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IPS and GPS: Navigating Indoor and Outdoor Positioning Systems

TLDR: While GPS excels in outdoor positioning using satellites, IPS employs various technologies for accurate indoor location tracking where GPS signals are weak or unavailable. Both GPS and IPS are mainly used for the location of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, with IPS being a critical component of the operational digital twin and Care Traffic Control.

The Details

In today's interconnected world, knowing precisely where we are, outdoors and indoors, has become more crucial than ever. Enter IPS and GPS - the twin pillars of modern positioning technology.

Care Traffic Control uses location aware mobile devices to revolutionize workflow automation. Because the update frequency is close to every second and the accuracy of GPS and IPS is also significantly higher because the device is computing its own location instead of a remote system. RTLS is around 6 seconds per update because of battery conservation and RTLS is not as accurate and RTLS cost's more per square foot.

Let's start with some definitions:

• Mobile devices are smart phones and tablets for this discussion.
• GPS: Global Positioning System, a satellite-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth. Mobile devices use this system to determine their location outdoors.
• IPS: Indoor Positioning System, a system that is used to allow mobile devices to calculate their location inside a building where GPS is inadequate.

Let's compare and contrast each of these technologies

GPS

• Used mainly outdoors
• Mobile devices use GPS to compute their location
• Location is a position in the form, lat, lon and alt
• High frequency of location updates (~1/sec)
• Accurate from a couple hundred to a few meters

IPS (assuming a BLE-based System)

• Used mainly indoors
• Uses a system of distributed BLE beacons
• Mobile devices use their onboard BLE sensors to trilaterate their location
• Location is a position in the form, lat, lon, ordinal (floor)
• High frequency of location updates (~1/sec)
• Accurate from a few meters to a few centimeters

Challenges

Like any technology there are limitations so design becomes critical when applying these technologies to a solution. Below are some of the challenges of each technology.

GPS

• Only works outdoors
• Requires location services to be enabled

IPS

• No single IPS technology has emerged
• Each technology has its own challenges
• Maps must be created
• Proprietary software must be loaded on the device (exception being Apple Indoors)
• Requires location services to be enabled

Indoor positioning technologies

1. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons are the most common and cost-effective.
2. Wi-Fi signals can be used as is done by Apple Indoors. With Android this works with Google Wi-Fi only.
3. Ultra-Wideband (UWB): Is emerging and known for its high accuracy, UWB is supported by newer devices on both platforms.
4. Visible Light Communication (VLC) is very accurate but it requires updated facility lighting.

Care Traffic Control and Location for Mobile Devices

Location and patient experience: With the pervasive use of smartphones, patients are able to access more and more healthcare information on their phones. The Personal Health Records (PHR) are mostly available on apps or responsive web pages. Adding location to these apps help the patient navigate the confusing indoor spaces and interact with the patient to help them before they are able to talk to caregiver. Location will make this a much more personal and user friendly experience. One example is at St. Joseph's in Toronto where wayfinding is using IPS to navigate patients to their appointments.

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Location and hospital operations: As mobile devices become more common in hospitals the role they play will expand as well. The ability to get information into the hands of the person where they need it, when they need it is game changing. Making these devices location aware will mean that someone's location can become part of how information is personalized for the user.

Outdoors users can get GPS location for intra-campus operations. Indoors is a new and exciting addition to LBS. For instance, a courier's indoor location can be used to help them know they arrived at the correct drop off location or patient transporter can know they have the right patient with confirmation from a location aware app.

Key Takeaways:

• GPS relies on satellite signals and is optimal for outdoor use
• IPS uses various technologies to overcome indoor signal limitations
• IPS offers higher accuracy for indoor environments
• Combining GPS and IPS enables seamless indoor-outdoor positioning
• Privacy and security are crucial considerations in IPS deployment

Conclusion: IPS and GPS are systems that can work together and automate workflows and make user experiences much more exciting and engaging. Because the mobile device is locating itself, updates much more accurate and frequent. Indoor positioning is next frontier and technologies are emerging that are making it accurate and affordable. Care Traffic Control provides a roadmap to guide you in your own positioning journey.

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Stay updated on advancements in positioning systems by following Why Where Matters.

Until next week,

Paul E Zieske ​Location Based Services Consulting ​​​