Thursday, December 14, 2006

Local Positioning Systems: LBS Applications and Services


Local Positioning Systems: LBS Applications and Services explores the possible approaches and technologies to location problems including people and asset tracking, mobile resource management, public safety, and handset location-based services. The book examines several indoor positioning systems, providing detailed case studies of existing applications and their requirements, and shows how to set them up. Other chapters are dedicated to position computation algorithms using different signal metrics and determination methods, 2D/3D indoor map data and location models, indoor navigation, system components and how they work, privacy, deployment issues, and standards. In detail, the book explains the steps for deploying a location-enabled network, including doing a site-survey, creating a positioning model and floor maps, and access point placement and configuration. Also presented is a classification for network-based and ad-hoc positioning systems, and a framework for developing indoor LBS services.
This comprehensive guide will be invaluable to students and lecturers in the area of wireless computing. It will also be an enabling resource to developers and researchers seeking to expand their knowledge in this field.

Features

  • Presents detailed application examples, use cases, and requirements for indoor location-based applications.
  • Explains how to use existing commercial and open source positioning systems.
  • Includes steps for service deployment, including the creation of positioning models and indoor floor plans / maps.
  • Explains indoor signal propagation, signal metrics, and analyzes positioning sensors and position determination algorithms.
  • Compares absolute vs. relative location determination and geometric vs. symbolic location data models.
  • Includes indoor map-matching, referencing and navigation algorithms.
  • Includes methods for safeguarding privacy and standards for system interoperability.
  • Analyzes market preconditions and offers business scenarios with multiple development strategies
  • Covers 802.11 (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, RFID, TV, UWB, IR, Ultrasound, Video, Electromagnetic, Accelerometers, and more

  • Editorial Reviews


    Local Positioning Systems is a groundbreaking book to support researchers and practitioners in location and tracking based services. The book is particularly impressive in the coverage of emerging indoor location based services that many observers claim to be a fast growing market (after all, we spend much of our time indoors). Congratulations to the authors on a job well done.”

    --Antonio S. Camara, CEO, YDreams




    ”This book provides an excellent overview of some of the different technologies that can be used to provide positioning solutions in support of location based services….This book will serve as good reference material for anyone interested in learning about opportunities and pitfalls in the development and deployment of in-door positioning systems for LBS”

    --Alison Brown, PhD, President/CEO NAVSYS Corporation




    “This descriptive, all-encompassing book is a must for anyone wanting to understand location-based services from infrastructure components to service deployment. The technologies and problems associated with LBS are described at length. The approach is non-technical and the author succeeds in explaining all concepts with hardly any formulas. The chapters are loaded with examples to illustrate past and current attempts to develop and deploy LBS both outdoor and indoor. The broad experience of the author with LBS is apparent at every page. In an attempt to be descriptive, the author omits to describe requirements and system specifications and performance.”

    -- Gerard Lachapelle, CRC/iCORE Chair in Wireless Location Dept of Geomatics Eng, University of Calgary




    “It is relatively jargon free which is a positive…Those readers with passing familiarity with sensors, engineering, radio, statistics, college level math and networks should have no trouble understanding the material…well organized and easy to follow. It leads the reader through a lot of material at the proper depth of a primer… provides sufficient depth and information for a semi-technical person to make informed decisions about the technology…Comprehensive…Good depiction of various signal processing techniques for resolving position and location…Graphics and especially signal propagation graphics will help the reader understand limitations and environments that will cause issues…The mapping/fingerprinting section is excellent… Map-matching sections and explanation of geometric is very strong…Explanation of models and data is excellent and appropriate.”

    --comments from John Dmohowski




    ”When I began research about LBS several years ago, I found there was no book or survey paper that offered a quick overview of local positioning systems. This excellent work solves this problem. This book introduces several case studies, showing the details on how they are set up. Especially valuable is its detailed coverage concerning the infrastructure of building a LBS system. The most awesome thing is that this is the first book that clearly discusses how to deploy a LBS system. In summary, this is an excellent reference book for any researchers and engineers interested in developing a local positioning system.”

    --Changsong Shen, University of British Columbia



    Biography of Author
    Kris Kolodziej is an expert in location technology. In addition to authoring the groundbreaking book Local Positioning Systems: LBS Services and Applications, Kolodziej has been an advocate of seamless location technologies and their convergence helping various companies with their research, product development, and business development. He resides in San Francisco, CA, USA.
    Email: kwk20@hotmail.com