People tracking system for an international research project

Problem

The client is an exclusive representative of Gallup International Association, that unites polling organizations from around the world, and GlobalNR, an international network of market research agencies, in the CIS countries. Being part of the global groups provides access to advanced methods and research technologies in 100 countries across the world.

One of the projects conducted by the client focuses on people monitoring in the premises and tracking time spent in certain areas of the apartment.

In order to conduct research, the company needed a people tracking system. However, they didn’t have a clear understanding of technologies to be used. They hired UAB GetGPS and challenged them with the following tasks:  

• daily report generation of time spent by each of the family members in a particular room in the apartment;
• simultaneous surveillance of 150 people in 30 apartments of different sizes.

A people tracking system was supposed to work with no video cameras; otherwise, it would be impossible to find respondents to participate in the project. 

Solution

To collect data, the client provided participants with trackers. GetGPS advised to use Teltonika TMT250 devices and iBeacons within the project. The team went through the full cycle of work, from equipment configuration to their installation on site. 

BLE tags are connected to and are recognized by the trackers. Tags are installed in the center of each apartment. When people with trackers move around the apartments, the tags pick up the signal and transmit the required data. 

In order to avoid false signals and rebinding trackers to other rooms, the equipment was additionally configured.

Tags used in the people tracking system

As a result, the company got up-to-date information on every movement of a participant in the premises. The data is used to analyze the time spent in this or that room. The collected information includes:

• exact date, time, location, height, etc. of a tracker;
• apartment ID tied to the label with the corresponding number;
• ID of the premises of the apartment;
• Bluetooth tag signal strength;
• built-in battery level;
• tracker charge level sensor;
• sensor indicating when the tracker is being charged;
• time spent by a person in a particular room.    

The data collected by the personal tracking system is sent to Wialon Hosting. Then the data is retranslated to a solution called Repogen, where customized and layered reports are formed and automatically sent to the customer. The research group got daily reports by mail. 

GetGPS already has a professional tech support team which also covered the project. To make sure the experiment and the people tracking system run smoothly, they also created detailed instructions for respondents and instructed each participant verbally.