First call for IPIN 2025 competition

Francesco Potortì Potorti at isti.cnr.it
Wed Mar 19 18:30:09 CET 2025


		     * * * CALL FOR COMPETITION 2025 * * *

			    Twelfth IPIN Competition
		     onsite and offsite Indoor Localization
		   <https://competition.ipin-conference.org>

		    offsite: 8-10 Sep, EvaalAPI web service
		  onsite: 13-14 Sep (tentative), Tampere (FI)
			awards: 18 Sep, IPIN conference

================================================================================

The  International  conference on  Indoor  Positioning  and Indoor  Localization
(IPIN) is pleased to announce  the twelfth IPIN Indoor Localization Competition.
The  competition is  aimed  at  bringing together  the  academic and  industrial
research  communities for  evaluating different  approaches and  envisioning new
methods  for  indoor and  seamless  localisation,  an  area where  no  generally
accepted standards exist yet.

The competition builds  on the experience of previous competitions  and is based
on  the  EvAAL  framework,  ensuring experience,  solidity  and  a  well-founded
scientific method.   The IPIN 2025  Indoor Localization Competition  consists of
several Tracks:

    • Track 1: Smartphone (onsite)
    • Track 3: Smartphone (offsite-online)
    • Track 4: Foot-mounted IMU (offsite-online)
    • Track 5: Smartphone (offsite-online)
    • Track 7: 5G CIR + IMU (offsite-offline)

Results  will be  presented during  dedicated sessions  of the  IPIN conference,
during which prizes will be awarded to the winners.


ONSITE TRACK

The  onsite   competition  will   take  place  in   Tampere,  before   the  IPIN
conference. An actor carries the competing  system by walking in the competition
area.  Competing systems  process data locally, without using  any external aid,
and provide  position estimates  in real  time.  Survey of  the area  and system
calibration is restricted to a single day, before the competition proper.

Track  1 –  Smartphone: The  actor walks  carrying a  smartphone which  runs the
competing system, using the sensors available on the smartphones to identify the
user's position.


OFFSITE TRACKS

Competitors in offsite competitions are provided  with sensors data and use them
to  estimate  the user  position.   Competitors  calibrate their  algorithms  in
advance using ground truth reference data (testing trials) and compete using new
unreferenced data (scoring trials).  Scoring  trials are run on a Track-specific
day.

Once testing trials  are published, competitors can run them  at their premises.
When the EvaalAPI server is made available,  they must run the testing trials on
it.  Scoring trials are provided to competitors only once they complete a run of
the testing trials.


OFFSITE-ONLINE TRACKS

Competitors run their trials through the  EvaalAPI in online mode to emulate the
causal, real-time behaviour of onsite Tracks.  See the paper "Offsite evaluation
of  localization  systems:  criteria,  systems and  results  from  IPIN  2021-22
competitions" for a conceptual overview.

Track  3  – Smartphone:  A  pedestrian  walking  under realistic  conditions  in
buildings  with  possibly  small  outdoor   parts,  using  data  provided  by  a
conventional smartphone.

Track 4 – Foot-mounted IMU: A pedestrian carries ULISS (Ubiquituous Localization
with Inertial  Sensors and  Satellites) on  his foot while  walking a  path with
possible  small  outdoor  parts.   ULISS provides  IMU,  magnetic  and  pressure
readings plus GNSS data. No maps are provided.

Track 5 – Smartphone with Navigation Robot: A pedestrian in a museum records PDR
and VIO  data provided by  a conventional  smartphone. A navigation  robot moves
with/around the pedestrian and provides its location and UWB ranging/AoA between
the smartphone.


OFFSITE-OFFLINE TRACK

Competitors  run  their Trials  through  the  EvaalAPI  in offline  mode,  where
competitors download sensors data all at once  and have a limited time to upload
all estimates at once.

Track  7 –  5G  CIR  + IMU:  A  pedestrian with  a  smartphone  moves through  a
warehouse-like  environment in  LOS  and NLOS  conditions  and observes  Channel
Impulse Response and IMU data.


TECHNICAL COMPETITION DETAILS

The  evaluation  criteria for  the  competition,  restrictions on  the  accepted
technologies, technical rules  and a description of the  benchmarks are detailed
in the  technical annexes to  this call.   Possible refinements of  the annexes,
even  based on  applicants' comments,  will  be distributed  on the  competition
discussion  mailing   list  contest at evaal.aaloa.org  and  will   appear  on  the
competitions site <https://competition.ipin-conference.org>.

Competitors  in  offsite  Tracks  obtain sensor  readings  and  submit  position
estimates through  the EvaalAPI web  service <https://evaal.aaloa.org/evaalapi>.
The aim  is to emulate a  causal process similar to  the data flow of  an onsite
Track: input data can be read only  once and only in sequence, and the timestamp
of each submitted position estimate is the same as the latest sensor reading.

All  the data  gathered by  the  competition committee  during the  competition,
including  data  produced  by  competing  systems in  offsite  Tracks,  will  be
published  after the  competition for  the purpose  of research  and comparison.
Winners of the competition are announced on the IPIN web site and on the contest
mailing  list.


COMPETITOR ADMISSION PROCESS

A competitor can be  any individual or group of individuals  working as a single
team,  associated  to a  single  or  a number  of  organizations,  who wants  to
participate in one  or several tracks. Only one team  from the same organisation
(laboratory) is allowed to compete.

Competitors apply for admission to the competition tracks at the IPIN conference
site  by providing  a short  (2  pages in  PDF) technical  description of  their
localization system,  including a  description of  the algorithms  and protocols
used.  Track chairs will accept or refuse the application in a short time, based
on technical feasibility and logistic constraints.

After acceptance  of the competitor's  technical description, one member  of the
competing team is  required to register on the IPIN  conference site, specifying
the  Track to  which  the  registration is  linked.   Full  registration to  the
conference  covers  participation  in  the competition  process  for  one  Track
(allotted time,  support and space) and  the submission of one  paper describing
the system.  Participation  in additional Tracks can be added  for an additional
fee.   A reduced  registration fee  not including  access to  the conference  is
available for offsite Tracks.

Competitors who wish to test their onsite  system which does not fit any of the
onsite tracks may ask chairs of Track 1 to be admitted off-track, which will be
granted subject to organisational contraints.


Be  sure  to subscribe  to  the  contest mailing  list  to  get updates  on  the
competition: http://evaal.aaloa.org/mailman/listinfo/contest


IMPORTANT DATES

	      ----------------------------------------------------
              Technical annexes published:                   5 May
              Application opens:                             5 Jun
              Testing trials published (offsite):           16 Jun
              Application closes:                           31 Aug
              EvaalAPI server available: (offsite):          1 Sep
	      Testing trial completed (offsite):             5 Sep
              Offsite competition:                      8 - 10 Sep
              Onsite competition:                      13 - 14 Sep
              Proclamation of winners:                      18 Sep
              ----------------------------------------------------


COMMITTEES

IPIN Competition committee:
Francesco Potortì – ISTI-CNR (IT)
Antonino Crivello – ISTI-CNR (IT)
Miguel Ortiz – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR)
Joaquín Torres-Sospedra – Universitat de València (ES)

Track chairs:
Track 1  Filippo Palumbo – ISTI-CNR (IT)
      	 Davide La Rosa – ISTI-CNR (IT)
Track 3  Joaquín Torres-Sospedra – Universitat de València (ES)
Track 4  Miguel Ortiz – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR)
         Ni Zhu – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR)
Track 5  Satoki Ogiso – AIST (JP)
	 Ryosuke Ichikari – AIST (JP)
Track 7  Maximilian Stahlke – Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (DE)
         Andreas Porada – Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (DE)



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