A Multi-level Localization System for Intelligent User Interfaces

The localization of employees in the industrial environment plays a major role in the development of future intelligent user interfaces and systems. Yet, localizing people also raises ethical, legal and social issues. While a precise localization is essential for context-aware systems and real-time optimization of processes, a permanently high localization accuracy creates opportunities for surveillance and therefore has a negative impact on workplace privacy. In this paper, we propose a new concept of a multi-level localization system which tries to find a way to meet both the technical requirements for a localization with a high accuracy as well as the interests of employees in terms of privacy. Depending on the users’ location, different localization technologies are used, that restrict the accuracy to the least required level by design. Furthermore, we present a prototypical implementation of the concept that shows the feasibility of our multi-level localization concept. Using this system, intelligent systems become able to react on employees based on their location without permanently monitoring the precise user location.