14 DAY TRIAL // The Global Positioning System (or GPS) is a very familiar subject for quite a lot of people, taking into account the fact that the number of handheld devices that employ the geostationary satellites on the Earth's orbit in order to provide positioning information is absolutely huge. However, one of the most important shortcomings of the GPS system is the fact that it behaves poorly indoors, where the receivers don't have a direct line of sight with the sky, but it seems that this problem might become a thing of the past, at least if there's any substance to Thales' latest announcement.
Thus, as Ben Hirschler reports for Reuters, it seems that the French aerospace company Thales has just announced that the development of the Indoor Positioning System (IPS), designed to be used especially in emergency situations by the fire-fighters, police and armed forces.
Even if the name might lead you to the conclusion that the IPS is based on the GPS technology, the truth is quite different. Thus, according to the company's officials, the system uses Ultra Wide Band (or UWB) radio signals, which are designed mostly for very short range and high data-rate links (much like Bluetooth, whose future iterations will actually integrate UWB technology, the same applying to wireless USB).
Apparently, the IPS includes several transmitters/receivers, which use radio pulses that can, for example, establish the positions of fire-fighters inside a building with respect to each other and to fire trucks outside. In this manner, their position will be known at all times, thus improving the efficiency of the rescue operations.
Thales is still working on the new IPS system with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, but, unfortunately, it will only be available for official agencies for the time being. However, eventually, some applications for the consumer market could also be developed, allowing users to find their way both outdoors and indoors, thus representing the ultimate navigation solutions.
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