Indoor positioning startup SenionLab recieves funding

Indoor positioning startup SenionLab recieves funding

Indoor positioning is a hot topic right now. Remember GP Bullhound predictions for 2014, which we covered earlier this year (“breakthrough in indoor location communication and marketing”). In Linköping, the tech startup and LEAD Incubator member SenionLab is already supplying the infrastructure for indoor positioning with installations in more than one hundred buildings all around the world.

Earlier this week Vinnova announced that they will contribute with additional 1.8 million SEK to SenionLab, as a part of the Forska & Väx-program (eng. “Research & Grow”). According to the company, the funding will be used for expanding the team and making the development process more streamlined.

So how does indoor positioning work? SenionLab utilizes a mixture of technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth and smartphone sensors for determining the position of individual users in large venues. This makes it possible to navigate with various platforms and in buildings without WiFi access, such as car parks and industrial environments.

SenionLab utilizes a mixture of technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth and smartphone sensors for determining the position of individual users in large venues.

One part of the funded project is to develop an app with indoor positioning for the university and the hospital in Linköping. The goal is that students and visitors will find their way around easier, while helping SenionLab to develop an improved version of the software.

Christian Lundquist, CEO at SenionLab, explains: “This will be a win-win situation for all parties. We will get a lot of anonymized user data to analyze, and we will be able to the study potential problems on site and develop new services for the visitors together with our partners.”

“We will get a lot of anonymized user data to analyze, and we will be able to the study potential problems on site and develop new services for the visitors together with our partners”

If you want to get an idea about the technology at work, check out the demonstration video below. It’s from one of their field tests at a grocery store in Sweden. Beware the slow pace (…and is it only me who starts thinking of Aliens vs. Predator?).