Wireless Local Positioning Systems

NICTA are hosting a seminar on Wireless Local Positioning Systems by Reza Zekavat, from Michigan Technological University, 26 June 2008 in Canberra:

NICTA WSP SEMINAR

Wireless Local Positioning Systems
Reza Zekavat (Michigan Technological University)

DATE: 2008-06-26
TIME: 13:00:00 - 14:00:00
LOCATION: NICTA - 7 London Circuit



ABSTRACT:
Wireless systems capable of positioning mobiles remotely in complex mobile environments have emerging applications in homeland security, law enforcement, defense command and control, multi-robot coordination, and traffic alert such as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian collision avoidance. These systems promise to dramatically reduce the society's vulnerabilities to catastrophic events and improve the quality of life. The talk presents a novel wireless local positioning system (WLPS) recently patented by Michigan Tech University (MTU).

The proposed WLPS has two main components: 1) a base station deployed in a mobile (e.g., vehicles, robots or handhelds) that serves as a Dynamic Base Station (DBS); and 2) a transponder (TRX) installed in wireless mobile handhelds, robots and vehicles that act as Active Targets. Unique identification (ID) codes are assigned to each TRX. DBS transmits periodic ID request (IDR) signals in its coverage area. Transponders reply to IDR signals as soon as they detect them. Depending on applications, each mobile in the coverage field may be equipped with only DBS, only TRX, or both. Such a framework offers attractive features: (i) high probability-of-detection performance via active as opposed to passive targets, (ii) low-cost TRX made of simple transceivers, and, (iii) infrastructure-less operation via dynamic as opposed to static base stations.

BIO:
Dr. Seyed A. (Reza) Zekavat received his B.S. degree from Shiraz University, Iran, in 1989, M.S. degree from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, in 1993, and Ph.D. from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado in 2002. He has over 10 years of teaching and research experience both in the United States and abroad. He has published more than 75 journal and conference papers, and has co-authored two books and invited chapters published by Kluwer Academic Publishers and Springer. His research interests are in wireless communications at the physical layer, dynamic spectrum allocation methods, radar theory, blind separation and beam forming techniques, feature extraction, and Curriculum Development. His current research is supported by the National Science Foundation and many Other Agencies through several active grants totaling over $1,500,000. He is also an active technical program committee member for several IEEE international conferences. At Michigan Tech, he has founded two research laboratories on wireless systems, and is currently principal advisor for several PhD students.