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Cisco Confidential 1. 1

Kayshav Dattatri

Cisco Systems

Dec 2011

Evolution and Future of

Indoor Wi-Fi Location

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A Brief History of Indoor Wi-Fi Location

EarlyDeployment ofIndoor Wi-Fi

-Retail industry focuson Location- Hospitality industryhungry for Location- Infrastructureinterested in monitoringdensity and flow

Early Deployment ofLocation Service

using Wi-Fi- Infrastructure basedLocation/Context

Indoor Location for:- Asset Tracking- Network Diagnostics- Tag based services- Indoor Navigation- Free Wi-Fi

Advent of Smartphones-Apps hungry for bandwidth andLocation- Wi-Fi offload from 3G

1999-2002 2003-2004 2005-2007 2007-2009 2010-????

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Infrastructure Based Location -Highlights

Every Wi-Fi Client and RFID tagged entity tracked in real-time (2-8 secs)

Nothing special needed on the endpoints (clients/tags)

Enterprise Applications could leverage the Location/Context information

- Monitor and Track IV Pumps in Hospitals

- Monitor temperature of critical medicines in freezers

- Find missing or stolen assets (university campus)

- Trackman-downsituations in hazardous areas

Location considered a side-benefit of Wi-Fi networks with a smalladditional investment

Primarily using RSSI and RTT technologies, with accuracy of 3-10 meters,depending on density of deployment

Improve operational efficiency, reduce capital expenses, enhance workerproductivity and safety

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Then came Smartphonesand Tablets

Every smartphone is a Wi-Fi Client

More and more demand for easy indoor navigation to match outdoor GPS

Apps that leveraged indoor location became reality

E.g. The American Museum of Natural History deployed a popular app for museumcustomers

Users demand (free) Wi-Fi access everywhere!!!

Infrastructure based location is useful in some situations but not all

Not truly real-time

Infrastructure really not aware of the characteristics of the phone (speed, orientation, etc)

Challenging for an App to communicate with the infrastructure to get its own location

(security, networks identity, etc.)

The infrastructure wants to monitor and monetize the smartphone traffic

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American Museum of Natural History AppCisco + Spotlight Mobile

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American Museum of Natural HistoryCisco + Spotlight Mobile

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Client Computed Location

Since the Smartphone has enough resources and information, it couldpotentially compute its own location (probably with some assistance fromthe infrastructure)

More Accurate only need to compute its own location and nothing else

More real-time the phone knows what the user is doing

More responsive Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, etc. can be leveraged

No Security Issuesit is computing its own location and not any other clients

Location/Context is only half the story

Apps need to use the Location to help the user

Need quality maps, POIs

Turn by Turn navigation Apps

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The Infrastructure and SmartphoneInterplay

Since every Smartphone is a Wi-Fi device, it can be tracked(anonymously) by the Wireless infrastructure

Collectively knowing the density and traffic patterns of the Wi-Fi devicescan help the infrastructure to improve customer experience, as wellimprove the efficiency of operations

Airports, Train stations Stadiums

Shopping Malls

Museums

The infrastructure could alert the customer relationship manager when ahigh-worth customer (carrying a smartphone) walks into the bank

Retailers looking to understand customer movement patterns and offerbetter services

Instant offers based on proximity

Place digital signage based on traffic patterns (time of day, day of week, etc.)

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Let Services Find the User

Too many Apps and the user doesnt know which one to use

Common challenges faced by most users at venues:

Where is the restroom, coffee shop?

What is the arrival/departure timing of my flight?

Any coupons for this Hotspot?

Why cant the venue tell me the most common stuff without me searching,finding and launching an App, and connecting to a Wi-Fi network?

Thanks to 802.11u and some infrastructure support, a smartphone candiscover interesting/relevant information about the venue, pre-

associationwith a Wi-Fi network Leveraging Wi-Fi has progressed way beyond just Location service

For retailers, it is a tool to attract and retain customers

For venue owners, it is a great way to attract tenants and offer enhanced services

For many others, it is a great way to understand customer movement and behavior withoutbreaching any privacy concerns

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What is Wi-Fi Local Service Discovery?

Wi-Fi Local Service Discovery (LSD).

Allows Venues to Publish

And Mobile Devices to Discover

Special and Relevant Services Available and Delivered onthe Local Wi-Fi Network

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In Conclusion

The advent and proliferation of smartphones and apps has had a bigimpact on indoor location evolution

Every vertical (retailer, hospitality, airports, etc.) wants to learn more abouttheir customers and offer more services, and indoor location technologyand local services discovery fully enables that

Every business/venue wants to leverage the Wi-Fi network they haveinvested in to do more stuff and increase the ROI

Users expect Wi-Fi to be available everywhere, and mostly free

Carriers embracing Hotspot 2.0 to make Wi-Fi experience as seamlessand secure as the cellular experience