iNaaS: Indoors Navigation as a Service on the Cloud and Smartphone Application

Abstract

We present iNaaS, an automated indoors navigation system as a cloud service for controlling users navigation and access in large venues (e.g. apartment buildings, shopping malls). The main idea is to install in venues, Bluetooth radio transmitters (beacons) that broadcast their identifier to nearby devices. A mobile application runs on user's smart phone, receives beacon identifiers and is capable of estimating its distance from sensors in range. Encoded information is transmitted to the cloud where computation of the desired route takes place. iNaaS service responds with navigation instructions which are displayed on visitors' mobile devices (e.g, smartphones). No personal information is sent to the cloud. Information management, including user profiles, access rights, permanent storage and data processing takes place on the cloud. iNaaS tracks users movements in buildings and offers prompt response on cases of disoriented users. We run an exhaustive set of experiments using simulated (but realistic) data aiming to evaluate both, iNaaS response time and scalability. The results demonstrate that the system can handle large number of users in real time.