Location Aware Systems

In the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) group we develop location aware tracking systems with the latest sensor technologies for challenging indoor and industrial environments. Our research encompasses all of the major challenges, including data fusion, spatial and temporal accuracy, power consumption, coverage area/environment limitations, update rate, security, scalability and cost, and robust smart algorithm development. Based on our rich experience in sensor design and algorithm development, we have designed a new Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) based indoor localisation WSN platform.

The platform consists of a powerful microcontroller, 9 axis inertial sensor, altimeter, temperature, BLE and on board memory for data storage. With those sensors on board, we can find the exact location of an object or personnel in an indoor environment within few 10’s of centimeters. Moreover, by utilizing the on board inertial sensors, we can predict what type of activity the person is doing, such as standing, walking, running, sitting, etc.

This is crucial in the case of emergency situations such as when a lone, isolated worker falls. The location aware systems have many applications, including: doctor, patient and medical equipment location in hospitals, visitor tracking in high security areas, sportspeople tracking in various sports to collect performance data and analyze, worker and object tracking in industry, smart manufacturing.