PinPtr: a high-precision GPS cloud service

Abstract

One of the primary limitations to widescale adoption of many of today's high-precision location-aware applications is the cost associated with achieving the levels of accuracy necessary for safe and reliable operation. We have developed a relative localization solution enabling centimeter-scale positioning of a network of mobile nodes. The success of this research in the relative sense can be coupled with the known locations of a set of stationary nodes as well as the computational power of the cloud to open the door for an absolute localization service, whereby base stations at well-known locations can be used to transform relative coordinates into absolute locations. We will demonstrate the current progress of our work via live walking and driving experiments in which observers in an exhibition hall can issue commands to walkers and drivers in the field and see the results of these commands as determined by our positioning system in real-time.