Company develops ‘GPS’ for buildings

The company CSR showed at the Mobile World Congress a system with which the position of a person in a building can be determined. The system uses an accelerometer, gyroscope and barometer for positioning.

The system has been given the name SIRF Walk and is intended to address the major weakness of GPS systems: the need for a direct line of sight to the satellites. SIRF Walk uses an accelerometer and gyroscope to determine which direction a person is moving once they are out of sight of the GPS satellites. The barometer can also be used to find out on which floor of a building the person is located. According to Raj Gawera of CSR, the software is advanced enough to recognize small movements of the equipment and the system is not easy to fool.

Although the technology is already ready for production, according to CSR, it is still waiting for companies to map the inside of buildings. Gawera expects that companies will quickly respond to this and that this type of map material will be available in the not too distant future. By the end of this year, various manufacturers should have the technology in their hands, so that a commercial introduction can take place in 2012. CSR indicates that it is currently in contact with Nokia, Samsung, LG and RIM.