Improved ultrasonic beacon system for indoor localization

One of the most important factors so that mobile objects can achieve their purpose is the information about their positions. In this paper, we propose an improved beacon system, to which ultrasonic sensors are attached, for the indoor localization of mobile objects. We have researched so that it can cover the wider space and estimate more accurate positions than the existent beacon systems. The existent beacon systems have the constraint that one beacon cannot cover wide area since ultrasonic sensors have limits in the angle of signal (beam-angle) on which their signal strength depends. Hence, we used the active beacon which consists of a pan-tilt mechanism and a beacon module. The active beacon system can always aim at mobile objects in order to transmit the strongest signal of the ultrasonic sensors into the objects using the pan-tilt mechanism. In addition, this system is inexpensive because it can decrease the number of beacons by about a half of the beacons of the existent system. Finally, the results show what is the difference between the active beacon system and existent beacon systems, and how accurate it is.