Evaluating the n-Core Polaris Real-Time Locating System in an Indoor Environment

Abstract

Context-aware technologies allow Ambient Assisted Living developments to automatically obtain information from users and their environment in a distributed and ubiquitous way. One of the most important technologies used to provide context-awareness is Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Wireless Sensor Networks comprise an ideal technology to develop Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) aimed at indoor environments, where existing global navigation satellite systems do not work correctly. In this regard, n-Core Polaris is an indoor and outdoor RTLS based on ZigBee WSNs and an innovative set of locating and automation engines. This paper presents the main components of the n-Core Polaris, as well as some experiments made in a real scenario whose results demonstrate the effectiveness of the system in indoor environments.