Inpixon, an indoor positioning and data analytics company, announced on Monday plans to offer an Indoor Positioning Analytics (IPA) Node, allowing for less-than-a-meter accuracy and delivering unparalleled Wi-Fi positional accuracy for IPA.
The IPA Node will expand Inpixon’s IPA product line with an entry-level product and price-point to attract a wider customer base and assist in rapidly increasing product adoption.
The IPA Node will be a miniaturized, Wi-Fi version of Inpixon’s IPA Sensor that can plug into any electrical outlet or USB connection. The air freshener-sized sensor will be able to communicate with any existing Wi-Fi network and position any Wi-Fi-enabled device on that network. In beta environments, the IPA Node delivers unheard of accuracy at less than one meter. Typical Wi-Fi access point providers deliver positioning as a by-product but are unable to do so effectively.
Essentially a plug-and-play device, IPA Node lowers entry-level barriers by eliminating the install process. Simply plug nodes into as many electrical outlets as needed. Deployed in any 3D space, each Node forms a self-calibrating mesh, detecting devices that move into that mesh while constantly communicating to each other to measure the surrounding radio frequency (RF) environment.
As this RF environment changes over time, Nodes continue to talk to one other, constantly sending test signals, and allowing devices to be positioned with higher accuracy. By connecting to the user-interface cloud, retail managers can look at this incredibly rich data environment from half a world away.
Historically, the promise and utility of indoor positioning using Wi-Fi has been limited because of a discrepancy of 30 meters in positional accuracy, resulting in more of a proximity solution rather than the desired positioning solution.
At these ranges, device location can be identified but positional accuracy for extracting intelligence has not been available. Inpixon’s IPA Node fulfills the previously unkept promise of Wi-Fi positioning by enabling retail, marketing, and security customers to realize the full potential of Wi-Fi indoor positioning analytics.
“Inpixon’s IPA Node will fill an immediate need in the market. The use cases are staggering: hotel environments, banks, hospitals, pharmacies, secure multi-factor authentication, and retail stores,” said Nadir Ali, Inpixon CEO. “Imagine supermarkets installing Wi-Fi cards into carts and connecting IPA Nodes into the environment. Store management could determine where the carts are positioned, their travel path, how long they are in use, which department is seeing the most traffic, and more. This is true intelligence that will improve customer experience and help businesses make better decisions. For the first time, utilizing existing Wi-Fi networks, we will be able to hone positional accuracy to under a meter. There is already a huge appetite for Wi-Fi-enabled solutions, we are simply providing the best recipe.”
Inpixon plans to make IPA Node available to purchase by the secodn quarter of this year.
