Indoor positioning of radio terminals

At the TETRA World Congress, 11-14 June 2007 in Madrid, the Danish company Zonith A/S will present its solution for indoor positioning of TETRA radio terminals.

Positioning of people for security reasons has always been important for TETRA users. However, as the GPS-based positioning does not work inside buildings, in oil-rigs or underground, it can be difficult and time consuming to locate people and assist them when they are wounded, attacked or otherwise immobilised.

Many TETRA users are often at locations where indoor positioning would be beneficial for them and their security.

In case of fire and smoke in buildings there is a need to know the location of the firemen. In case of employees working alone there is a need to know their position if they are attacked or an accident happens. Zonith's indoor positioning system is an application that uses Bluetooth to locate employees in such situations. The indoor positioning solution is able to locate any Bluetooth device, like Bluetooth enabled TETRA radio terminals, Bluetooth panic-buttons or Bluetooth body-tags.

The system is able to monitor and react to any alarm source. In case an emergency alarm is raised from a TETRA radio terminal or a lone worker doesn't respond within a given time period, the indoor positioning system will automatically react and ensure that appropriate backup or a rescue team is notified. The notification is done via SDS messages containing the exact location information about the employee in need of assistance.