Feasibility study of a novel bio-inspired location sensor concept for indoor location based services in ambient intelligence applications

The location detection is intensively investigated topic as it enables environment-man interaction, specially for the ambient intelligence applications (e.g. giving the user hints or warnings according to his location). In our work, which is motivated by the potential of implementing our prototype by MEMS technology, we got inspiration from the polarization of vision, which is found in some insects for location detection. The polarization vision in some insects enables them to navigate by the so-called polar compass, which is based on the polarization pattern of the sky. In our work, first we investigate a polar compass, then use this polar compass to determine the location, where more than one source is available by measuring the angles of all of the sources. Our experimental result proves the feasibility of our low cost, compact and integratable prototype to measure the angular displacement.