With the Internet Computing & Systems Optimization group
Geolocating a specific doctor's office within a hospital. This could be one example of the possibilities offered by the technology currently being developed by a nationwide network of institutions, with the involvement of the UOC Internet Interdisciplinary Institute's (IN3) Internet Computing & Systems Optimization (ICSO) research group.
This network, known as (REPNIN+) (the Delimited Indoor and Outdoor Positioning and Navigation Network) is being funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to promote Spanish research and technology development in the field of indoor positioning and navigation and the so-called smart spaces, that is, spaces that use technology to exploit data, such as location.
REPNIN+ fosters knowledge exchange to further international relations and accelerate technology transfer to industry. "The aim is for different sectors, such as industry, health, etc, to leverage the potential offered by the advances made in indoor positioning and navigation and smart spaces for their specific activity", says Antoni Pérez Navarro, he researcher coordinating the UOC's participation in the network. REPNIN+ focuses its research effort on studying positioning and navigation for all types of device (robots, drones, people, etc), facilitating task performance and the development of security guarantees.
The network studies all aspects, from physical positioning technologies to the algorithms that make this possible and their applications, and also takes into account ethical and legal aspects, among other matters.
REPNIN+ has obtained the highest rating among the excellence networks. The University of Alcalá de Henares' GEINTRA group is the network's coordinator. Also participating in the network, besides the UOC's ICSO group, are the Spanish National Research Council's LOPSI group, Gradiant - Galician Center in Telecommunications, the DeustoTech research institute, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona's SPCOMNAV group, the University of Extremadura's GISS group, the University of Granada, the Universitat Jaume I's GIANT and GEOTECH groups, and the University of Murcia's MOVI group.