Magnetic positioning

Magnetic positioning is an IPS (Indoor positioning system) solution that takes advantage of the magnetic field anomalies typical of indoor settings by using them as distinctive place recognition signatures. The first citation of positioning based on magnetic anomaly can be traced back to military applications in 1970.[1] The use of magnetic field anomalies for indoor positioning was instead first claimed in papers related to robotics in the early 2000.[2][3]

Most recent applications can employ magnetic sensor data from a smartphone used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building.[4]

There is currently no de facto standard for IPS, however magnetic positioning appears to be the most complete and cost effective. It offers accuracy without any hardware requirements and a relatively low total cost of ownership. According to Opus Research magnetic positioning will emerge as a “foundational” indoor location technology.[5]

Companies

GiPStech

Independent research brought in 2011 a team of researchers to focus on anomalies to the geomagnetic field as a possible naturally available field to be used for localization of consumer electronic devices.

After some years of research and tests they were able to implement an indoor localization platform that, based on the fingerprinting of a building geomagnetic field and of advanced sensor fusion, was able to precisely locate a device and its user without any infrastructure. Moreover, the platform was also able to compensate most of known issues of local magnetic field variability.

In 2014 the team founded GiPStech[6] - as academic spin-off of Università della Calabria - to complete the R&D and commercialize the platform.

Indoor Atlas

Professor Janne Haverinen and Anssi Kemppainen worked also on the magnetic approach.[7] Noticing that buildings' magnetic distortions were leading machines astray, they eventually turned the problem around and focused attention on the magnetic interferences caused by steel structures. What they found was that the disturbances inside them were consistent, creating a magnetic fingerprint unique to a building.[8]

Professor Janne Haverinen founded the company IndoorAtlas in 2012 to commercialize the magnetic positioning solution with dual headquarters in Mountain View, CA and Oulu, Finland.[9]

Issues

The local magnetic field is affected by moving metal objects like lifts or metal cabinets.[10]

References
  1. , "Guidance system", issued 1970-09-04
  2. Suksakulchai, S.; Thongchai, S.; Wilkes, D. M.; Kawamura, K. (October 2000). "Mobile robot localization using an electronic compass for corridor environment". Smc 2000 conference proceedings. 2000 ieee international conference on systems, man and cybernetics. 'cybernetics evolving to systems, humans, organizations, and their complex interactions' (cat. no.0. 5: 3354–3359 vol.5. doi:10.1109/ICSMC.2000.886523.
  3. Aboshosha, Ashraf; Zell, Andreas; Tübingen, Universität (2004). "Disambiguating Robot Positioning Using Laser and Geomagnetic Signatures". In: proceedings of IAS-8.
  4. Haverinen, Janne; Kemppainen, Anssi (31 October 2009). "Global indoor self-localization based on the ambient magnetic field". Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 57 (10): 1028–1035. doi:10.1016/j.robot.2009.07.018.
  5. Miller, Dan. "Analysis & Expertise in Conversational Commerce". Opus Research. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  6. redazione (2018-09-05). "Indoor localization and navigation company home page". GiPStech. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
  7. "Homepage of Janne Haverinen". Department of Computer Science and Engineering. University of Oulu. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  8. Truong, Alice (2013-09-25). "IndoorAtlas Hopes to Unlock the "Holy Grail of Advertising" With Magnetic-Field Mapping". Business + Innovation. Fast Company. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  9. Clark, Liat (9 July 2012). "Finnish startup can locate you indoors using magnetic field anomalies". Wired UK. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  10. Li, Binghao; Gallagher, Thomas; Dempster, Andrew G.; Rizos, Chris. How feasible is the use of magnetic field alone for indoor positioning?. International conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation 2012 (IPIN2012). CiteSeerX 10.1.1.367.2923.
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