Localization techniques

Learn about different localization technologies that are used by Sensolus trackers.

Sensolus trackers can often make use of multiple localization techniques, because each technique has particular advantages and limitations.

The following localization technologies are supported:

Table 1. Localization technologies overview for trackers

	GPS/GNSS	Network location	Wi-Fi scanning	Bluetooth geobeacons	Bluetooth Quuppa
Ideal environment	Outdoor Everywhere	Indoor-outdoor Everywhere	Indoor-outdoor Uncontrolled	Indoor Controlled	Indoor Controlled
Positioning accuracy range	~5m up to 50m (configurable)	~1km up to 10kms	~50m up to 700m	~20m up to 50m	~1m up to 3m
Optimal achieved accuracy	Exact location	City-level precision	Building-level precision	Room-level precision	Exact location
Battery usage	Medium	Low	Low	Very low	Low
Infrastructure	No	No	No Leverage existing IT infrastructure	Yes No wiring, self-install	Yes Wiring, certified installer
Cost	$	$	$$	$	$$$$$

Localization technologies can differ on multiple aspects:

• Ideal environment: is the technology suited for indoor, outdoor or mixed environments and should the user control the environment to install some infrastructure or not.
• Energy consumption: the amount of energy consumed, which impacts the total lifetime of a battery powered tracker.
• Positioning accuracy range: how accurate the position is depends on a multitude of factors, but here we show the possible accuracy range.
• Optimal achieved accuracy:on which level or how precise can you track your asset?
• Battery usage:how much battery power does the tracker use to get a location using this technology?
• Infrastructure: Is there extra infrastructure needed to use this location technoloy? Is wiring needed and can users do it themselves or do they need a certified installer?
• Cost: rough cost comparison of the differences in cost per location technology.

• GNSS / GPS localization
• Wi-Fi localization
• Network localization
• Geobeacon localization

Combining different localization technologies

The order and priority of a location capture is implemented as a workflow with configurable actions and conditions.

The figure below shows an example of a location capture workflow:

In this example, the tracker will try to determine its location in the following order: BLE, GPS, Wi-Fi and network localization. A subsequent localization will only be attempted if the previous localization was unsuccessful. This configuration example is very suitable for a use case where BLE geobeacons are be installed and where the asset is also often outside and the highest precision GPS localization is desired. The Wi-Fi gives a good fallback for indoor locations. As a last resort, network location is used.

Note: Often, the location capture workflow can vary depending on the trigger event. For example: in the case of motion-based triggers, it is often not needed to capture the location on start because it will be identical to the last recorded stop location. The Sensolus platform can be leverage to calculate the start location of the asset journey.

In the following example, the indoor detection setting has been enabled for the GPS localization step. When insufficient GPS satellites are detected, the tracker will assume it is indoors and immediately fall back to Wi-Fi localization instead of waiting for a GPS fix.