The n-core Polaris real-time locating system at the EvAAL competition

Abstract

One of the most important technologies used to provide context-awareness in Ambient Assisted Living environments is Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Wireless Sensor Networks comprise an ideal technology to develop Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) aimed at indoor environments, where existing global navigation satellite systems do not work correctly. In this sense, Nebusens and the BISITE Research Group of the University of Salamanca have developed n-Core Polaris, a new indoor and outdoor RTLS based on ZigBee WSNs and an innovative set of locating and automation engines. n-Core Polaris is based on the n-Core platform, a hardware and software platform intended for developing and deploying easily and quickly a wide variety of WSN applications based on the ZigBee standard. This paper describes the n-Core Polaris system, as well as the experiments made during the first EvAAL Competition on Indoor Localization and Tracking, whose results demonstrate the effectiveness of n-Core Polaris in indoor environments. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.