Indoor sound based localization: Research questions and first results

Abstract

This PhD work has the goal to develop an inexpensive, easily deployable and widely compatible localization system for indoor use, suitable for pre-installed public address sound systems, avoiding costly installations or significant architectural changes in spaces. Using the audible sound range will allow the use of low cost off-the-shelf equipment suitable for keeping a low deployment cost. The state-of-the-art presented in this paper evidences a technological void in lowcost, reliable and precise localization systems and technologies. This necessity was also confirmed by the authors in a previous project (NAVMETRO®) where no suitable technological solution was found to exist to overcome the need to automatically localize people in a public space in a reliable and precise way. Although research work is in its first steps, it already provides a thorough view on the problem while discussing some possible approaches and predicting strategies to overcome the key difficulties. Some experiments were already conducted validating some initial premises and demonstrating how to measure the signal’s time-of-flight necessary to infer on distance calculations.