Future indoor network with a sixth sense: Requirements, challenges and enabling technologies

Wireless connectivity will soon enable people to consume augmented and virtual reality content anywhere and cloud-connected mobile robots to perform complex tasks collaboratively. This connectivity will come to enterprises, factory floors and digital homes first, powered by indoor networks that offer much higher data rates, greater reliability, and lower latency than today's networks. In addition to providing traditional communication capabilities, the future indoor network will have a “sixth sense” that enables it to provide sensory information and insights to meet physiological needs such as lighting, heating, health and safety. It will serve as the core infrastructure for smart buildings and help enterprises operate more efficiently by further enabling capabilities such as immersive virtual workplaces, indoor navigation and asset tracking. This paper reviews current technologies, examines the enabling technologies of the future indoor network and presents our latest research results and our vision for implementing them in commercial and residential environments.