Wireless position location and tracking system
Techniques for accurate position location and tracking suitable for a wide range of facilities in variable environments are disclosed. In one aspect, a system for position location comprises a plurality of sensors (e.g. a network monitor, an environment sensor) for generating a measurements of a plurality of sources, a plurality of objects or tags, each object generating measurements of the plurality of sources, and a processor for receiving the measurements and generating a position location for one or more objects in accordance with the received measurements. In another aspect, a position engine comprises a mapped space of a physical environment, and a processor for updating the mapped space in response to received measurements. The position engine may receive second measurements from an object within the physical environment, and generate a position location estimate for the object from the received second measurements and the mapped space. Various other aspects are also presented.
1. A method for real-time position location of an object within an indoor multiple floor facility, the method comprising:
generating at each of a plurality of network monitors a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements comprising data from a plurality of beacon emitters, each beacon emitter of the plurality of beacon emitters generating a radiofrequency signal, wherein the data comprises signal strength from each of the plurality of beacon emitters received by the network monitor, each of the plurality of network monitors attached to a wall outlet of the indoor multiple floor facility;
wirelessly transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points utilizing a 802.11 communication link;
generating at a tag of each object of a plurality of objects within the indoor multiple floor facility, a second plurality of measurements, the second plurality of measurements comprising signal strength from each of the beacon emitters received by the tag and identification data from a tag of each object of the plurality of objects;
wirelessly transmitting data of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of each object of the plurality of objects to at least one of a plurality of network monitors using a 802.15.4 communication link;
wirelessly transmitting data of the second plurality of measurements from at least one of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points utilizing the 802.11 communication link;
receiving at a location positioning engine through the plurality of access points data of at least one of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors;
receiving at the location positioning engine through the plurality of access points data of at least one of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of at least one of the objects of the plurality of objects;
generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility based on the data of the first plurality of measurement utilizing a radial basis function; and
generating a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of objects in accordance with the received data of the second plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility.
2. A method for real-time position location of an object within an indoor multiple floor facility, the method comprising:
generating at each of a plurality of network monitors a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements comprising data from a plurality of beacon emitters positioned within the indoor multiple floor facility, each beacon emitter of the plurality of beacon emitters generating a radiofrequency signal, wherein the data comprises signal strength from each of the plurality of beacon emitters received by the network monitor, each of the plurality of network monitors attached to a wall outlet of the indoor multiple floor facility;
wirelessly transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points utilizing a 802.11 communication link, the at least one of the plurality of access points located within the indoor multiple floor facility;
generating at a tag of each object of a plurality of objects within the indoor multiple floor facility, a second plurality of measurements, the second plurality of measurements comprising data from the plurality of beacon emitters, wherein the data comprises signal strength from each of the beacon emitters received by the tag;
wirelessly transmitting data of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of each object of the plurality of objects to at least one of a plurality of network monitors using a 802.15.4 communication link;
wirelessly transmitting data of the second plurality of measurements from at least one of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points utilizing the 802.11 communication link;
receiving at a location positioning engine through the plurality of access points data of at least one of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors;
receiving at the location positioning engine through the plurality of access points data of at least one of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of at least one of the objects of the plurality of objects;
generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility based on the data of the first plurality of measurement utilizing a radial basis function; and
generating a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of objects in accordance with the received data of the second plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility.