INDOOR POSITIONING

 

Today orientation services based on GPS are taken for granted by most of us smart phone users. These features cannot be used inside buildings, however, since GPS signals simply do not work there. Due to this, there is an increasing demand for a functional yet inexpensive indoor location system for libraries which can be used by visitors on their smart phones.

Therefore, the library of the University of Applied Sciences Wildau would like to offer this orientation service as a pioneer in the library business.

iBeacon is a technology introduced by Apple in 2013 which was originally developed for Geofencing, which is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It is currently used by the iCampus Wildau team for our orientation system. This technology is supported by the most recent mobile versions of operating systems for Apple, iOS and Android and therefore offers the possibility to reach a variety of users. The use of iBeacons for indoor positioning in public buildings is of particular interest, because it isn't associated with high maintenance or installation and follow-up costs.

Heretofore, another system was used in search of a functional indoor location device. The OpenBeacon system created by Bitmanufaktur GmbH was perfectly suited for experimentation and this is what the iCampus Wildau team did. It is open source and open hardware as well and therefore, perfect for gathering knowledge and experiences and improving the algorithms and installation details.

At present, a location system is installed in the university library which encompasses the entire knowledge of the iCampus Wildau team regarding indoor radiolocation in public buildings. This system banks on the tracing service for the campus and buildings of the Technical University Wildau, based on Google maps, which was implemented in the university app Unidos Wildau in 2015. The iBeacon location system has been in its last test phase since February 2016 regarding its practical use and will be initially installed in the summer semester 2016.

The video shows a screen shot of the testing app. You can see a map of one of the library floors in which the location of every iBeacon installed on this floor is visible. The current position of the test person is marked in blue. The Beacons receiving data at that moment are marked red.

Beginning with the summer semester 2016, the radio-controlled location system is planned to be an additional part of the Unidos Wildau app and will help university library users to orientate themselves inside the library. For example, this can help our users to find specific print media or a workplace a lot quicker. Therefore, the foundation for implementation of further radio-controlled location service tools in the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau library have been laid.

 

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Unidos Wildau

"Unidos Wildau" is the campus app of the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau. It is a mobile companion for students and the university staff, as well as visitors and any interested person. “Unidos” Wildau is part of the project to create a mobile information system, which helps with the development of virtual contents at the university campus. The connection with the services and infrastructure of the university library is a key factor for the development of future applications, as well as the current development of an indoor radio-transmitted location system.

"Unidos Wildau" is an improved version of "iLibrary Wildau", which was the first version of the app and initially solely designed as an application for the library. It is now an application which holds content regarding the entire university.

Authorized students and teachers are able to browse the library collection, manage their library accounts, book group study rooms or look into schedules and exam results. The individual university departments are also able to send users of the app push messages through individual channels. If interested, users can subscribe to these channels to make sure they always get the needed information.

Since the "iLibrary" app got very much established in the ranks of users of the library, more and more students hoped for improvements and expansion of the contents of the application. All that led to revamping it as an application for use on the entire campus, under its new name "Unidos Wildau" in 2015.

The application is also interesting for visitors and potential future students because they can get an insight into the university beforehand. A virtual campus tour would be an example for that.