Skolkovo IT cluster resident SPIRIT Navigation finished in second place in Microsoft’s Indoor Localization Competition this month, the software giant announced.
The competition among 44 teams from 19 countries was held at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington-based headquarters and brought together real-time or near real-time indoor location technologies to compare their performance.
The SPIRIT team, led by general director Ruslan Budnik, was runner-up in the ‘no infrastructure’ category; the company’s solution requires no special infrastructural support and does not demand the installation of additional beacons as it utilizes the ambient natural sources of positioning.
A certificate and unspecified cash award was made to the winners of the contest, who ahead of SPIRIT were STeAM sensor tracking and mapping from the European Commission; and an ultrasonic localization system from Carnegie Mellon University for the infrastructure-based solution.
Results were judged based on both room/zone-level accuracy and absolute accuracy. Where accuracy tied, infrastructure requirements were used for tie-breaking, according to the competition website.
Microsoft is one of Skolkovo’s 30-plus partners, a status that requires companies to conduct research and development at the innovation center.