Passive WiFi Beacon Location Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for determining the presence and location of portable wireless computing devices in specific areas are inefficient, as they rely on the device sending information to a processor, limiting their functionality and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
The system employs WiFi beacons arranged within a defined area to detect wireless computing devices and generate information about their presence and location, which is then processed by a processor to determine the device's location or presence without requiring the device to send information, using triangulation methods with multiple beacons for precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the wireless computing device sends information to the processor for presence and location determination, then the system can identify device presence and location, but the method becomes inefficient and less accurate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the wireless computing device actively send information to the processor, the system inverts the approach by using WiFi beacons to detect and monitor the device's presence and location passively. The beacons transmit signals and analyze responses or signal characteristics to determine device status, reversing the traditional client-server communication model for location tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The WiFi beacons serve as intermediary elements between the processor and the wireless computing devices. Rather than direct device-to-processor communication, the beacons mediate the detection process by generating detection information about device presence and location, which is then provided to the processor for analysis.
2Measurement precision
If multiple WiFi beacons are deployed for triangulation, then location precision improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the location determination task across multiple independent WiFi beacons distributed throughout the defined area. Each beacon independently monitors for device presence and generates detection information, allowing the system to achieve triangulation-based location precision without requiring a single complex centralized detection mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Method for determining location of a wireless computing device in a defined area includes arranging at least one WiFi beacon relative to the defined area such that a wireless computing device in the defined area is detectable, causing each beacon to generate information about detection of a wireless computing device in the defined area, providing the generated information to a processor, and at the processor, determining a location of the wireless computing device in the defined area by processing the information generated by the beacon(s). The wireless computing device is not configured to send information to the processor so that the determination of the presence and/or location of the wireless computing device in the defined area is performed at the processor using only information provided by the beacon(s).