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Indoor location of wireless devices |
| Comments |
Recently, there has been increased interest in determining the location of wireless devices in indoor environments. Exemplary applications are assisted navigation of handicapped persons, household robotic devices, product tracking in warehouse, and retail inventory management. In the absence of reliable reference signals such as the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) signals, tracking locations in the indoor environment is a difficult task, especially since the positional accuracy should be much higher than outdoor environment where distances can be measured significantly coarser.
This project is focused on developing methods of tracking indoor positions, using commonly available radio frequency signals such as the WLAN and Bluetooth. A robot made from the Lego Mindstrom is available for students, which transmits the Bluetooth signals. While the reliability and accuracy are the main aims, simplicity, which results in cost efficiency, is also a desirable objective.
Anticipated Stages of Project
1. Investigate various location tracking algorithms.
2. Study communication protocols used by the Bluetooth or other alternatives such as ZigBee and Wireless USB. Particular protocol to be used should be selected based on criteria such as cost, effective range, complexity of interface, etc.
3. Develop a candidate architecture including software, hardware, and control schemes among different elements in the architecture. Develop computational examples to compare different experimental scenarios of location tracking.
4. Build an experimental setup based on the protocol and location tracking method selected. More than one scenario may be evaluated for comparison.
Potential Choices for Wireless Technology
• Bluetooth: A wireless communication protocol for short range (e.g., 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) between fixed and mobile devices. The Bluetooth allows for connecting several devices and provides synchronization. In particular, the Bluetooth uses the frequency-hopping spread spectrum method, which transmits radio signals hopping around 79 different frequency channels according to a pseudorandom sequence known to both transmitter and receiver. See [3] for more details.
• ZigBee: A wireless communication protocol for low power, short range (10-75 meters), low bandwidth (250 Kbits/sec) applications. Texas Instruments has a development kit for developing ZigBee applications for about $100 (eZ430-RF2480 [4]). The kit comes with three target boards and one USB interface. Each target board contains a MSP430 microprocessor and a CC2480 ZigBee interface integrated circuit chip. The target boards can be programmed to send and receive the "Link Quality" signals for location tracking.
References
[1] E. A. Gryazin, B. A. Krassi, and J. O. Tuominen, "WLAN Technology for Indoor Positioning and Navigation," IV International Science Conference on New Information Technologies. Development and Applications, November 27-28, 2003, Taganrog, Russia. pp. 10-23, ISBN 5-880440-037-9
[2] Youngjune Gwon, Ravi Jain, and Toshiro Kawahara, "Robust Indoor Location Estimation of Stationary and Mobile Users," INFOCOM 2004.
[3] "How Bluetooth Technology Works," Bluetooth SIG:http://www.bluetooth.com/Bluetooth/Technology/Works/.
[4] "Z-Accel Demonstration Kit," Texas Instruments, http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/ez430-rf2480.html.
[5] "CC2480 Interface Specification," page 35, Texas Instruments, http://focus.ti.com/lit/er/swra175a/swra175a.pdf.
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not specified
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| Application |
not specified
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| Appl Deadline |
date not specified
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| College |
School of Engineering & Applied Science |
| Department |
Electrical and Systems Engineering
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| Professor |
Min, Paul
[ email ]
[ web page ]
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| Start Time |
not specified
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| End Time |
not specified
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| Hours Per Week |
0 hour(s)
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| Number Positions |
not specified
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| Credits |
3 hour(s)
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| Prerequisites |
No Prerequisites
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| Internship |
Not an Internship
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| Stipend |
No stipend available
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