To realize the location calibration and tracking of people and objects in indoor scenes, it is usually used in conjunction with indoor digital maps, which is a supplement to traditional outdoor positioning.
2? location
From the nature of the network, it is mainly to solve the accessibility and information integrity of the target (person or thing), which corresponds to the coverage and bandwidth of the communication network construction respectively. Location-based service belongs to its information integrity level, and Location-based Service (LBS) is also derived from obtaining this information. At present, the mature location service is limited to outdoor scenes, and the information of indoor location is relatively missing or extremely rough.
We believe that different scenarios and different precise positioning information can lead to different types of commercial applications. At present, the goal of indoor positioning technology is to obtain the accurate location information of the target indoors, which is the basic condition for some applications. Therefore, observing the development of indoor positioning industry is not only to seek investment opportunities within the industry, but also to foresee the development possibility of downstream applications.
3 ? Industrial chain
The whole indoor positioning industry is roughly composed of hardware and data flow, which basically corresponds to positioning (analog GPS equipment operator base station) and digitization (analog map digitization service provider).
Hardware infrastructure
Chip manufacturer: produces positioning chips and supplies them to downstream system integrators. The main business model is selling products. Mainly large communication chip manufacturers, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nordic and Dezhou Instruments basically have chips based on different technical routes.
System integrators: provide indoor positioning solutions according to local needs, and sometimes integrate with data service providers. The main business model is the 2B project system. (Compared with GPS satellite providers and communication base station builders, the map positioning is much smaller, mainly in commercial real estate and other places). Due to the current decentralized and vertical downstream applications, there are no giants.
Sites: The demanders of indoor location services can be divided into special sites and general sites according to different objects of location data. Dedicated sites provide location services for internal personnel or objects, and the corresponding networks are also closed, which are basically used for internal management of sites (factories, warehouses, hospitals, schools, airports, prisons, etc.). ). The location services needed in the general field are open, similar to 2C mode, aiming at improving the service quality (commercial complexes, exhibitions, supermarkets, etc. ).
data flow
The data in the positioning system can be divided into positioning information data and digital map data, but the basic data service provider is the same entity. At the same time, a large number of applications are derived from positioning data.
Data service provider: provides two aspects of data, digital map information data and positioning data, and the business model is data service. Because the downstream of indoor positioning is relatively scattered at present, data service providers and system integrators are often integrated (that is, there are no city-oriented and national-level service providers like Gaode and Siwei)
Application service provider: LBS application service provider in a broad sense, with diversified business models (large-scale services based on map positioning include: Baidu map, Gaode map, Didi, Ctrip, Momo, and * * * enjoying bicycles, etc. ).
4? Application market and present situation
Indoor positioning is one of the basic services of the Internet of Things. According to different application scenarios, it can promote the operation and marketing efficiency of enterprises or provide consumers with a more convenient experience. Different from the map positioning service, due to the diversity of local types and services, access threshold and infrastructure installation cost, the downstream application of indoor positioning is vertical, lacking the main manufacturers and driving factors to promote comprehensive coverage. Therefore, the current business scene of indoor positioning needs to meet some rigid requirements and present some characteristics. At the same time, as mentioned above, the indoor positioning market can be divided into two categories: dedicated venue applications and general venue applications according to different service objects and network architectures, and constitute different business models.
Large area: Generally, the positioning and guidance needs of small indoor venues can be solved by manual or self-help, so the reasonable indoor positioning scene should be above 5000- 10000 square meters.
High information completeness requirements: The information requirements of the target (usually the monitored object) are high in special scenes.
High traffic: In the high traffic scenario, the pressure of manual management and service increases, which leads to the decline of management and service quality, so it is necessary to find alternative methods.
Automation: Some special scenes need automation transformation, and positioning is one of its prerequisites.
Special field application
It mainly includes specific target monitoring, business intelligence, intelligent warehousing and logistics, intelligent manufacturing, emergency rescue, personnel asset management and service robots.
Target monitoring: to meet the precise monitoring of people or things in special scenes, the main application fields are prisons, hospitals, kindergartens, mines and so on. Business intelligence: through monitoring and analyzing indoor people flow, optimize layout, and improve operational efficiency and marketing efficiency. The main application fields are catering, retail, commercial complex, transportation center and so on. Automation: as the basic framework of manufacturing process automation and warehousing automation, it provides navigation for robots, and its application fields are manufacturing and warehousing logistics industries.
General field application
It mainly includes: shopping guide in shopping malls, reverse car search in parking lots, preventing family from getting separated, making friends with LBS, and self-help tour guides in exhibition halls.
Indoor navigation: providing consumers with accurate navigation services for large-scale indoor scenes, mainly used for car search in parking lots, self-guided tours in large-flow venues, navigation in functional areas of transportation hubs, services in smart buildings and smart parks, and anti-lost services.
Consumer service: provide positioning and information services for offline businesses and improve consumption conversion rate.
Fine socialization: Fine LBS social application based on indoor scenes.
5 Technology Path and Related Companies
principle
The principles of indoor positioning mainly include the following points. Different principles lead to different technical strength, which has a certain impact on the solutions and operating modes of the corresponding companies.
Technical path
At present, there are many technical paths for indoor positioning in the market. The consideration of technical path lies in performance, stability, deployment difficulty and cost, and there is no perfect solution at present.
company
Of course, there are also some small startups or those that are starting businesses and are not listed.
6? conclusion
At present, there is no perfect solution for indoor positioning to balance accuracy, installation, operation and maintenance, and ease of use.
There is no monopoly solution provider in the indoor positioning market, but major technology giants have layouts.
The domestic indoor positioning market should first pay attention to special venues with stronger rigid demand, and then transfer to general venue services after the technical cost drops.