敢问室内导航技术路在何方？

对于 MEMS 技术在智能手机应用的快速发展，“室内导航”功能其实也扮演着一部份的推动力量，但它却一直未能展现最佳效果，而这项功能对于手机用户来说实际上也不是这么的需要。 在日前于慕尼黑举行的“欧洲MEMS产业高峰会议”(MEMS Executive Congress Europe)上，Nokia Lumia Technology音频硬件资深经理Teemu Ramo表示，在未来的一些手机设计中，压力传感器以及其他传感器可能会被省略掉。 Teemu Ramo表示：“以往的作法是把每样东西都塞进去。但目前我们看到的趋势是‘少即是多’(less is more)。例如室内导航并未如预期地成功。因此，在手机设计时就不必加入压力传感器了。我们必须问的是：某种特定传感器的附加价值是什么？如此来看，气体传感器就是多余的了。” 压力传感器可用于区别购物商场的不同楼层，但问题是：这对于谁更有利？ 用户是相当精明的，而且知道压力传感器存在的原因之一是让他们可被定位──但其实他们并不喜欢这项功能。再者，一些无法有效发挥作用的室内导航系统还会对手机制造商品牌带来负面影响。 同时，Ramo指出，在组件数、成本、能耗以及有效执行主要功能方面，也都会带来业务压力。 Ramo 指出，即将来临的手机设计趋势之一是更着重于用户实际所需要的功能，而非故意用一些令人惊奇的新技术做为噱头吸引早期采用者。他表示，用户的基本要求其实 都会先经过电信业者加以过滤，但却可能还要求Nokia以及其他手机业者持续在手机中加入越来越多的MEMS以取悦App开发商。 此外，他说，无线电信标(radio beacon)已成为新的研究焦点了，因为航位推算系统并不十分准确，经常发生用户实际上在购物商场中却显示人还在外面的错误情况。即使是室内导航系统能发挥效用，对于电信业者以及其他产品与服务供应商的好处也比对于手机用户来得多。 Ramo表示，当手机制造商专注于用户真正想要以及有用的功能时，移动电话领域将会进入一个新时代。例如，三星在发布 Galaxy S5 时即转为强调少即是多的策略。 他还表示，虽然智能手机早期采用者可能是一些想“尝鲜”的技术爱好者，但下一代智能手机采用者将会更着重于评估产品的基本功能是否有效发挥。支持原创，鄙视抄袭，请访问《国际电子商情》网站www.esmchina.com 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译：Susan Hong 参考英文原文：Has Indoor Navigation Lost Its Way?，by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} Has Indoor Navigation Lost Its Way? Peter Clarke Indoor navigation, which has been a driver for at least some MEMS developments in smartphones, doesn't work well and is not really needed by phone users. As such, pressure sensors, along with other sensors, could be omitted from some handsets in the future, according to Teemu Ramo, senior manager of audio hardware for Nokia Lumia Technology. Speaking on a panel at the MEMS Executive Congress Europe, held in Munich, Germany on March 11, Ramo said: It used to be that we chucked everything in. We are seeing a move to 'less is more.' For example indoor navigation has not panned out as planned. So the pressure sensor may get dropped from the mobile phone. We have to ask: What is the added value for any given sensor, so the air pressure sensor may go. The pressure sensor is there to distinguish between floors of multi-level shopping mall, but the question is: for whose benefit? Users are savvy and know that one reason it is there is so that they can be pitched at -- and they don't much like it. Also an indoor navigation system that doesn't work well merely serves as a persistent, negative advert for the phone maker's brand. Meanwhile, there is business pressure to component count, cost, and energy consumption and do primary functions well, Ramo indicated. It is part of what could be a coming trend to focus on what smartphone users actually want rather than gimmicks intended to wow technophile early adopters, according to Ramo. He did qualify this by saying that user requirements do get filtered through the mobile phone service operator channel, which may yet dictate that Nokia and other phone companies continue to throw more and more MEMS into their handsets to please apps developers. When asked at the end of the panel about indoor navigation he said that radio beacons had become the focus for research because the dead-reckoning systems were not very accurate and often showed users being outside a mall when they were inside. Even if indoor navigation systems worked they would be of more use to mobile phone service and other product and service vendors than they are to the users of the mobile phone. "Human beings do good sensor fusion and tend to know where they are," said Yannick Levy, vice president of corportate business development at consumer electronics company Parrot SA, who was also on the panel with Ramo. "I might become a fan [of indoor navigation systems] if I saw one that worked properly," Ramo told the audience. When asked about this on the fringe of the meeting Ramo said that he felt that the mobile phone sector might be entering a new era where makers focus on what users want and use. "Samsung with the Galaxy S5 has said less is more," Ramo said. He also said that while the first tier of smartphone adopters have been technophiles that wanted to try everything, the next generation of smartphone adopters will value the basic functions being done well.