Centralized Optical 3D Positioning System for Emitting Tags

The demand for accurate and reliable local positioning systems has grown rapidly with the increasing use of Location-Based Services (LBS). Emerging technologies such as optical, RF, acoustic, mechanical, and magnetic are feasible options for indoor positioning. Optical-based systems have gained attention due to the widespread LED lamp availability and centimeter-level accuracy. In this context, this work presents the implementation and validation of a centralized optical Local Positioning System (LPS) based on a set of mobile emitter LEDs and a minimum of two fixed receivers, enabling simultaneous position of all tags in the infrastructure (centralized approach). The system is designed for long-distance measurements, using Visible or Infrared Light signals. By incorporating geometric considerations into a Non-Linear Least Squares Estimator (NLSE), the system can estimate the 3D position of a mobile object (i.e. person, drone). The comparison of different deployments demonstrates that the proposed system estimates the 3D position with less than 4mm of error in 90% of cases when using four non-aligned receivers and a single LED.