WiFi Positioning System Cory Anderson | Rylan Grant | Herbert Mueller Department of Electrical Engineering General OverviewSystem Overview The global positioning system used today has granted countless individuals access to nearly real-time, accurate location information. It has enhanced practices in the military, everyday navigation, mobile satellite communications, surveying, agriculture, geophysics, and numerous other fields. Unfortunately, the signals that are broadcast from the many orbiting G.P.S. satellites are simply too weak to receive in an indoor environment. It would be beneficial to employ an indoor positioning system, and utilize some of the same advantages that G.P.S. offers to those outdoors. Supervisor: Dr. Li Chen Motivation Project Goal & Requirements Engineering Approach Applications Reference Node Blind Node Root Node ServerClient Future Development Physical Attributes No larger than 150mm x 150mm x 300mm Weigh no more than 3kg Resistant to air particulate and moisture To design and implement a positioning system that can be used in an indoor environment and incorporate a completely web based user interface. The finished product should adhere to the following requirements: Environment To be used in an indoor setting Operational temperature range between -20°C and 50°C Should be of “industrial strength” for use in a typical manufacturing setting User Interface Operational on any standard PC Able to view data for each object Positional information should be accessible over a standard network No application software need be installed Installation Should be easily performed by in-house staff I. Design and manufacture a positioning system using wireless routers as reference nodes. This method would allow us to easily deploy a positioning system using an existing WiFi (802.11) network We developed a design for a directional antenna capable of triangulating position information by calculating carrier wave intensity emitted by the routers Network traffic is intermittent and difficult to control. A more consistent carrier signal would be required for more reliable results. Intensity calculations can be based on signal strength, bit error rate, or a combination of the two. Standardization would be nearly impossible, as there are several WiFi cards available, and each with a potentially different signal intensity calculation routine. II. Employ the Chipcon CC2430 microcontroller utilizing the ZigBee protocol ( ) to determine ranging using intensity calculations. Reliability / Maintenance Will be as reliable as the network infrastructure the system resides on Indicator LEDs shall be available Mobile units must be operable for a minimum of twelve hours when functioning on battery power Cost The prototype shall cost no more than $1000 High volume production units shall cost no more than $500 Range Cover a minimum area of 50m x 50m Accuracy Tolerance to within a one meter radius Lower Cost Increased scalability Customized ranging capabilities Smaller infrastructure footprint