Innovative Applications

A precise real-time location system (RTLS) can be used for a variety of imaginative and innovative applications. Included in this section are just a small selection of the ideas that are being researched and implemented by our partners and customers.

Think of any complex process for which you would either like to have a real-time view, or would like to understand what happens over time. By placing tags on the assets or people involved, it is possible to interact with, record patterns, react, control other processes, determine status in real-time or allow people to use three dimensional space as a user interface.

Automated Distance Learning
As more universities and companies adopt distance learning, they increasingly need to film lectures and seminars. It is too expensive to employ a camera operator for each lecture or seminar, but a fixed camera is no good either: seminars may have many participants who can't all be on screen at once, and lecturers like to walk around, draw on whiteboards, and point at things of interest.

The solution is to automatically control the cameras, so that they follow the participants just as the human gaze follows a speaker. But the voice and vision tracking systems available today are not up to the job: they can't work out where people are pointing; they can't tell who is speaking; they can't even tell the difference between speaking and coughing.

Ubisense brings robustness to automatic camera control. Because tags are located accurately in real time, they give people a way to say 'look over here'. And the tag buttons give finer control, letting the users change the current speaker, and even zoom the camera in to look at an object or picture. Ubisense enables professional-looking camerawork, without having to pay a professional cameraman.

Improving Exhibition Effectiveness
Ubisense can add value to your exhibition space:

We can bring buyers and sellers together. Exhibitors can identify VIP attendees and make sure they receive special treatment; attendees can register their interests to get personalized information from stands.

We can record and manage information. By integrating our camera control and audio capture systems, exhibitors can record their discussions with potential customers and attendees can build up an audio-visual record of the exhibits that interested them.

We can gather statistics. Footfall at each stand, viewer dwell time, length of interaction with each sales person. Feedback for exhibitors on how to improve stand design, and feedback for the venue on how best to bill for space in the exhibition.

Retail Analysis
Many companies are developing the next wave of digital shopping assistants. A key element to these systems is a precision real-time location system.

Location allows stores to provide information to the shopper in context. For example as a shopper is passing the tinned vegetable section the digital assistant can pull up a special offer with recipe ideas from specific manufacturers. The shopper could then add the item to the cart and purchase with an ecoupon rather than worrying about paper coupons.

Shoppers could be guided through stores quickly and efficiently limiting the time spent searching for items and reminding shoppers of items that they have forgotten to pick up or might be interested in.

Shopping patterns of retail establishments can be determined and reported over time. Asking shoppers to carry a tag or placing it on a cart or basket can produce an accurate map of traffic patterns in a store environment.  This information is invaluable to retailers in determining where to place goods and manufacturer who want to know how effective their product placement, packaging and advertising strategies are.

Broadcasting Camera Tracking
In the broadcasting business, there is an increasing trend towards virtual studios where a moderator is located in a small blue screen room and the 'studio' is generated by a computer in 3D. Typically one or two camera operators have to be available, often operating in shifts around the clock, to keep the moderator in the picture being transmitted, zooming as required according to context. By fitting a tag to the camera, which needs to be equipped with a robotic head, and having the moderator wear one or more tags, it is possible to develop software which will drive the pan, tilt and indeed zoom the camera lens as the moderator moves around or makes gestures. Often the shows transmitted from such studios last for hours, being extremely boring for the camera operator and the Ubisense system helps to free the operator for more creative activities.

Theatre and Soundstage
By having actors and performers wear tags, it is possible to develop software to drive lighting and acoustics in a theatre, film set, musical or opera house. The effect is that as the actors move around and speak or sing, so the sound appears to come from them directly, although it is being heard through stationary loudspeakers. This is because the Ubisense system 'knows' where the performers are and this information is used to drive the acoustic balance and fade. In a similar way, spotlights can turn on and track the performers without the need for a human operator.

A show or rehearsal can be replayed and paused from any point in time giving unprecedented information for show planning and design.

Ubisense can also allow people and assets to be automatically tracked by lights using the DMX512 standard for lighting and integrating directly to PTZ cameras. This allows new special effects to be developed and integrated into shows.

Art Exhibits
Having objects which are aware of their spatial position due to the fact that they have a tag in or on them opens up completely new possibilities for participative art exhibitions in which the visitors can interact with the art exhibit which in turn drives colour display or a sound generator based on how the objects in the exhibit are moved.

Increasing Safety in Hazardous Environments
People working in hazmat environments, such as areas high in radiation or people working with dangerous chemicals or diseases, can be tracked effectively and precisely by wearing a Ubisense tag.

They can be located rapidly at all time in case of incident.  Information about the surrounding and their status can be mapped against their location to identify incidents before they happen.