Abstract: Navigation beacons may be trained to receive signals of opportunity from one or more vehicles, to recognize their own position based on such signals, and to transmit information regarding their own position to one or more other vehicles accordingly. The navigation beacons may be of small size and feature a basic construction including one or more transceivers, power sources and the like, and may communicate via a Bluetooth® Low Energy, Ultra Wideband or long-range low-power wireless standard, or any other standard. The navigation beacons may be installed in any location, preferably being mounted to one or more existing fixed structures or facilities (e.g., transportation structures or facilities), and may operate in active and/or passive modes when learning their positions or servicing position information to one or more remote devices.

Abstract: A portable device comprises a magnetometer for detecting a magnetic field. When the portable device is at or near a portal, the portable device may detect data from the portal, such as beacon data or a connection message. Responsive to the data from the portal, the portable device operates the magnetometer to detect and characterize a magnetic field generated by the portal, such as by characterizing the magnitude, polarity, and direction of the magnetic field. The portable device generates magnetometer data to indicate the magnetic field strength detected by the magnetometer. The magnetometer data is then transmitted to the portal, along with a device identifier. The portal compares the received magnetometer data to expected magnetic field data to determine presence of the portable device at the portal. The portable device is associated with an account, providing information about entry of a user of that account entering the portal.

Abstract: Interaction data provides information about particular items that have been picked or placed from a particular fixture. A radio signal that conveys designation data indicative of a particular user is coupled to a body of the user. A smart floor tile may emit the radio signal that is electromagnetically coupled to the user and propagates along the user's body. As the hand of the user approaches the fixture, the radio signal is received using antennas at the fixture. When the user touches an item, the propagation pathway may improve, resulting in an increase in received signal strength. By using information about the radio signal and the known location of the antennas, information such as a position of a hand of the user or which item has been picked or placed may be determined.

Abstract: Sensors at an inventory location can be used to detect the occurrence of an event at the inventory location. For example, capacitive sensors can gather capacitance values, which can then be analyzed for changes that indicate an event has occurred at the inventory location. When an event has been detected, event data is generated and used as a possible trigger to collect additional sensor data. As an example, if an event involving items at an inventory location is detected, such an action can trigger the collection and analysis of additional sensor data, such as weight sensor data, to determine a quantity of the items added or removed from the inventory location.

Abstract: A facility may include antennas directed to a known location and cameras with a field-of-view that encompasses the known location. The antennas acquire a device identifier and device data from a mobile device carried by a user at the known location. Antenna data is then generated to describe the data acquired by the antennas. Image data is also generated from the cameras to include images of a person at the known location. The antenna data and image data are then processed to determine estimated motion values and a comparison of such values is performed to check if such motion values are within a threshold of one another. If the motion values are within a threshold of each other, data indicative of presence of the mobile device at the known location is generated.

Abstract: A facility is equipped with floor tiles, each tile having several segments, each segment with an antenna. Each segment on a tile is associated with a particular timeslot. A transmitter at the tile transmits on a specific frequency. During the particular timeslot for that segment, a signal at the specific frequency is transmitted and radiated from the antenna for that segment. A user electromagnetically couples to one or more antennas of the tile, acting as a signal path for the signal. A receiver in a second tile detects the signal, and information about the frequency detected, timeslot for the signal, and relative signal strength is generated. Where the user has stepped from is determined using the information. By concatenating these steps, a path of the user may be determined. Receivers in shelves facilitate disambiguation of one user from another when interacting with items.

Abstract: Navigation beacons may be trained to receive signals of opportunity from one or more vehicles, to recognize their own position based on such signals, and to transmit information regarding their own position to one or more other vehicles accordingly. The navigation beacons may be of small size and feature a basic construction including one or more transceivers, power sources and the like, and may communicate via a Bluetooth® Low Energy, Ultra Wideband or long-range low-power wireless standard, or any other standard. The navigation beacons may be installed in any location, preferably being mounted to one or more existing fixed structures or facilities (e.g., transportation structures or facilities), and may operate in active and/or passive modes when learning their positions or servicing position information to one or more remote devices.

Abstract: Tracking data of objects within a facility may be obtained using a plurality of smart floor tiles. Techniques for installation of the smart floor tiles allow for the generation of information about the relative arrangement of the smart floor tiles relative to one another. This relative arrangement is used in conjunction with information about physical dimensions of the smart floor tiles to generate a mapping that associates particular floor tiles with particular physical locations within the facility.

Abstract: Tracking data of users or other objects within a facility may be obtained using a plurality of smart floor tiles. Determining group data indicative of which users are in a common group is useful to associate interactions of those users with a particular account, such as a billing account. A radio signal may be transferred from one user to others via proximity or physical contact. The radio signal conveys designation data. Smart floor tiles at different locations receive the radio signal conveying the same designation data. The users present at those different locations are then associated with a common group.

Abstract: An entry portal to a facility includes magnets to produce a magnetic field and a proximity sensor to detect passage of a user. A portable device carried by a user detects the magnetic field and generates magnetometer data which is then sent to the portal along with a device identifier. The magnetometer data is compared to expected magnetic field data to determine presence at the portal. Timestamps of the magnetometer data and data from the proximity sensor may be compared to determine whether the two events occurred contemporaneously. If so, the portable device is deemed to be present at the portal. The device identifier may be used to determine a user, and entry data indicative of entry of the user may be generated. Subsequently, the user may then be tracked using sensors in the facility.

Abstract: Methods and systems for generating flight plans for aerial vehicles based at least in part on communication performance are described. First information about a set of access points may be accessed. Second information about a flight path for an aerial vehicle to move from a first point to a second point may be accessed. A set of directions for the aerial vehicle to move between the first point and the second point may be generated. The set of directions may be generated based at least in part on a communication criterion and the second information about the flight path. The flight path may be updated based at least in part on the set of directions.

Abstract: One or more surfaces within a facility are equipped with devices having several segments, each segment with an antenna. Segments may be grouped together into a cluster. Each segment within a cluster is associated with a particular timeslot. A transmitter at the device transmits on a specific frequency. During the particular timeslot for that segment, a signal at the specific frequency is transmitted and radiated from the antenna for that segment. An object electromagnetically couples to one or more antennas of the device, acting as a signal path for the signal. A receiver in a second segment detects the signal, and information about the timeslot for the signal and relative signal strength is generated. By using this information, a location and path of the object may be determined. Receivers in shelves may also be used to facilitate disambiguation of one user from another when interacting with items on those shelves.

Abstract: This disclosure describes RFID tags that include capacitive shields to capacitively couple with antennas of the RFID tags when exposed to threshold levels of electromagnetic energy, such as when placed in a microwave. In some instances, these capacitive shields comprise a material that is both thermally conductive and electrically conductive. When exposed to electromagnetic energy of a high frequency, the capacitive shield may capacitively couple to the antenna of the RFID and, thus, may receive energy from the antenna. Given the properties of the capacitive shield, the capacitive shield may convert this energy into thermal energy and dissipate this heat into an ambient environment of the RFID tag. By doing so, the capacitive shield lessens the risk that dangerous arcing will occur from the electromagnetic energy.

Abstract: A user may pick, place, or move an item at an inventory location, such as a shelf. Described are techniques to determine a location of one or more of an object, such as an item or a user, with respect to an array of capacitive sensors. The array may be part of the shelf. As an item is added to, moved or removed from the shelf, when the user's hand is near the shelf, and so forth, capacitance measured by one or more of the sensors in the array may change. Based on these changes, a location relative to the sensor array may be determined. A particular shelf may have different areas, each designated as holding a different type of item. The location information obtained from the capacitive sensors may be used to determine which item on the shelf was interacted with.

Abstract: An entry portal to a facility may include radio receivers with directional antennas and cameras at known positions in the facility. The receivers acquire device identifier and device data from a mobile device carried by a user passing through the portal. Portal data is generated that is indicative of the coverage volume of a particular antenna that received a signal carrying the device identifier and signal strength of that signal. The cameras acquire images of the user. Other sensors may acquire other information included in the portal data. The portal data, device data, device identifier, and the images are processed to associate a particular account with a person passing through the entry portal. Subsequently, that person may then be tracked using images from other cameras in the facility.

Abstract: Various sensors may be used to gather information about items at an inventory location, such as items on a shelf. Weight sensors may be used to gather weight data while capacitive sensors detect the presence of one or more objects such as the items themselves, a user reaching towards the shelf, and so forth. Data from a capacitive sensor may be used to determine that an activity is taking place at the shelf and to trigger processing of weight data from the weight sensor. A combination of a change in capacitance that exceeds a capacitance threshold and a change in weight that exceeds a weight threshold may be used to determine an event, such as a pick or place from the inventory location.

Abstract: Capacitive sensors may be used to gather information, such as the presence of objects at an inventory location, such as a shelf. Two or more adjacent capacitive sensors operating at the same time may interfere with one another. Described are techniques to prevent this interference by using seed values to initialize pseudo random sequencing of an order in which capacitive sensors are in operation. The capacitive sensor, or a portion thereof, may be also be used as an antenna. Selection of an initial tuning network for use by the antenna may be determined based on output from the capacitive sensor.