Zone-Based Positioning using Trust Beacons, Angle Diversity, and Optical Wireless Communications

We propose a new indoor positioning paradigm called zone-based positioning in which angle-diverse optical user-devices position themselves with respect to low-cost, fixed-location, active photovoltaic anchors. Due to the low cost, these anchors, called trust beacons, are distributed liberally throughout a space. This distribution of beacons enables a mobile positioning zone that travels with a particular user-device as it moves through space. Privacy is maintained by distributing the active components between the user device and infrastructure. To ensure real-time measurement of angle and range, a narrow field-of-view optical source is continuously modulated with updated measurements. We demonstrate mean square errors of less than 20cm for 2D positioning and less than 5cm for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) assisted 3D positioning. We also demonstrate an experimental proof-of-concept prototype.