Navi Scout

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits

Trade Show Guide

Challenges

Naviscout

Wireless LAN positioning in a trade show environment poses particular challenges. Vast, open halls, huge crowds and booths set up differently for each event mean that the signal processing algorithm needs to cope with highly variable signal strength levels. Moreover, the software must be usable on a variety of mobile devices with considerably different measurement characteristics.
Four to eight wireless LAN access points, owned by the show organizer, are installed in each hall. To include all relevant variables, several calculation methods were combined, taking the specific environment into account. A special algorithm was developed that focuses on the relative strengths of the signals received from individual wireless LAN access points at any one time rather than on absolute levels, determining e.g. whether a stronger signal is being received from station 1 or station 2. This reduces the influence of the measurement characteristics of mobile devices on positioning accuracy.

Results

»NaviScout« was first made available to visitors to the 2008 Automechanika show. In 2009, it has been used at the Musikmesse, Ambiente, Prolight+Sound, Techtextil, and Tendence shows. The service is becoming increasingly popular. Visitors without a Wi-Fi-capable mobile device had the opportunity to borrow one at the event.
We have long experience with the development of trade show guides. During embedded world 2004 the "Messeführer auf Basis von Indoornavigation " of the Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, got the "Embedded Award" for innovative products and services.

Future Work

A variety of further applications are waiting to be developed. One goal is to add Internet functionality to the NaviScout service so that visitors can be informed of panel discussions or presentations that are about to start or have been rescheduled. If a user discloses their position to selected other users, business partners will be easy to locate using »NaviScout«. In addition, mobile devices will be able to alert users as soon as they pass a booth that displays an exhibit related to a previously specified subject area.
While the positioning algorithm was developed for trade show settings, it can obviously be used in any similarly open environment such as an airport or railway station.