Infrastructure-Side Positioning for Devices

This shifts location from a device feature to a network service, which makes adoption much easier and turns every connected phone, robot, forklift, or sensor into something the operator can locate without touching the device. In practice, the radios do the listening, the backend software does the math, and the output is one shared map that hospital staff, site managers, and robot systems can all query at once.1 3 4

• This avoids the usual rollout pain of indoor tracking systems. There is no app to install, no firmware change, and no extra battery drain from constant on device positioning. That matters in hospitals, yards, and factories where fleets include many device types from many vendors.1 3 4
• It also changes the data model. Instead of each robot or tag keeping its own local estimate of where it is, the network produces one continuously updated coordinate system. That is better for workflows like nearest asset lookup, zone alerts, and multi robot coordination because everyone is using the same map.1
• The tradeoff is that the hard part moves into the network. ZaiNar depends on very tight clock sync across radios, while larger telecom vendors are now building similar infrastructure side positioning into 5G itself. Ericsson launched 5G Advanced location services in January 2026, and with MediaTek showed decimeter level accuracy on a commercial network in August 2026.1 5 6

This is heading toward location becoming a standard network capability, not a special purpose overlay. If carriers and private 5G operators can expose accurate coordinates through software and APIs, the winning products will look less like tag systems and more like operating systems for hospitals, industrial sites, and autonomous machine fleets.1 5 6