Wireless Accessibility Interface (WAI) defines the interaction
between the user's personal device and the facility,
using a mix of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and possibly Cellular connectivity.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth provide the local data link for the facility to interact with the individual.
Cellular connectivity is a generic networking connection to the Internet,
and provides a link to the WAIFIND server to access the facility data base
if not available through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
The facility itself connects to the WAIFIND server using an Enterprise connection to the Internet
to facilitate secure user-facility registration and to maintain the facility data base.
WAI exists at the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth layer.
WAI Internet access relies on any available network.
The user device may be equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Cellular radio networks, as well as embedded satellite navigation.
WAI applications on the user device may receive broadcast from nearby BLE Beacons.
The device may attach to a particular Wi-Fi access point, but may receive signals from nearby Wi-Fi access points.
The Cellular connection and the WI-Fi connection may provide Internet access to WAI applications, including access to the central WAIFIND server.
The Local Facility may operate a WAIFIND server, which provides a pathway between the facility and the user device WAI applications, and to the central WAIFIND server. The vast majority of WAIFIND servers are "remote/virtual", created in the central WAIFIND server by the user community and continually refined by adaptive techniques. Local WAIFIND servers are typically used when an required to support off-line services.
The user device, the Wi-Fi infrastructure, the BLE beacons, and the cellular connection are all commercial off the shelf (COTS) without any modification for WAI.
The WAIFIND server provides a secure, private Wi-Fi connection to the User Device WAI application.
The User Device WAI application uses Internet connections only when there is no WAIFIND server connection using bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
The User Device is automatically logged- in through the WAIFIND server.
The WAIFIND server routes messages between the user device WAI applications and the facility WAI customer services.
The WAIFIND server communicates announcements to for distribution to all proximate user devices.
Wi-Fi
The simplest WAI installation uses a local WAIFIND server and a COTS Wi-Fi access points. Without continuous access to the Central WAIFIND server, the local WAIFIND server must manage registration of user devices autonomously. Without BLE, positioning is not feasibly, other than rudimentary proximity to Wi-Fi access points.
An example of the Wi-Fi only configuration is on an airplane, where registration accepts any user device on the premise that they are all passenger devices. The Wi-Fi infrastructure is provided as a part of In-flight Entertainment (IFE).
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons provide a unique Identity that applications apply a receive signal strength measurement that is indicative of the distance from the beacon. With this information, an estimated local wireless position can be determined using trilateration. A database can relate the wireless position into a physical location. Thus BLE adds wayfinding features, as well as support for position-triggered routing and alerts. Some IFE supports bluetooth in the seat, primarily for passenger headphones, that will introduce many bluetooth access points that can at least be used as beacons.
Bluetooth access points offer another interactive connection to user devices. The user device may prefer Wi-Fi networks that do not provide a connection to the local WAI server nor the central WAI server without buying an Internet Access Session. In these cases, and otherwise, a network of Bluetooth access points may provide a low cost solution without depending on Wi-Fi at all.
Internet
Having access to the Internet offers a extensible solution that has no local WAI infrastructure. The User Device WAI application communicates with the WAIFIND central server. In this case, the Facility WAIFIND server is hosted in the WAIFIND central server as a remote/virtual feature. WAIFIND and the user community complete the database for wayfinding.
