Indoor positioning systems for Android

a comprehensive article on different indoor positioning technologies

http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/new-indoor-navigation-technologies-work-where-gps-cant

THE CHOSEN SYSTEM:

• Red Pin
• wi-fi fingerprint based

october 2014 → ? USING REDPIN

• running redpin.jar on the edar server
• because of post issues (not able to open access to 8000 outside of epfl network) moved the server to KUCJICA. same process, same database;

MEASUREMENTS

• december 12, BC building; performed 4 measurements all lasting about 2 minutes. kept track of the movement by hand (noted positions and times on a peace of paper) and compared that to the data the app sent to the server; results can be found here measurement tests 12.12.2014

OTHER POSSIBLY USEFUL APPS:

• FootPath: a project developed at the Aachen University;
• infrastructure-less tracking: starts from a known point and with a floor plan; uses accelerometer+gyroscope to determine the path taken from the starting point;
• + doesn't need to be online, doesn't need any additional information about the environment;
• - needs a map to be pre-uploaded;
• - error adds up;

TEST:

• cloned the github project, imported in Eclipse
• downloaded a map using JOSM (download here and run: java -jar josm-tested.jar)
• replaced the value in Loader.java, line 200 with the name of the map (epflmap)
• chmod +x update-revfile.sh, run ./update-revfile.sh
• restart Eclipse, run the app.
• it crashes, on all phones, immediately :(
• there is a version of FootPath in playstore, this one works well enough to test;

• IDocent developed at Michigan State University, aimed at guiding blind people around buildings, has a text-to-speech engine;
• uses wi-fi triangulation and custom maps;
• watch video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-9OPnu3cM

TEST

• dwloaded the zip file for Android
• imported the project into Eclipse and set the target Android version
• run as application on Motorola test phone;
• iDocent freezes, then has to quit because it's not responding; :( (error log)

• https://github.com/TeroM/indoor-position-tracker
• wi-fi fingerprint based
• fingerprints need to be preset (define points on a map, scan and remember the results); after creating this base/dictionary of positions, it locates the user closest to the defined points;

TEST

• cloned the project git@github.com:TeroM/indoor-position-tracker.git, loaded to Eclipse
• run on Motorola, loads and works well!

triangulation systems based on signal strength http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/radar/

how to calculate the geographic midpoint for two or more points on the earth's surface; how to calculate the center of minimum distance; how to calculate the average latitude/longitude http://www.geomidpoint.com/calculation.html

• WIGGLE: a contribution based map of wireless access points. https://wigle.net/

need something closest to the TeroM tool + a general map of the space; map the space out (preset points and scan the db at each point); load all this information in the app (with an option to edit or re-measure db strengths);