Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Panels for Indoor Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current location-based services, such as GPS and fingerprinting methods, face challenges in providing accurate positioning in environments with high-rise buildings and high-traffic indoor settings, where line-of-sight requirements are obstructed and environments are dynamic, leading to poor performance.
Innovation Solution
The use of reconfigurable intelligent surface panels that reflect wireless signals in predetermined patterns, allowing for accurate positioning by analyzing features of the reflected signals, which are stored in a database and used to estimate user terminal locations, even in obstructed environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS is used for localization, then outdoor positioning is accurate, but it does not work indoors and requires line-of-site between satellites and user terminal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) as intermediary elements that reflect and redirect satellite signals into indoor environments. The RIS panels act as mediators between the satellites and indoor users, enabling positioning without direct line-of-site by creating reflected signal paths that penetrate through building structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends positioning capability from two-dimensional outdoor satellite geometry to three-dimensional indoor positioning by incorporating RIS panels at various locations and orientations. This adds a spatial dimension for signal reflection, enabling users to be positioned based on multiple reflected signal paths from different RIS panels.
2Measurement precision
If fingerprinting methods are used, then cm-level accuracy is achieved in static indoor environments, but it requires labor-intensive field measurements and does not work well in high-traffic indoor environments where the environment constantly changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary configuration by deploying RIS panels with known positions and reflection characteristics before positioning operations. The system pre-establishes the geometric relationships between RIS panels, base stations, and potential user locations, enabling fast positioning without labor-intensive field measurements during deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts RIS panel configuration parameters such as reflection coefficients, panel orientations, and activation patterns to adapt to changing environmental conditions in high-traffic areas. This allows the system to maintain positioning accuracy despite environmental dynamics by reconfiguring the RIS in response to detected changes.
3Measurement precision
If GPS is used in urban environments with high-rise buildings, then outdoor positioning is available, but it works poorly when only 3 or fewer satellites are in line-of-site due to blockage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions RIS panels strategically around urban areas to act as intermediary signal relays. These panels reflect satellite signals around obstacles such as high-rise buildings, creating alternative signal paths that bypass blockages and provide reliable positioning even when direct satellite visibility is limited to 3 or fewer satellites.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic RIS configuration where panels can be activated or deactivated based on real-time signal conditions and user location. The system adapts the RIS reflection patterns and panel configurations to optimize signal coverage and positioning reliability in response to changing urban environments and user movements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method provides fast and accurate positioning and tracking in dense urban and high-traffic environments by creating stable line-of-sight links between user terminals and base stations, reducing the need for labor-intensive field measurements and improving localization accuracy compared to traditional methods.
Implementation Method 1
reflecting, by at least one of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surface panels, the one or more pilot signals according to one or more predetermined reflection patterns
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed for estimating one or more user terminal locations over a target coverage area by wireless signals transmitted by one or more access points and reflected by one or more reconfigurable intelligent surface panels. The method includes transmission of one or more pilot signals by each of the one or more access points, reflecting, by at least one of the one or more reconfigurable intelligent surface panels, the one or more pilot signals according to one or more predetermined reflection patterns, receiving the reflections by the user terminal, extracting one or more features from the reflections, and estimating of a user terminal location by a method based on a database comprising pairs of locations and the one or more features.