Philips is working on a system which allows store owners to guide their customers to the right store shelf using LED lights. The indoor positioning system only works with LED lights manufactured by Philips and the signal coming from the lights can be captured by a smartphone.
The technology is based on Visual Light Communication and works by adding an unique identification code in each lamp during manufacturing. The lights transmit this code continuously on a set frequency invisible to the human eye. Regular LED lights are provided with a constant current, he new Philips lights vary the amount of current based on the unique code.
Smartphones should be able to 'read' the changing frequencies of the lights with their camera and match the frequency with a database of the identification codes and the position of the lights. Using the data it's possible for the smartphone to determine it's exact location in the store which opens up all kinds of applications to store owners.
Examples are customers providing a recipe to an app and the indoor navigation based on the Philips lights can direct the customer to the right shelves. Another possibility is to provide people with an offer when they are in front of a product.
Philips is currently showcasing the technology during a retail fair in Germany. Retailers are already testing the system and the Dutch electronics manufacturer expects the technology will be widely available by 2015. Whether already retailers who use the system is unknown.
Currently Google also provides in store maps in several supermarkets, but as it's less precise it is only suitable to find departments in the supermarket and not individual products. Philips is not the only LED manufacturer working on indoor positioning using LED lights. The technology has been in development for more than five years and there are plans to make 5G work using Visual Light Communication.
It's unclear if the system is based on one way communication. The LED lights only transmit their signal, but the smartphone has to look up the exact the position by matching the unique code with the position in a database. When this lookup also provides information to the system, it could be an ideal and precise way of tracking customers. Whether Philips is actually doing this, is unclear.
