is based on beacons or tags that are installed in buildings or placed on tracked objects.

A large variety of techniques and devices are used to provide indoor positioning ranging from reconfigured devices already deployed such as smartphones, WiFi and Bluetooth antennas, digital cameras, and clocks; to purpose built installations with relays and beacons strategically placed throughout a defined space.

UWB indoor localization technology, unlike other positioning technologies such as infrared and ultrasound sensors, does not require a line of sight and is unhindered by other communication devices or external noise due to its high bandwidth and signal modulation.

Beware of the downsides

The first has to do with radio waves. UWB uses low power, broad spectrum, and short pulses of radio frequency to penetrate walls and avoid electrical interference. But radio waves are absorbed by electrically conductive metals such as copper, aluminum, silver, and gold.

Indoor Location Technologies

These include radio-based, optical, magnetic and acoustic technologies. While each of them has its own fit to cover a specific use case, it is radio-based UWB RTLS that ensures the accuracy, reliability and scalability needed for indoor tracking, even in harsh conditions.

High Accuracy Indoor Positioning is an industrial positioning solution that provides precise real-time location data and historical data so you can find and track industrial assets faster and optimize workflows and layouts.

Mappedin uses indoor positioning to show a user or asset's precise location as a blue dot on an indoor map. As with outdoor GPS, users don't have to enter a starting point to begin their journey. As they move, the blue dot moves with them, making it easier for them to navigate your space.

RTK GPS is an excellent positioning system, but it requires GPS. Thus, as soon as the mobile beacon moves indoors, there is no GPS or RTK GPS either. Thus, there is a need for IPS and RTLS, like Marvelmind Indoor “GPS”.

How accurate is Wi-Fi triangulation? ›

Wi-Fi can provide about 20m accuracy using existing crowdsourced Wi-Fi infrastructure with no calibration. However, through calibration, surveying, and fine-tuning, Wi-Fi positioning can achieve 5-8 meter accuracy in indoor environments.

An outdoor antenna picks up GPS satellite signals from your rooftop, and a coaxial cable carries the signal inside the building to a small, mains-powered, repeater unit. The repeater unit re-radiates the signal inside the building – so you have a strong GPS signal where it couldn't reach before.

The most common modulation technique for UWB is the pulse position modulation (PPM). In PPM each pulse is delayed or sent in advance of the regular time scale. So depending on the data bits, the pulse can be delayed accordingly.

UWB uses very large channel bandwidth (500 MHz) with short pulses of about 2 ns each; this helps achieve centimeter accuracy. The UWB positioning process happens in an instant, so the mobile device's movements can be tracked very accurately in real time.

Ultra-wideband is a technology for transmitting information across a wide bandwidth (>500 MHz). This allows for the transmission of a large amount of signal energy without interfering with conventional narrowband and carrier wave transmission in the same frequency band.

It can transmit very high data rates over short ranges, and pinpoint exact location in real-time. UWB operates with a high bandwidth over a very wide frequency spectrum between 3.1 to 10.6 GHz.