RFID and Sensors Illustrate Art's Impact on People

"Old museums have big, thick walls, which means you won't be able to get low-powered radio to go through them," Phebey states. "That meant we had to have more sensors up than you would have had in a factory setting."

A glove-earing visitor

The researchers say they chose the Ubisense RFID solution because of the accuracy it provided. "I spent six months looking at various location-tracking technologies—RFID, wireless LAN, video-tracking and so on," Greenwood says. "And they all had their advantages and disadvantages. But the critical point for us was to cover the museum space with an accuracy of plus or minus 10 centimeters [4 inches], which only Ubisense could offer."

The Swiss National Science Foundation funded the experiment, and Ubisense donated its technology. Phebey estimates the equipment and installation would have cost €60,000 to €70,000 ($86,000 to $100,000), with the location tags in the glove priced at €65 ($93) apiece.

Greenwood says his research team and the St. Gallen museum have already fielded calls from museums around the world looking to learn more about the experiment and potential applications. According to Phebey, museums—which number in the dozens in most cities, he says—may become a large market for location-sensing RFID technology.

Referring to the proliferation of small digital audio guides in museums, Phebey says his company regularly fields inquiries from museums regarding how to enhance the visitor experience. "The idea here," he states, "is that with no interaction from the visitors—that just by walking through the museum and having the location picked up—that something would come up on a display panel, or they'd get some context-dependent information based on where they are."

Ubisense has not yet sold such an application, however—in part, Phebey says, because the expense remains too high for museums. "But it's just a matter of time," he notes. "The cost of the tags and the sensors is always going down. At some point, we'll hit a price point where museums feel they can jump in."