Paul D. Groves

Bio: Paul D. Groves is an academic researcher from University College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: GNSS applications & Global Positioning System. The author has an hindex of 32, co-authored 87 publications receiving 3712 citations. Previous affiliations of Paul D. Groves include Qinetiq.

Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multi-Sensor Integrated Navigation Systems

Abstract: Navigation systems engineering is a red-hot area. More and more technical professionals are entering the field and looking for practical, up-to-date engineering know-how. This single-source reference answers the call, providing both an introduction to overall systems operation and an in-depth treatment of architecture, design, and component integration. This book explains how satellite, on-board, and other navigation technologies operate, and it gives practitioners insight into performance issues such as processing chains and error sources. Providing solutions to systems designers and engineers, the book describes and compares different integration architectures, and explains how to diagnose errors. Moreover, this hands-on book includes appendices filled with terminology and equations for quick referencing.

Shadow Matching: A New GNSS Positioning Technique for Urban Canyons

Abstract: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is unreliable in dense urban areas, known as urban canyons, which have tall buildings or narrow streets. This is because the buildings block the signals from many of the satellites. Combining GPS with other Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) significantly increases the availability of direct line-of-sight signals. Modelling is used to demonstrate that, although this will enable accurate positioning along the direction of the street, the positioning accuracy in the cross-street direction will be poor because the unobstructed satellite signals travel along the street, rather than across it. A novel solution to this problem is to use 3D building models to improve cross-track positioning accuracy in urban canyons by predicting which satellites are visible from different locations and comparing this with the measured satellite visibility to determine position. Modelling is used to show that this shadow matching technique has the potential to achieve metre-order cross-street positioning in urban canyons. The issues to be addressed in developing a robust and practical shadow matching positioning system are then discussed and solutions proposed.

Height Aiding, C/N 0 Weighting and Consistency Checking for GNSS NLOS and Multipath Mitigation in Urban Areas

Abstract: Multiple global navigation satellite system (GNSS) constellations can dramatically improve the signal availability in dense urban environments. However, accuracy remains a challenge because buildings block, reflect and diffract the signals. This paper investigates three different techniques for mitigating the impact of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) reception and multipath interference on position accuracy without using additional hardware, testing them using data collected at multiple sites in central London. Aiding the position solution using a terrain height database was found to have the biggest impact, improving the horizontal accuracy by 35% and the vertical accuracy by a factor of 4. An 8% improvement in horizontal accuracy was also obtained from weighting the GNSS measurements in the position solution according to the carrier-power-to-noise-density ratio (C/N0). Consistency checking using a conventional sequential elimination technique was found to degrade horizontal positioning performance by 60% because it often eliminated the wrong measurements in cases when multiple signals were affected by NLOS reception or strong multipath interference. A new consistency checking method that compares subsets of measurements performed better, but was still equally likely to improve or degrade the accuracy. This was partly because removing a poor measurement can result in adverse signal geometry, degrading the position accuracy. Based on this, several ways of improving the reliability of consistency checking are proposed.

Multi-Constellation GNSS Performance Evaluation for Urban Canyons Using Large Virtual Reality City Models

Abstract: Positioning using the Global Positioning System (GPS) is unreliable in dense urban areas with tall buildings and/or narrow streets, known as ‘urban canyons’. This is because the buildings block, reflect or diffract the signals from many of the satellites. This paper investigates the use of 3-Dimensional (3-D) building models to predict satellite visibility. To predict Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) performance using 3-D building models, a simulation has been developed. A few optimized methods to improve the efficiency of the simulation for real-time purposes were implemented. Diffraction effects of satellite signals were considered to improve accuracy. The simulation is validated using real-world GPS and GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) observations. The performance of current and future GNSS in urban canyons is then assessed by simulation using an architectural city model of London with decimetre-level accuracy. GNSS availability, integrity and precision is evaluated over pedestrian and vehicle routes within city canyons using different combinations of GNSS constellations. The results show that using GPS and GLONASS together cannot guarantee 24-hour reliable positioning in urban canyons. However, with the addition of Galileo and Compass, currently under construction, reliable GNSS performance can be obtained at most, but not all, of the locations in the test scenarios. The modelling also demonstrates that GNSS availability is poorer for pedestrians than for vehicles and verifies that cross-street positioning errors are typically larger than along-street due to the geometrical constraints imposed by the buildings. For many applications, this modelling technique could also be used to predict the best route through a city at a given time, or the best time to perform GNSS positioning at a given location.

Smartphone Shadow Matching for Better Cross-street GNSS Positioning in Urban Environments

Abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) shadow matching is a new positioning technique that determines position by comparing the measured signal availability and strength with predictions made using a three-dimensional (3D) city model. It complements conventional GNSS positioning and can significantly improve cross-street positioning accuracy in dense urban environments. This paper describes how shadow matching has been adapted to work on an Android smartphone and presents the first comprehensive performance assessment of smartphone GNSS shadow matching. Using GPS and GLONASS data recorded at 20 locations within central London, it is shown that shadow matching significantly outperforms conventional GNSS positioning in the cross-street direction. The success rate for obtaining a cross-street position accuracy within 5 m, enabling the correct side of a street to be determined, was 54·50% using shadow matching, compared to 24·77% for the conventional GNSS position. The likely performance of four-constellation shadow matching is predicted, the feasibility of a large-scale implementation of shadow matching is assessed, and some methods for improving performance are proposed. A further contribution is a signal-to-noise ratio analysis of the direct line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight signals received on a smartphone in a dense urban environment.

Pedestrian localisation for indoor environments

Abstract: Location information is an important source of context for ubiquitous computing systems. This paper looks at how a foot-mounted inertial unit, a detailed building model, and a particle filter can be combined to provide absolute positioning, despite the presence of drift in the inertial unit and without knowledge of the user's initial location. We show how to handle multiple floors and stairways, how to handle symmetry in the environment, and how to initialise the localisation algorithm using WiFi signal strength to reduce initial complexity.We evaluate the entire system experimentally, using an independent tracking system for ground truth. Our results show that we can track a user throughout a 8725 m2 building spanning three floors to within 0.5m 75% of the time, and to within 0.73 m 95% of the time.

Applications of 3D City Models: State of the Art Review

Abstract: In the last decades, 3D city models appear to have been predominantly used for visualisation; however, today they are being increasingly employed in a number of domains and for a large range of tasks beyond visualisation. In this paper, we seek to understand and document the state of the art regarding the utilisation of 3D city models across multiple domains based on a comprehensive literature study including hundreds of research papers, technical reports and online resources. A challenge in a study such as ours is that the ways in which 3D city models are used cannot be readily listed due to fuzziness, terminological ambiguity, unclear added-value of 3D geoinformation in some instances, and absence of technical information. To address this challenge, we delineate a hierarchical terminology (spatial operations, use cases, applications), and develop a theoretical reasoning to segment and categorise the diverse uses of 3D city models. Following this framework, we provide a list of identified use cases of 3D city models (with a description of each), and their applications. Our study demonstrates that 3D city models are employed in at least 29 use cases that are a part of more than 100 applications. The classified inventory could be useful for scientists as well as stakeholders in the geospatial industry, such as companies and national mapping agencies, as it may serve as a reference document to better position their operations, design product portfolios, and to better understand the market.

Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems, Second Edition

Abstract: This newly revised and greatly expanded edition of the popular Artech House book Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems offers you a current and comprehensive understanding of satellite navigation, inertial navigation, terrestrial radio navigation, dead reckoning, and environmental feature matching . It provides both an introduction to navigation systems and an in-depth treatment of INS/GNSS and multisensor integration. The second edition offers a wealth of added and updated material, including a brand new chapter on the principles of radio positioning and a chapter devoted to important applications in the field. Other updates include expanded treatments of map matching, image-based navigation, attitude determination, acoustic positioning, pedestrian navigation, advanced GNSS techniques, and several terrestrial and short-range radio positioning technologies. The book shows you how satellite, inertial, and other navigation technologies work, and focuses on processing chains and error sources. In addition, you get a clear introduction to coordinate frames, multi-frame kinematics, Earth models, gravity, Kalman filtering, and nonlinear filtering. Providing solutions to common integration problems, the book describes and compares different integration architectures, and explains how to model different error sources. You get a broad and penetrating overview of current technology and are brought up to speed with the latest developments in the field, including context-dependent and cooperative positioning. DVD Included: Features eleven appendices, interactive worked examples, basic GNSS and INS MATLAB simulation software, and problems and exercises to help you master the material.

Understanding the Basis of the Kalman Filter Via a Simple and Intuitive Derivation

Abstract: T his article provides a simple and intuitive derivation of the Kalman filter, with the aim of teaching this useful tool to students from disciplines that do not require a strong mathematical background. The most complicated level of mathematics required to understand this derivation is the ability to multiply two Gaussian functions together and reduce the result to a compact form. The Kalman filter is over 50 years old but is still one of the most important and common data fusion algorithms in use today. Named after Rudolf E. Kalman, the great success of the Kalman filter is due to its small computational requirement, elegant recursive properties, and its status as the optimal estimator for one-dimensional linear systems with Gaussian error statistics [1] . Typical uses of the Kalman filter include smoothing noisy data and providing estimates of parameters of interest. Applications include global positioning system receivers, phaselocked loops in radio equipment, smoothing the output from laptop trackpads, and many more. From a theoretical standpoint, the Kalman filter is an algorithm permitting exact inference in a linear dynamical system, which is a Bayesian model similar to a hidden Markov model but where the state space of the latent variables is continuous and where all latent and observed variables have a Gaussian distribution (often a multivariate Gaussian distribution). The aim of this lecture note is to permit people who find this description confusing or terrifying to understand the basis of the Kalman filter via a simple and intuitive derivation.