In recent years, consumer electronics became increasingly location and context-aware. Novel applications, such as augmented and virtual reality have high demands in precision, latency and update rate in their tracking solutions. 3D imaging systems have seen a rapid development in the past years. By enabling a manifold of systems to become location and context-aware, 3D imaging has the potential to become a part of everyone's daily life. In this chapter, we discuss 3D imaging technologies and their applications in localization, tracking and 3D context determination. Current technologies and key concepts are depicted and open issues are investigated. The novel concept of location-aware optical communication based on Time-of-Flight depth sensors is introduced. This communication method might close the gap between high performance tracking and localization. The chapter finally provides an outlook on future concepts and work-in progress technologies, which might introduce a new set of paradigms for location-aware cyber-physical systems in the Internet of Things.
Cyber–physical systems and context-aware sensing and computing