Short and Mid range positioning: methodologies and set-up for accurate performance

The ability to locate people and objects is a primary issue in daily life, and a new context of spatially aware applications has developed, ranging from security and protection services, to assisted navigation of hospitals, from industrial automation to virtual reality. In this framework, the problem of positioning represents the first step to be taken within the wider process of localization. This Thesis addresses the problem of positioning in anchor-based systems. Short and mid range scenarios were addressed, in which methodologies were proposed for the design of the systems and set-ups developed for their use in different applications. In detail, simulation tools have been proposed, and are still being improved, which allow to obtain useful information on the design of positioning systems; this represents an original contribution of the Thesis with respect to the current state of the art. After that, in both contexts, systems based on magnetic elds (short-range) and systems based on Ultra-Wide Band (mid-range) have been used in various industrial and medical applications. Finally, a first preliminary activity aimed at a smart management of the energy consumption of the positioning systems was carried out on Bluetooth Low Energy devices.