(Erlangen, February 16, 2009) After a year of successful operation in Nuremberg, Germany, the WLAN localization system developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) is being launched in combination with the first applications for end users, i.e. nearly everyone with a WLAN-capable smartphone or PDA.

Dr Gerhard Baier, managing director of IT2media, a subsidiary of the Nuremberg-based telephone directory publisher Hans Müller, comments: “Together with Fraunhofer IIS we will now be able to offer a complete range of applications for download from April, thus providing, e.g., general local information as well as information on nearby businesses such as cafés, restaurants, banks and hospitals along with direct dial phone numbers and other background information.” Gerhard Baier, partner in the Fraunhofer IIS WLAN localization testbed, sees this as just the beginning: “Other applications will soon follow. Anyone who has ever got lost while shopping will greet the new navigation technology for pedestrians.

Pull out the mobile phone and it tells you where you are and how you can find the place you were looking for, your favourite café etc. You can also call a taxi to pick you up, find out about tourist attractions in the vicinity or check when and where the next underground train is going.”

But what makes the Fraunhofer IIS localization system unique in comparison with other localization solutions? After all navigation is currently possible with many mobile phones.

– WLAN localization also works indoors and in pedestrian mode. GPS, for instance, either is insufficiently accurate or gives no position at all here. The Fraunhofer IIS system provides assistance not only in the pedestrian zone, but also in shopping centres, underground stations, airports and underground parking garages. Switching from indoors to outdoors presents no difficulties.

– The Fraunhofer WLAN localization solution is the only WLAN localization system that works autonomously on the user device. Hence there is no centralized localization; the position is only known to the user.

– Fraunhofer IIS is working in the field of “seamless navigation”, i.e. the combination of technologies such as GPS, GALILEO, WLAN localization and inertial sensors to produce a localization system which functions everywhere all the time.

The WLAN localization test environment is currently being expanded to include major cities such as Munich and Berlin. Other cities, even in other European countries, will follow. Through an open consortium the Fraunhofer IIS testbed for WLAN localization allows partners and users to participate in the early stages of the technology development. To allow integration of these new functions into other applications, even without any special knowledge, Fraunhofer IIS and partners supply the corresponding software libraries, functions and development support for the various mobile devices.

Further information can be found at www.awiloc.de or www.awiloc.com.

Fraunhofer IIS

Founded in 1985 the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen, today with 585 staff members, ranks first among the Fraunhofer Institutes concerning headcount and revenues. As the inventor of mp3 and co-inventor of the MPEG 4 AAC audio coding standard, Fraunhofer IIS has reached worldwide recognition. It provides research services on contract basis and technology licensing.

The research topics are: Audio and video source coding, multimedia realtime systems, digital radio broadcasting and digital cinema systems, integrated circuits and sensor systems, design automation, wireless, wired and optical networks, localization and navigation, imaging systems and nanofocus X-ray technology, high-speed cameras, medical sensor solutions and communications technology in transport and logistics.

The budget of 72 million Euro is mainly financed by projects from industry, the service sector and public authorities. Less than 25 percent of the budget is subsidized by federal and state funds.

IT2media

IT2media, Germany‘s largest provider and operator of directory solutions, services the market for media products on an end-to-end basis from sales to production and makes them available as online services, including mobile applications.

IT2media has implemented solutions for diverse directory applications. IT2media maintains its essential qualities of reliability, security and speed through the use of state-of-the-art technology.

IT2media operates various directory solutions in Germany, providing everything from data management to search engines and handling approximately one billion page views per year. IT2Media‘s work within the consortium centers on implementing location-based services and refining the independent WLAN positioning technology developed by Fraunhofer IIS.