Progressive Indoor Positioning via WiFi Node Coordinate Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are ineffective indoors due to the fading of satellite signals, and current indoor positioning techniques require labor-intensive surveys to establish reference points, making them impractical for widespread use.
Innovation Solution
A progressive global positioning system where communication nodes share geographic coordinates and accuracy metrics through relative positioning algorithms, allowing them to determine and improve their location information without the need for initial site surveys, using adjacent nodes with known coordinates and accuracy merits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If GNSS satellite signals are used for positioning, then global scale location determination is achieved, but the signals fade quickly indoor making them unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces WiFi access points as intermediary nodes to relay positioning information indoors. These APs broadcast their geographic coordinates and serve as reference points for determining indoor locations, replacing the direct satellite signal path that fails indoors with an intermediary-based indirect positioning approach
2Measurement precision
If indoor positioning uses multiple satellite-like nodes with known coordinates, then positioning accuracy is improved, but labor-intensive surveys are required to establish their locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables WiFi access points to self-report their geographic coordinates to the network. Instead of requiring manual surveying of each AP's location, the system allows APs to automatically provide their coordinate information, which is then used by the positioning algorithm without human intervention
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by having the reference nodes (WiFi APs) actively broadcast their known coordinates rather than requiring the system to actively survey and record each node's location. This reversal eliminates the need for manual site surveys while maintaining positioning accuracy
3Measurement precision
If fingerprint approaches with in-advance measurements are used, then positioning precision is improved, but the requirement for automatic in-advance coordinate site survey becomes a prerequisite
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows WiFi access points to automatically provide their coordinate information to the network without requiring pre-surveying. This self-service mechanism eliminates the time-consuming site survey phase while still enabling precise positioning through the use of these self-reported coordinates in the positioning algorithm
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is provided to establish a global positioning service with massive availability of “position-learning” radio communication nodes. Each communication node learns of its geographic coordinate in a global sense by harvesting location information from neighboring communication nodes. By conducting telemetry multiple times and implementing an error index, each communication node maintains its geographic coordinate with a precision that improves progressively over time.