WiFiSLAM App Makes Indoor Navigation And Tracking Possible

Since the advent of GPS technology, a lot of applications using this technology have come up. And once the GPS receiver for smartphones got launched in the market, the Android Market has been flooded by a flurry of location based applications, games, services. However, even this satellite based tracking technology starts to stutter as soon as you step inside your office or any other building for that matter. Yes, the main disadvantage GPS is that it fails when used indoors. Now, a startup has brought an app that allows your phone to track your location anywhere indoors using Wi-Fi and the vibrations of your footsteps. This could possibly lead to a new generation of indoor location-aware services.

#-Link-Snipped-#

This startup venture by the Stanford University’s aspiring students, called WiFiSLAM is aided by the StartX program for the young scholars who wish to be entrepreneurs. Last week, the developers of the technology showcased their product for the first time. It uses the nearest Wi-Fi signal fingerprints and combines them with the phone’s compass and accelerometer readings to give the exact location of the user.

Wi-Fi networks are used by the mobile phones already for many purposes. One such application is enhancing the outdoor GPS fixes by searching for databases maintained by firms and service providers including Skyhook and Google, generated by looking around for wireless networks. However, the technique provides results that are accurate only up to 10 meters.

The novel idea used by WiFiSLAM provides results correct up to a few steps. Co founder of the firm, Anand Atreya said that the app could be used for indoor tracking in shopping malls, airports, hospitals, etc. Also, he believes that once this technology gets famous, people will come up with more creative apps based on this concept. For example, if you go to a supermarket, you can search for the nearest staff member provided that he is also being tracked. When you want the location, your phone compares the signal strengths and unique IDs of the surrounding Wi-Fi networks with the reference data set for the particular area that’s been stored on it or downloaded via internet. Signals and readings from phone’s accelerometer and compass are also taken into the algorithm to refine the results.

WiFiSLAM plans to introduce this awesome technology in several hospitals and shopping malls. The technology will initially be used as kind of stand-alone apps for navigation, like an app for by a particular market complex or building or a franchisee. However, the technology could later on gradually be built into apps with more general mapping operation. So now, it has become even harder to get lost if you have a smartphone.

Source: Google Images

Replies

You are reading an archived discussion.

Related Posts

National Institute for Standards and Technology scientists have made an unimaginable concept real. They have succeeded in tuning metamaterials to store energy using a particular frequency. The question of “Energy...
It's been 7 years since the inception of the material which has taken all the engineers and researchers by storm. The material is 'Graphene'. Graphene is expected to make laptops,...
Motorola and Sprint held a joint press conference in New York City to announce their latest cellphone in called Photon 4G. This Android handset from Motorola is said to have...
Ubisoft, French Video game heavyweight, is keen to use its influence on Nintendo's second-generation Wii U video-game console. Ubisoft Chief Executive Yves Guillemot and teams working on titles oriented to...
Surgery is a controlled injury that is what doctors say many times. In such a scenario, technology comes to the rescue of both doctors and patients. Researchers at Purdue University...