The IPIN Competition 2024

Abstract

The International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Localization (IPIN) is pleased to announce the eleventh IPIN 2024 Indoor Localization Competition. The competition is aimed at bringing together the academic and industrial research communities for evaluating different approaches and envisioning new methods for indoor and seamless localisation, an area where no generally accepted standards exist yet.

The competition builds on the experience of previous competitions and is based on the EvAAL framework, ensuring experience, solidity and a well-founded scientific method. The IPIN 2024 Indoor Localization Competition consists of several Tracks:

Track 1: Smartphone (onsite)
Track 3: Smartphone (offsite-online)
Track 4: Foot-mounted IMU (offsite-online)
Track 6: Smartphone on vehicle (offsite with onsite survey)

Results will be presented during dedicated sessions of the IPIN conference, during which prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Instructions:

ONSITE TRACK

The competition will take place in Hong Kong, before the IPIN conference. An actor carries the competing system by walking in the competition area. Competing systems process data locally, without using any external aid, and provide position estimates in real time. Survey of the area and system calibration is restricted to a single day, before the competition proper.

Track 1 - Smartphone: The actor walks carrying a smartphone which runs the competing system, using the sensors available on the smartphones to identify the user's position.

OFFSITE WITH ONSITE SURVEY TRACK

Competitors survey the area in Hong Kong, before the IPIN conference. Subsequently, on a Track-specific day, Track chairs carry a smartphone while walking and driving in the competition area. The smartphone sends sensors data in real time to an EvaalAPI server, while at the same time competitors run their trials through the EvaalAPI. Prizes are awarded for a total worth to be announced.

Track 6 – Smartphone on vehicle: A smartphone affixed to a car dashboard records sensors and impaired GNSS data on a partly outdoors, partly indoors route. Additionally, the driver walks an indoor path.

OFFSITE-ONLINE TRACKS

Competitors are provided with sensors data and use them to estimate the user position. Competitors calibrate their algorithms in advance using ground truth reference data (testing trials) and compete using new unreferenced data (scoring trials). Competitors run their trials through the EvaalAPI in online mode to emulate the causal, real-time behaviour of onsite Tracks. Scoring trials are run on a Track-specific day.

Track 3 - Smartphone: A pedestrian walking under realistic conditions in buildings with possibly small outdoor parts, using data provided by a conventional smartphone.

Track 4 – Foot-mounted IMU: A pedestrian carries ULISS (Ubiquituous Localization with Inertial Sensors and Satellites) while walking a path with possible small outdoor parts. ULISS provides IMU, magnetic and pressure readings plus GNSS data. No maps are provided.

Once testing trials are published, competitors can run them at their premises. When the EvaalAPI server is made available, they must run the testing trials on it. Scoring trials are provided to competitors only once they complete a run of the testing trials.

TECHNICAL COMPETITION DETAILS

The evaluation criteria for the competition, restrictions on the accepted technologies, technical rules and a description of the benchmarks are detailed in the technical annexes to this call. Possible refinements of the annexes, even based on applicants' comments, will be distributed on the competition discussion mailing list contest(at)evaal.aaloa.org and will appear on the competition site.

Competitors in offsite Tracks obtain sensor readings and submit position estimates through the EvaalAPI web service. The aim is to emulate a causal process similar to the data flow of an onsite Track: input data can be read only once and only in sequence, and the timestamp of each submitted position estimate is the same as the latest sensor reading.

All the data gathered by the competition committee during the competition, including data produced by competing systems in offsite Tracks, will be published after the competition for the purpose of research and comparison. Winners of the competition are announced on the IPIN web site and on the contest mailing list.

COMPETITOR ADMISSION PROCESS

A competitor can be any individual or group of individuals working as a single team, associated to a single or a number of organizations, who wants to participate in one or several tracks. Only one team from the same organisation (laboratory) is allowed to compete.

Competitors apply for admission to the competition tracks by providing a short (2 pages) technical description of their localization system in PDF, which includes a description of the algorithms and protocols used. Track chairs will accept or refuse the application in a short time, based on technical feasibility and logistic constraints.

After acceptance of the competitor's technical description, one member of the competing team is required to register on the IPIN conference site, specifying the Track to which the registration is linked. Full registration to the conference covers participation in the competition process for one Track (allotted time, support and space) and the submission of one paper describing the system. Participation in additional Tracks can be added for an additional fee. A reduced registration fee not including access to the conference is available for offsite Tracks.

Competitors who wish to test their onsite system which does not fit any of the onsite tracks may ask chairs of Track 1 to be admitted off-track, which will be granted depending on organisational contraints.

Be sure to subscribe to the contest mailing list to get updates on the competition.

News and updates are posted to the contest mailing list.