Indoor Navigation Using Elevator Wireless Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing indoor navigation systems in large environments like buildings and shopping malls require costly external devices for accurate positioning, which is inefficient and increases lifecycle costs, limiting their commercial success.
Innovation Solution
Integration of wireless transmission devices, such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi hotspots, with people conveyors like elevators and escalators to provide precise reference points to mobile devices, allowing the navigation system to initiate a calibration routine and obtain position data within a short range, reducing the need for extensive hardware installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If external devices like Bluetooth hotspots are installed in different positions in each floor for positioning, then positioning accuracy is improved, but hardware cost and installation complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator system itself provides positioning reference points through its existing wireless communication capabilities. The elevator car's wireless device transmits position information that can be used by the navigation system, eliminating the need for separate positioning infrastructure. The system serves its own positioning needs through its inherent transportation function and integrated wireless device.
Solution Approach 2:
The wireless device in the elevator serves multiple functions: it enables two-way communication for navigation calibration and simultaneously provides positioning reference points for the indoor navigation system. This multi-functional use eliminates the need for dedicated positioning devices, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining positioning accuracy.
2Reliability
If multiple external positioning devices are installed throughout the building, then navigation reliability is improved, but lifecycle costs including maintenance and replacement increase
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator system provides continuous positioning reference points through its regular operation. Since elevators must service all floors anyway, the wireless positioning function is automatically available throughout the building without requiring separate maintenance infrastructure. The positioning system rides along with the elevator's necessary transportation function.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of installing permanent fixed positioning devices throughout the building, the system uses the moving elevator as a relocatable positioning reference. The elevator's wireless device is temporarily positioned at different locations as it services different floors, providing continuous coverage without requiring permanent installation at every potential reference point.
3Area of stationary object
If the wireless transmission device has a larger broadcast range, then coverage area is improved, but position data accuracy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using one large-range wireless device, the system uses multiple small-range devices located in different elevators that service different areas. Each elevator's wireless device covers only its immediate vicinity, maintaining high accuracy, but collectively they provide building-wide coverage as elevators move throughout the structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The coverage area is dynamically adjusted based on elevator location and passenger demand. The wireless transmission range is kept small for accuracy, but the elevator's movement through different floors and locations provides dynamic repositioning of the coverage area, ensuring all regions are covered at different times without requiring any single device to have large static range.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a transportation system in an environment (10) comprising several people conveyors (12, 14, 16, 18, 20) as well as a navigation system installed on mobile devices (32) held by the passengers of the transportation system, which transportation system comprises at least one wireless transmission device (22) in connection with at least one of the passenger conveyors, wherein the navigation system comprises a calibration routine for generating a reference position of the mobile device in the environment, and the calibration routine can be initiated, if the distance of the mobile device to the wireless transmission device goes below a threshold value, in which calibration routine the wireless transmission device transfers position and/or identification data to the mobile device, whereupon the navigation system on the mobile device adopts the reference position of the related passenger conveyor.