Localization Teams

Team name

RealTrac

Corresponding author
Alex P.Moschevikin

Affiliation
RTL-Service & PetrSU (RU)

Description
The RealTracTM technology was developed by the RTL-Service ltd. The project started in 2008. This technology features the local positioning system including the  possibility of data transfer and voice communication. The RealTracTM  includes the developed system and network architecture, the unique hardware with the embedded software, the server-side and the client-side software, the voice communication technique and the localization engine.  The RealTracTM is based on the nanoLOC (IEEE 802.15.4a) radio standard. Radio access is provided by gateway units connected by wired  network to a system server. Repeater units are used to increase the  radio coverage area. Both gateway and repeater units serve as access  points in a system. Channels for voice communication are supported by  the Asterisk PBX software installed at the system server. Mobile handheld units periodically enter into active state and initiate  the time-of-flight (ToF) ranging. Access points measure received signal  strength (RSS) of the incoming radio signal. ToF and RSS data is  processed by the server using a particle filter within localization algorithms. The following information is taken into consideration: ToF,  RSS, structure of the building, line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight conditions of signal propagation, air pressure value and inertial  measurement unit data.  The number of used mobile units is limited by the required positioning  accuracy and polling period. The system can support more than 1000 tags  with time between location estimation moments of 1 minute. The special InterNanoCom Protocol (INCP) was developed to provide  communication between the radio devices and the server. Client software gets information from the server through HTTP interaction using the  developed Real Time Location Systems Communication Protocol (RTLSCP).

Team name

LOCOSmotion

Corresponding author
Ngewi Fet

Affiliation
University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)

Description
The LOCOSmotion indoor person tracking system uses Wireless LAN fingerprinting and accelerometer-based dead-reckoning. In this improved system we focus on reducing the time and cost of deployment, as well as on a number of refinements to improve the localization precision. Aside from optimization of the calibration tools and underlying localization algorithms, the refinements also encompass the use of feedback provided by the domestic robotics (domotics) in the Living Lab to improve the overall system performance.

Team name

AmbiTrick

Corresponding author
Andreas Braun

Affiliation
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, Darmstadt (DE)

Description
AmbiTrack provides marker-free localization and tracking, i.e., it does not require the users to carry any tag with them in order to perform localization. This allows easy application in circumstances where wearing a tag is not viable, e.g. in typical Ambient Assisted Living scenarios, where users may not be well-versed technologically. AmbiTrack builds upon earlier work and has been refined for the EvAAL competition 2013. The major adaptations are related to improving reliability in tracking multiple persons, using context information for improving recognition rate and simplifying the installation.

Team name

FEMTO-ST / HMPS

Corresponding author
Philippe Canalda

Affiliation
Institut FEMTO-ST, DISC Department, OMNI team

Description
HMPS stands for Hierarchical Multi-Positioning System. The HMPS version proposed to EvAAL'13 competition  is a system which is Marker Analysis based.
Our Team has competed to EvAAL since 2011. At EvAAL'11 we have competed with OwlPS version 0.8, a Wi-Fi based positioning system. We arrived at the fourth place. Last year, at EvAAL'12, we have competed with OwlPS version 1.3. We arrived at the 3rd place. The main upgrade was to experiment an autocalibration module to avoid a time costy offline fingerprinting phase.
This year we are experimenting an extended system coupling outdoor positioning service coupled with OwLPS indoor and near outdoor localization service and an artificial and natural marker analysis camera-based positioning service. HMPS implements Hierarchical Multi-Positioning Algorithm. This algorithm is a context aware one which propose 20 meters of accuracy outdoor to submetric accuracy when a marker motif is recognized.

Team name

IPNlas

Corresponding author
João Quintas

Affiliation
Instituto Pedro Nunes - Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento em Ciência e Tecnologia (PT)

Description
An indoor localization system based on existing WiFi networks, which doubles as a platform to store positional data. This is implemented through location fingerprinting with added value and precision.

Team name
Magsys

Corresponding author
Gerald Pirkl

Affiliation
DFKI GmbH Kaiserslautern (DE)

Description
An indoor localization system based on resonant oscillating magnetic fields. Stationary Transmitters generate oscillating magnetic fields, a wearable receiver unit measures the magnetic field strength at its current position. A processing unit then transforms these raw measurements to position and orientation information. Main advantage of this system is that the magnetic fields permeate most obstacles (e.g. Furniture or humans), influences from ferromagnetic materials are only of local nature and therefore the system is extremely robust even in industrial environments.

Team name

AALocation

Corresponding author
Manuele Bonaccorsi

Affiliation

the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna

Description

The research team aims at studying and developing ICT technologies and robotics solutions able to provide assistance to elderly people in daily life (http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/node/357). The main expected effects of these technologies are to improve the quality of life and the independence of senior persons and to support clinicians and caregivers in supplying services.

Indoor localization is one of our main research topics investigated to acquire the location of persons and assistive robots during AAL services, and make the robots aware about users position.The localization system proposed for this competition is based on a ZigBee network and is composed of presence sensors and several radio devices equipped with sectorial antennas, some used as fixed anchors and one as mobile wearable module. The wearable device is designed to send messages to the fixed anchors and its Received Signal Strength is observed and fused with data acquired by presence sensors to locate the user inside the domestic environment.

The multi hop and mesh network connections between ZigBee devices ensure repeatability and high scalability to the localization system, making this system easy to be installed over wide environments. This localization system is studied in the context of the European Project Robot-Era (http://www.robot-era.eu/robotera/).