TRX Systems Awarded Patent for Indoor Location Using SLAM-based Mapping
Greenbelt, MD (PRWEB) June 25, 2014 -- TRX Systems, developer of the NEON Indoor Location System, has been awarded a US patent covering a system and method for recognizing features for improving indoor location accuracy using Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM). The TRX approach enables long duration location determination indoors (and in other locations without reliable GPS) using low cost sensors embedded in cellular, industrial, and military devices. Features and landmarks detected using data from magnetic, inertial, RF, and other sensors are fused to establish navigation maps that help determine accurate indoor location.
GPS does not work indoors or underground, and it often has large errors in urban areas, especially near buildings. Embedded sensors (i.e., accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, pressure, light, etc.) provide valuable navigation data; however, these sensors are subject to inertial drift, magnetic interference, and other errors that erode accuracy. These errors prevent the use of low cost sensors for determining accurate indoor location without frequent aiding from GPS or beacons at known locations.
"In the TRX approach, structural, magnetic, RF, and other landmarks are detected and mapped as users move about," says Dr. Carole Teolis, cofounder and Chief Technology Officer, TRX Systems, Inc. "Features discovered by multiple users are merged to create navigation maps which are used to constrain errors and deliver accurate user location without GPS or other corrections for extended periods of time."
This is the fourth patent for TRX Systems covering systems and methods for indoor location and mapping. TRX algorithms are designed to use low-cost sensors, operate on power-constrained platforms, and to consume limited amounts of data, making it feasible to use them to deliver location services for extended periods for public safety, commercial, and defense applications.
About TRX
TRX Systems provides algorithms and products that deliver location indoors and underground, in areas where GPS is unreliable or unavailable. TRX NEON Navigation Algorithms are unique in the use of advanced sensor fusion, ranging, and mapping algorithms to deliver precise, real time location indoors.
TRX Systems is the recipient of the 2013 ACA Luis Villalobos Award for Innovation, the Tibbetts Award given by the U.S. Small Business Administration for excellence in government research and development, the TEDCO ICE Award for Corporate Excellence, the Innovator Award from the Chesapeake Regional Tech Counsel (CRTC), the Gazette Politics and Business Top 53, and the Incubator Company of the Year by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute. TRX Systems won the Third Annual Global Security Challenge.
Carol Politi, TRX Systems, http://www.trxsystems.com, +1 (301) 313-0053 Ext: 723, [email protected]
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