Local Positioning System Using Flickering Infrared LEDs

Abstract

A minimalistic optical sensing device for the indoor localization is proposed to estimate the relative position between the sensor and active markers using amplitude modulated infrared light. The innovative insect-based sensor can measure azimuth and elevation angles with respect to two small and cheap active infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs) flickering at two different frequencies. In comparison to a previous lensless visual sensor that we proposed for proximal localization (less than 30 cm), we implemented: (i) a minimalistic sensor in terms of small size (10 cm3), light weight (6 g) and low power consumption (0.4 W); (ii) an Arduino-compatible demodulator for fast analog signal processing requiring low computational resources; and (iii) an indoor positioning system for a mobile robotic application. Our results confirmed that the proposed sensor was able to estimate the position at a distance of 2 m with an accuracy as small as 2-cm at a sampling frequency of 100 Hz. Our sensor can be also suitable to be implemented in a position feedback loop for indoor robotic applications in GPS-denied environment.

Outdoor Target Positioning Using Wii Remote IR Camera and Signal Modulation

“…In this paper, we aim to challenge this problem by developing a practical method that realizes the Wiimote IR camera being used for outdoor target positioning. Previous efforts using IR light sources for object positioning include the implementation of amplitude-modulated infrared lights [13,14], where a small-size optical sensing device is developed in these studies to estimate the relative position between the sensor and active markers. Small and cheap active infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs) flickering at two different frequencies are used to measure azimuth and elevation angles inspired by visual acuity in insects.…”

An Indoor Positioning Approach Based on Fusion of Cameras and Infrared Sensors

“…Unlike outdoor localization where GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) have imposed themselves, there is no dominant technology. Ultrasound (US) [8], cameras [9], radio frequency (RF) [10,11], which also comprises UWB (Ultra Wide Band) technologies [12,13], and infrared (IR) have been mainly used so far. Alternatives with IR have the disadvantage of being directional, but they are very interesting when high precision is required in a channel without interference.…”

“…They face several problems common to any LPS (occlusions, multipath, multiple users, etc.). Regarding the measuring principle, they mostly work with TOF (Time Of Flight) [12,14] measurements, which can in turn be TOA (Time Of Arrival) and TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival), AOA (Angle Of Arrival) [11], or RSS [15], as addressed in next paragraphs and Table 1.…”

“…In the emerging context of VLC (Visible Light Communication) which tackles localization and communications making use of the same optical channel, the positioning systems exploit the IR device infrastructure as seen in [33] with TDOA measurements, or in [15] where the authors report precisions in the sub cm level with RSS, although both works provide only simulation results. [11] is Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 29 May 2019 doi:10.20944/preprints201905.0343.v1…”

“…where ε is a Nx1 column vector formed by the N residuals ε i (noise terms in 9), i.e: (11) which are the Gaussian uncertainty terms in the measurement of r ir . (10) can also be typically solved iteratively with a Newton-Gauss algorithm, yielding a recursive solution:…”