Project: Smartphones with Innovative Navigation Service for a unique InDoor Experience
_x000D_The idea of SmartINSIDE is to offer the best overall solution addressing today’s challenge of orientation within large indoor infrastructures. _x000D__x000D_Large indoor sites such as airports, commercial centers, exhibition/fair centers, museums represent typical areas where any newcomer will most certainly ask for guidance, to better navigate the space. Even accustomed visitors might feel the need to orientate themselves and require guidance’s hints or reminders. Fixed displays, maps, guiding arrows, helpdesks are common helpful services but still don’t match everybody’s needs to find their ways. Personalized mobile technology can provide the missing indoor navigation services._x000D__x000D_The number of apps stores is currently 25 millions with four-fold increase forecasted by 2013 [Dawn Kawamoto, "Mobile-App store users to quadruple by 2013"]. The community of users experiencing apps on their phone, among which navigation ones, is already formed. Users are even more accustomed to services like “Tom-Tom” for cars, or GoogleMaps. The smartphone market growth stimulates even more such service acceptance. It is therefore natural to provide users with a similar navigation for indoor. 25,000 applications already exist on smartphones, but none of them can deal with what is not yet developed: a phone compatible with GPS-like indoor signal._x000D__x000D_The concept behind SmartINSIDE proposes a hardware and software infrastructure enabling location based services accessible from a GPS-enabled standard smartphone. This will be achieved by communicating with one specific source of information coming from the dedicated signals generated by the indoor SmartINSIDE transmitters, called "pseudolites". The only thing visitors of large indoor sites will have to do is to download once and for all an application on their smartphone. This application will include a location client software, capable of interfacing with the smartphone embedded standard GPS chipset, allowing a direct and discrete communication with the infrastructure set up at the site. _x000D__x000D_Pseudolites have key advantages: coverage up to 130m(or above) versus 30m (WLAN), 10m (Bluetooth); better positioning technique by timing, instead of power strength (WLAN) or detection only (Bluetooth). Pseudolites technology benefits from a favourable and recent regulatory environment, allowing the proposed solution supported by the SmartINSIDE project, to be among the first ones available on the market. _x000D_However, to cope with the diversity of indoor spaces and shapes (stairs, colums and corridor), SmartINSIDE project makes the choice of hybridization of technologies. By combining the GPS-like signals with other sources of information available on smartphone, i.e. WLAN and Bluetooth, SmartINSIDE boosts its chances to well position itself in the competitive indoor navigation sector. A whole research field opens with the addition of indoor GPS like signals. SmartINSIDE adapted hybrid methods will answer the indoor challenge of service accuracy and continuity with unmatched performance / cost ratio._x000D__x000D_Economically, the suggested approach is favourable because the proposed service has lower intrusion towards the site owner, lower installation costs and presents a better quality of service. Still, the creation of barriers of entry established by the location of infrastructure implemented in the client sites, will ensure the control of the usage of infrastructure location. This would prevent a third party to access to the location of terminals and will make it difficult to develop competing similar application. A “wide open” solution would not allow the owner of the infrastructure to get the expected return on investment._x000D__x000D_The SmartINSIDE project will demonstrate the usefulness and applicability of the new technology by developing a solution designed for the realm of commercial large malls and/or exhibition centers. _x000D_Galaé, key customer of the first mentioned market has indeed agreed for authorising the solution demonstration. Then, the second demo will occur in a fare site in Netherlands such as the RAI or Jaarbeurs. Both are challenging environments : malls have highly mixed areas (large halls, corridors, shops, supermarkets), fare centers have a changing map settings for every hosted events. SmartINSIDE will therefore have the chance to develop a solution for both sites. _x000D_The demo will provide valuable data of a large set of users, in terms of age, culture, interest, etc. The demonstration will include studies with qualitative as well as quantitative data that facilitate to distil and hence better respond to end-user requirements with respect to ergonomics as well as usability goals as established for interaction design, namely effectiveness, efficiency, utility, learnability and memorability.
| Acronym | SmartINSIDE (Reference Number: 5262) |
| Duration | 01/08/2010 - 30/11/2012 |
| Project Topic | SmartINSIDE is aiming at developing a complete integrated solution for indoor navigation services within large sites. Thanks to a unique technological HW and SW infrastructure, indoor navigation will be cheaper, more efficient, and accessible to any user with a standard mobile phone. |
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Project Results (after finalisation) |
The objective of SILICOM inside the project SMARTINSIDE were to develop a pseudolite equipment, and a corresponding test Receiver. |
| Network | Eurostars |
| Call | Eurostars Cut-Off 3 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Groupe SILICOM | Partner | France |
| 4 | INSITEO BV | Partner | Netherlands |
| 4 | INSITEO SAS | Coordinator | France |
| 4 | Universiteit van Amsterdam | Partner | Netherlands |