Building Footprint Estimation Using Mobile Signal Error Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in accurately determining and refining the surface space occupied by physical structures due to uncertainties in environmental data, including errors in signal information from mobile devices.
Innovation Solution
A signal processing system that utilizes signal information from mobile devices, including error in position accuracy, to estimate the actual physical footprint of a target building by analyzing time series of horizontal accuracy and comparing it with historical data, thereby leveraging error as a source of truth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If signal information from mobile devices is used to determine building footprints, then the coverage and data availability are improved, but the measurement precision deteriorates due to errors in position accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of position accuracy errors into a beneficial feature by analyzing the error patterns and using them to define building footprint boundaries. The system recognizes that mobile devices tend to stop at specific locations (building boundaries), and the accumulation of position errors at these stopping points creates observable patterns that reveal the true footprint geometry. This transforms the previously harmful measurement noise into a useful signal for footprint determination.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback by continuously analyzing mobile device position data and adjusting the building footprint estimation based on observed stopping patterns and error distributions. The measured position errors are fed back into the model to refine the footprint boundaries, creating an iterative improvement process that enhances measurement precision while maintaining broad data coverage.
2Reliability
If error in position accuracy is incorporated into the analysis, then the reliability of footprint determination is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies self-service by using the mobile devices' own position error data to determine building footprints without requiring external reference systems or additional complex infrastructure. The error patterns inherent in the mobile device positioning system are leveraged directly to define footprint boundaries, allowing the system to serve itself using the data it already collects from widespread mobile device usage.
Data Source
AI summary
Recent decades have brought tremendous advances in communication systems which have given rise to the global proliferation of smartphones and other mobile communication systems. A signal processing system implements technical solutions for determining building footprints from inputs including signal data associated with mobile communication devices.