Ultrasonic location systems are a popular solution for the provision of fine-grained indoor positioning data. Applications include enhanced routing for wireless networks, computer-aided navigation, and location-sensitive device behavior. However, current ultrasonic location systems suffer from limitations due to their use of narrowband transducers. This paper investigates the use of broadband ultrasound for indoor positioning systems. Broadband ultrasonic transmitter and receiver units have been developed and characterized. The utilization of these units to construct two positioning systems with different architectures serves to highlight and affirm the concrete, practical benefits of broadband ultrasound for locating people and devices indoors.
Summary of Mike Hazas's pioneering PhD on using broadband ultrasound for indoor positioning systems. This is an archival, expanded version of the well-regarded UbiComp 2002 (>50 citations) and IEEE PerCom 2003 conference papers. It sailed through the rigourous IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing review process, with all reviewers rating it ""excellent"" and recommending no changes. A thorough characterisation is presented, from the low-level signalling capabilities to the high-level performance of two different system architectures. These are much more effective than their more common narrowband counterparts, and the paper is the definitive work on broadband ultrasonic location systems for mobile computing. RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Computer Science and Informatics
