The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project seeks to install 10,000 RFID, infrared and wireless transmitters throughout Tokyo’s Ginza, one of the most famous shopping areas in the world.
The tags and transmitters will provide location-related information to people carrying prototype readers developed for the trial, said Ken Sakamura, a professor at The University of Tokyo and the leader of the project.
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Sakamura hopes the system will provide users with basic navigation and information about the shops and stores in the area in at least four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.
Bringing the terminal close to an RFID tag on a street lamp will pinpoint the user’s location. The system will then be able to guide them to the nearest railway station. Walking past a radio beacon in front of a shop might bring up details of current special offers or a menu for a restaurant.
The terminal being used in the Ginza trial has been developed by Tokyo’s Ubiquitous Computing Technology Center, which is a joint-venture between the Japanese government and some of the country’s largest high-tech companies including Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi and NTT East.
It features a 3.5in OLED (organic light emitting diode) touch-panel display and a host of networking interfaces.
There is RFID, infrared and 429MHz wireless for interacting with the beacons in the trial, wireless LAN for connection to the internet and a Bluetooth link.
General trials in Ginza are scheduled to begin on January 21 and will run until March.
In related news, Nortel announced (pdf) it is working with a number of companies, including Blue Vector Systems, to enable wireless ISPs to provide RFID tracking with Nortel’s WiFi hotspots.
