[IPIN] Last call for IPIN competition, deadline 15 August

* * * CALL FOR COMPETITION 2025 * * * Twelfth IPIN Competition onsite and offsite Indoor Localization <https://competition.ipin-conference.org> offsite: 8-10 Sep, EvaalAPI web service onsite: 13-14 Sep, Tampere (FI) awards: 18 Sep, IPIN conference ================================================================================ The International conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Localization (IPIN) is pleased to announce the twelfth IPIN Indoor Localization Competition. The competition is aimed at bringing together the academic and industrial research communities for evaluating different approaches and envisioning new methods for indoor and seamless localisation, an area where no generally accepted standards exist yet. The competition builds on the experience of previous competitions and is based on the EvAAL framework, ensuring experience, solidity and a well-founded scientific method. The IPIN 2025 Indoor Localization Competition consists of several Tracks: • Track 1: Smartphone (onsite) • Track 3: Smartphone (offsite-online) • Track 4: Foot-mounted IMU (offsite-online) • Track 5: Smartphone with navigation robot (offsite-online) • Track 6: Smartphone on vehicle (offsite with onsite survey) • Track 7: 5G CIR + IMU (offsite-offline) Results will be presented during dedicated sessions of the IPIN conference, during which prizes will be awarded to the winners. ONSITE TRACK The onsite competition will take place in Tampere, before the IPIN conference. An actor carries the competing system by walking in the competition area. Competing systems process data locally, without using any external aid, and provide position estimates in real time. Survey of the area and system calibration is restricted to a single day, before the competition proper. Track 1 – Smartphone: The actor walks carrying a smartphone which runs the competing system, using the sensors available on the smartphones to identify the user's position. OFFSITE WITH ONSITE SURVEY TRACK Competitors survey the area in Tampere, before the IPIN conference. Subsequently, on a Track-specific day, Track chairs carry a smartphone while walking and driving in the competition area. The smartphone sends sensors data in real time to a dedicated Track 6 server, while at the same time competitors get their data in real time from the same server. Prizes are awarded for a total worth to be announced. Track 6 – Smartphone on vehicle: A smartphone affixed to a car dashboard records sensors and impaired GNSS data on a partly outdoors, partly indoors route. Additionally, the driver walks an indoor path. OFFSITE TRACKS Competitors in offsite competitions are provided with sensors data and use them to estimate the user position. Competitors calibrate their algorithms in advance using ground truth reference data (testing trials) and compete using new unreferenced data (scoring trials). Scoring trials are run on a Track-specific day. Once testing trials are published, competitors can run them at their premises. When the EvaalAPI server is made available, they must run the testing trials on it. Scoring trials are provided to competitors only once they complete a run of the testing trials. OFFSITE-ONLINE TRACKS Competitors run their trials through the EvaalAPI in online mode to emulate the causal, real-time behaviour of onsite Tracks. See the paper "Offsite evaluation of localization systems: criteria, systems and results from IPIN 2021-22 competitions" for a conceptual overview. Track 3 – Smartphone: A pedestrian walking under realistic conditions in buildings with possibly small outdoor parts, using data provided by a conventional smartphone. Track 4 – Foot-mounted IMU: A pedestrian carries ULISS (Ubiquitous Localization with Inertial Sensors and Satellites) on his foot while walking a path with possible small outdoor parts. ULISS provides IMU, magnetic and pressure readings plus GNSS data. No maps are provided. Track 5 – Smartphone with Navigation Robot: A pedestrian in a museum records PDR and VIO data provided by a conventional smartphone. A navigation robot moves with/around the pedestrian and provides its location and UWB ranging/AoA between the smartphone. OFFSITE-OFFLINE TRACK Competitors run their Trials through the EvaalAPI in offline mode, where competitors download sensors data all at once and have a limited time to upload all estimates at once. Track 7 – 5G CIR + IMU: A pedestrian with a smartphone moves through a warehouse-like environment in LOS and NLOS conditions and observes Channel Impulse Response and IMU data. TECHNICAL COMPETITION DETAILS The evaluation criteria for the competition, restrictions on the accepted technologies, technical rules and a description of the benchmarks are detailed in the technical annexes to this call. Possible refinements of the annexes, even based on applicants' comments, will be distributed on the competition discussion mailing list contest(a)evaal.aaloa.org and will appear on the competitions site <https://competition.ipin-conference.org>. Competitors in offsite Tracks obtain sensor readings and submit position estimates through the EvaalAPI web service <https://evaal.aaloa.org/evaalapi>. The aim is to emulate a causal process similar to the data flow of an onsite Track: input data can be read only once and only in sequence, and the timestamp of each submitted position estimate is the same as the latest sensor reading. All the data gathered by the competition committee during the competition, including data produced by competing systems in offsite Tracks, will be published after the competition for the purpose of research and comparison. Winners of the competition are announced on the IPIN web site and on the contest mailing list. COMPETITOR ADMISSION PROCESS A competitor can be any individual or group of individuals working as a single team, associated to a single or a number of organizations, who wants to participate in one or several tracks. Only one team from the same organisation (laboratory) is allowed to compete. Competitors apply for admission to the competition tracks at https://competition.ipin-conference.org/current-competition/application by providing a short (2 pages in PDF) technical description of their localization system, including a description of the algorithms and protocols used. Track chairs will accept or refuse the application in a short time, based on technical feasibility and logistic constraints. After acceptance of the competitor's technical description, one member of the competing team is required to register on the IPIN conference site, specifying the Track to which the registration is linked. Full registration to the conference covers participation in the competition process for one Track (allotted time, support and space) and the submission of one paper describing the system. Participation in additional Tracks can be added for an additional fee. A reduced registration fee not including access to the conference is available for offsite Tracks. Competitors who wish to test their onsite system which does not fit any of the onsite tracks may ask chairs of Track 1 to be admitted off-track, which will be granted subject to organisational constraints. Be sure to subscribe to the contest mailing list to get updates on the competition: http://evaal.aaloa.org/mailman/listinfo/contest IMPORTANT DATES ---------------------------------------------------- Technical annexes published: 5 May Application opens: 5 Jun Testing trials published (offsite): 16 Jun Application closes: 31 Aug EvaalAPI server available: (offsite): 1 Sep Testing trial completed (offsite): 5 Sep Offsite competition: 8 - 10 Sep Onsite survey and sw integration: 13 Sep Onsite competition: 14 Sep Proclamation of winners: 18 Sep ---------------------------------------------------- COMMITTEES IPIN Competition committee: Francesco Potortì – ISTI-CNR (IT) Antonino Crivello – ISTI-CNR (IT) Miguel Ortiz – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR) Joaquín Torres-Sospedra – Universitat de València (ES) Track chairs: Track 1 Filippo Palumbo – ISTI-CNR (IT) Davide La Rosa – ISTI-CNR (IT) Track 3 Joaquín Torres-Sospedra – Universitat de València (ES) Track 4 Miguel Ortiz – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR) Ni Zhu – GEOLOC Team, University Gustave Eiffel (FR) Track 5 Satoki Ogiso – AIST (JP) Ryosuke Ichikari – AIST (JP) Track 6 Wenchao Zhang – AIR-CAS (CN) Track 7 Andreas Eidloth – Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (DE) Jonas Pirkl – Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (DE)