OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Indoor positioning solutions (“IPS”) is now a multi-billion-dollar industry that provides consumers and professionals a solution to the issue of locating objects and individuals indoors. It further enables navigation to destinations within large indoor environments while also delivering context-relevant location-triggered content, such as personalized and location-based advertising, and much more.
There are several players presently in the indoor positioning market. Only Norwegian company Forkbeard has successfully managed to eliminate the inaccuracy problem that other, traditional radio frequency-based positioning technologies, cannot solve.
Forkbeard has developed a game-changing centimeter and room-accurate technology based on acoustics. It takes advantage of the standard audio-processing already in place in billions of iOS and Android smartphones.
“Forkbeard's ultrasound indoor positioning technology has been in use to automate workflow, increase safety and improve patient and staff satisfaction in hundreds of hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities across the U.S., Europe, and Australia, for the past decade,” said company CEO Wilfred Booij, Ph.D. "This ultrasound-based indoor positioning technology has emerged as the acknowledged leader in accurate healthcare facility IPS," Dr. Booij concluded.
But there are dozens of other applications for which Indoor Positioning Technology is applicable, even more so given Forkbeard’s undisputed accuracy performance and smartphone compatibility.
“Forkbeard is about taking the GPS revolution indoors,” said company Senior Vice President Terje “Terry” Aasen. “Forkbeard represents a cost-efficient and straightforward technology platform with the unparalleled position-and-time accuracy that can enable a countless number of compelling use-cases in many market verticals.”
So, who can take advantage of such a system?
Examples include:
- Retail Product Locator. A shopper inside mall seeks a specific consumer item. Using the mall’s interactive map, the shopper identifies three stores that carry the product. One store offers sale pricing. The mall app provides navigational wayfinding direction to the store, right down to the row and shelf location.
- Medical Staff Identification. A hospitalized patient receives a visit by a previously unknown nurse. Using the medical center’s Forkbeard-connected app, the patient is immediately introduced to the nurse with a photo of the nurse appearing on the patient’s phone display, or on a display on the wall, with the name and a brief description of the areas of the nurse’s specialization.
- Safety and Security. Duress alert examples: A lone worker in a cavernous data center suddenly feels ill and pushes an alert button to notify personnel who can dispatch help to the right location. A housekeeper in a hotel guest room feels threatened or is under duress and pushes a silent alert transmission button on her smartphone. Help is deployed quickly to the right room, not the adjoining room or the floor below.
“Multiple applications for reliable IPS technology are growing by leaps and bounds across dozens of industries,” Booij said. “Quite frankly, the sky is the limit.”
