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G. Retscher, K. Zhang, S. Zhang, Y. Wang:
"RFID and GNSS for Indoor and Outdoor Positioning - Two Different Case Studies";
European Journal of Navigation, 4 (2006), 5; 49 - 54.

Positioning people and objects is crucial for people mobility and asset tracking, emergency services (e.g. search and rescue), and security and defense applications. These applications may be as simple as continuously tracking the location of a valuable shipping carton or as complex as helping someone (fire-fighters or miners) to find his or her way around an unfamiliar building/underground mining passages.

Wireless positioning techniques have attracted much interest and research recently, since they represent a core enabling technology for an increasing number of mobile locating applications. Indoor location estimation is particularly challenging as GNSS signals are too weak to penetrate into buildings and underground mining tunnels. Tracking people and objects using alternative techniques is, therefore, desirable for the safety (protection and potential rescue) of the workers/operators.

This paper investigates the emerging Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) for location determination in combination with GNSS. The concept, typical components, main limitations and benefits of the RFID positioning system is outlined. Two case studies are designed in typical enviornments of concern - indoor and under ground applications - to investigate the suitability and performance of the proposed RFID positioning system. Possible integration of RFID with GNSS technology for both indoor and outdoor trackings will be discussed and some conclusions will be given. It is anticpated that the proposed system will be tested in an indoor test bed and an underground mining site in the future.

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