Polaris Wireless has demonstrated the ability to locate wireless devices in the vertical dimension, or z-axis, within one floor level and has further improved indoor horizontal accuracy.
Polaris Wireless offers the industry’s only true software-based hybrid location solution, which integrates available sensor inputs from devices and wireless networks. No additional hardware is required in the wireless carrier networks and no additional firmware is needed in wireless devices enabling Polaris Wireless’ solution to be rapidly deployable nationwide.
“We continue to demonstrate the proven effectiveness and high accuracy of our indoor location technology,” said Manlio Allegra, Polaris Wireless CEO. “In emergency situations where first responders are trying to locate wireless callers in a high-rise building, the ability to identify which floor the call is originating from is essential.”
In early 2018, Polaris Wireless participated in the CTIA’s Test Bed LLC Stage Z independent vertical location testing. The focus of this testing was to evaluate barometric-based solutions in advance of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) establishing a vertical location accuracy metric for compliance by wireless carriers in the Top 50 markets beginning in 2021. Stage Z testing was conducted in San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago. Polaris Wireless was one of two technology vendors selected to participate and was the only solution tested in all buildings in all cities. Further, Polaris Wireless included the widest variety of device and barometric sensor manufacturers. The other participating technology vendor is a hardware-based solution requiring terrestrial beacons and firmware in devices.
Overall, the Polaris Wireless solution was tested in three cities, 48 buildings, 312 test locations and 55,592 test calls. Polaris Wireless achieved a vertical accuracy of 4.8 m at the 80th percentile, with a minimal one-time compensation of the barometric sensor outside of the test cities. Using actual test call data to emulate active sensor compensation, the Polaris Wireless solution improved to 2.8 m accuracy at the 80th percentile, which exceeds the generally-accepted definition of floor level of under 3 m.
In addition to demonstrating floor level vertical location, Polaris Wireless achieved 25.8 m of horizontal indoor accuracy at the 80th percentile, an improvement of 38 percent from CTIA’s Test Bed Stage 2 indoor testing for emerging technologies conducted in 2016. By participating in multiple rounds of CTIA independent testing, Polaris Wireless continues to independently verify its innovations and performance improvements around software-based high accuracy location.
“Wireless devices and carrier networks continue to evolve and provide enriched sensors, data and capabilities,” said Tarun Bhattacharya, CTO of Polaris Wireless. “Polaris Wireless has driven innovations in wireless location for the past 15 years. Our solution is future-proof and we continue to evolve our platform to leverage these new inputs and drive even more accurate location solutions.”