A Literature Study of Indoor Positioning Systems and Map Building Software

A Literature Study of Indoor Positioning Systems and Map Building Software Robin Amstersa, Ali Bin Junaida, Samrat Roya, Peter Slaetsa, Peter Aertsb, Maarten Verheyenb, Eric Demeesterb, AIMP RESEARCH GROUP, KU LEUVEN,MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER TC, CAMPUS GROEP TLEUVEN,BELGIUM BACRO RESEARCH GROUP, KU LEUVEN,DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,CAMPUS DIEPENBEEK,WETENSCHAPSPARK 27, 3590 DIEPENBEEK,BELGIUM Juli 17, 2017 http://www.acro.be/adusumnavigantium/ Chapter 1 Introduction Positioning is not a particularly new problem. Mankind has attempted to determine its location for centuries, using instruments such as sextants, clocks, almanacs, maps, etc. One of the largest revolutions in this field is probably the advent of the global positioning system (GPS), which was originally launched in 1973 by the United States military. GPS can provide position information almost anywhere on earth to anyone with a GPS receiver. The position is determined via signals that originate from sattelites that orbit the earth. These carry atomic clocks that are synchronised to each other and to ground clocks. The location of the satellites is known very precisely, and is broadcasted continuously by them. By using the satellite location, the travel time of the signal and the propagation speed, it is possible to determine the distance from the sattelite to the receiver. When the distance to at least 4 satellites is known, the receiver position can be determined in 3 dimensions via multilateration. Besides GPS, a number of other global navigation sattelite systems also exist. Examples include the Galileo (Europe) and GLONASS systems (Russia). The low cost and global coverage make GPS a very attractive solution. Navigation, geotagging pictures, location based emergency services and more have all become possible since this technology became commercially available. One major drawback, however, is that GPS often does not work in indoor environments, as the signals of the sattelites are generally too weak to penetrate the walls of buildings [1]. Additionally the accuracy is limited to a couple of meters, which is insufficient for a lot of indoor applications. A study performed by the National Exposure Research Laboratory indicates that people spend about 90% of their time indoors [2]. Indoor location information could thus provide many opportunities, which is illustrated by the fact that the indoor location market is increasing in size rapidly. It is estimated that the indoor mapping market will be worth $10 billion 2020 [3]. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 provide estimates of the growth of the indoor localization industry in more detail. These figures show that indoor location information has economic potential (examples of con- crete applications can be found in section 1.1). But since GPS cannot be used for indoor environments, different technologies are required obtain this information. These systems are usually referred to as indoor positioning systems (IPS). While GPS is often regarded as the de facto standard for outdoor environments, there exists no such standard for indoor environments. Even though indoor localization has received increasing attention from the research community, no single 'best' system has been established. The wide variety of these environments has prompted an equally wide variety of IPS, each with their own pros and cons. There are multiple factors to consider when 1 Figure 1.1: Indoor Location Technology and Services Spending [4] Figure 1.2: Indoor Location-Influenced Spending [4] 2 selecting an IPS, for example [5]: • Accuracy • Availability • Cost • Coverage area • Intrusiveness • Output data • Scalability • Update rate • etc. These are all factors that may have to be accounted for depending on the application. Because environments differ so much, the performance of IPS depend on where they are deployed. We see then, that an objective, general comparison between IPS is very challenging. Even worse is that the research community does not have a single standard when it comes to characterising the performance of novel systems. Some formulations have been proposed [6][7], but these are not always reported. Evaluation of scientific contributions also reveals that 'a high percentage of publications describe their methods of ground truth data gathering poorly at best' [8]. This makes objective comparison between localization research very challenging. A comparison can therefore only really be made for the same reference environment. An example of such a comparison is given in chapter 5. 1.1 Applications of indoor positioning Having access to indoor location information opens up a wide array of applications. Examples of such applications include: • Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR): AR browsers like Junaio can overlay location specific information even in indoor environments. This can be used to for example create an interactive museum tour. Visitors can receive more information about the parts of the exhibits they are seeing on their smartphone [9]. Apps like Lowes Vision can be used to plan home improvements. This app allows users to see how certain pieces of furniture would look in their house with the help of a smartphone [10] • Navigation: Just like sattelite navigation systems allow us to travel to unknown places easily, indoor location information can be used for navigation inside large buildings. Exam- ples include college campuses, museums, shopping malls, stores, warehouses, airports, train stations, office buildings, etc. [11][12][13]. 3 • Location based advertising: location information allows consumers to receive tailor- made, location-specific advertisements. Research indicates that a disproportionate amount of coupons that were given to costumers inside the store were used (in-store handouts represent 3.3% of all coupons that were handed out whereas they represent 14% of all redeemed coupons [14]). This reflects the openness to influence of the buyers at the point of sale. Offline analytics could also be used to visualize the impact of advertising campains to in-store sales. [15] • Social networks: the accuracy of location-based social networks such as Foursquare or Gowalla could benefit from indoor localization techniques. • Indoor robotics: position information in indoor environments opens up opportunities for many indoor robotic applications. Examples include: { Robotic wheelchairs [16] { Guidance robots [17][18] { Robotic vacuum cleaners (Roomba, Neato, etc.) { Autonomous pallet jacks [19] { Mobile monitoring of conditions (gas, radiation, biohazards, etc.) in dangerous places (factories, waste houses, etc.) when deployment of a stationary system is not possible • Logistics: { Package tracking inside warehouses { Deliveries of small objects in large buildings { Locating equipment and tools inside a plant. Knowing where equipment is at all times enables a productivity increase, because staff has to spend less time looking for it. It also reduces costs associated with theft and loss of equipment. • Security: { Localizing people in high-security areas and checking clearance { Security systems with automatic mobile patrol capability • Medical: Cost reduction is necessary in the health care sector, as there is a growing shortage of nurses and doctors as the current population ages. A number of applications for IPS in healthcare have already been proposed, with the aim of reducing costs: { Asset tracking. In [20], it is estimated that hospitals purchase 10% to 20% more portable equipment than is actually required for operational needs, just so that staff may find it when needed. It is also estimated that a hospital could save up to $130.500, just from the excess purchase of IV pumps. This estimate includes the cost of the positioning system, meaning that it has an immediate return on investment. If this estimate were to incorporate other equipment, the reduced cost of depreciation, maintenance and storage, as well as a less expensive positioning system, the savings could become very large. Another example of the impact of asset tracking in healthcare can be found in a project by OpenRTLS and a Dutch system integrator [21]. In 2014 they completed a case 4 study on a medium scale RTLS deployment of 25.000 tags in a large hospital in the Netherlands. All relevant costs within a 9 year period were taken into account. In the first phase (asset tracking), savings are estimated at e300.000 to e400.000 annually in this single hospital environment. Asset tracking could potentially even save lives. In some cases, finding important equipment such as crash carts is very time critical. { Tracking patient flows for throughput management can help diagnose bottlenecks and tailor (and monitor the implementation of) appropriate solutions for problems such as extended waiting times, overcrowding and boarding in outpatient clinics, emergency departments/rooms (ED/ER) and post-anaesthesia care units (PACUs); bumped and late surgeries; and the lack of available routine inpatient and intensive care unit (ICU) beds [20]. Monitoring patient flow or movement (handoffs) between departments, can also prove to be valuable. For example transfer from ED to another department is accomplished by giving each patient a unique tag to always carry with them. The time spent by patients in each location is logged by an analytic application. By monitoring the time patients spend in various rooms and departments around the hospital, the hospital management can decide whether they need to allocate more staff or equipment at different departments and stages

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