Inertial navigation systems use dead-reckoning to estimate the pedestrian's position. There are two types of pedestrian dead-reckoning, the strapdown algorithm and the step-and-heading approach. Unlike the strapdown algorithm, which consists of the double integration of the three orthogonal accelerometer readings, the step-and-heading approach lacks the vertical displacement estimation. We propose the first step-and-heading approach based on unaided inertial data solving 3D positioning. We present a step detector for steps up and down and a novel vertical displacement estimator. Our navigation system uses the sensor introduced in the front pocket of the trousers, a likely location of a smartphone. The proposed algorithms are based on the opening angle of the leg or pitch angle. We analyzed our step detector and compared it with the state-of-the-art, as well as our already proposed step length estimator. Lastly, we assessed our vertical displacement estimator in a real-world scenario. We found that our algorithms outperform the literature step and heading algorithms and solve 3D positioning using unaided inertial data. Additionally, we found that with the pitch angle, five activities are distinguishable: standing, sitting, walking, walking up stairs and walking down stairs. This information complements the pedestrian location and is of interest for applications, such as elderly care.

Inertial Pocket Navigation System: Unaided 3D Positioning

There has been an increasing demand for infrastructureless localization. Current approaches involving inertial measurement unit (IMU) generally utilize step detection and step counting to estimate the displacement. However, the accuracy is affected, because the step sizes are neglected. Some groups have proposed algorithms that involve placing the IMU on the foot to estimate the step size, but users have commented that it affects their walking. Hence, this paper presents a new method to estimate both the forward displacement and orientation with the IMU placed at the upper torso. Placing IMU at the upper torso to estimate horizontal displacement has been challenging, as the accuracy of the inertial sensors is greatly handicapped by the notorious integration drift when performing integration in the travel direction with the lack of opportunity for zero velocity update. Thus, a novel method is proposed in this paper by exploiting the vertical component of the accelerometer reading. An inverted pendulum model is proposed with a step detector and a step length estimation method. The system is implemented, and two sets of experiments are conducted to demonstrate the capability. The experiment sets include straight lines and rectangular shape path, and in each set, four step sizes of small, normal, large, and mixture are conducted for each test and each test is performed four times. The experimental results show an average displacement error of 1% for straight line paths and 2% for the rectangular paths.

Personal Dead Reckoning Using IMU Mounted on Upper Torso and Inverted Pendulum Model

Classification of motion mode (walking, running, standing still) and device mode (hand-held, in pocket, in backpack) is an enabler in personal navigation systems for the purpose of saving energy and design parameter settings and also for its own sake. Our main contribution is to publish one of the most extensive datasets for this problem, including inertial data from eight users, each one performing three pre-defined trajectories carrying four smartphones and seventeen inertial measurement units on the body. All kind of metadata is available such as the ground truth of all modes and position. A second contribution is the first study on a joint classifier of motion and device mode, respectively, where preliminary but promising results are presented.

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IMU dataset for motion and device mode classification

This paper propose a scheme for indoor pedestrian location, based on UWB (Ultra Wideband)/PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning) and Floor Map data. Firstly, a robust algorithm that uses Tukey weight factor and a pathological parameter for UWB positioning is proposed. The ill-conditioned position problem is solved for a scene where UWB anchors are placed on the same elevation of a narrow corridor. Secondly, a heading angle-computed strategy of PDR is put forward. According to the UWB positioning results, the location of pedestrians is mapped to the Floor Map, and 16 possible azimuth directions with 22.5° interval in this position are designed virtually. Compared to the heading angle of PDR, the center direction of the nearest interval is adopted as the heading. However, if the difference between the head angles of PDR and the nearest map direction is less than five degrees, the heading angle of PDR is regarded as the moving heading. Thirdly, an EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) algorithm is suggested for UWB/PDR/Floor Map fusion. By utilizing the positioning results of UWB, PDR, and the possible heading angle of Floor Map, high precision positioning results are acquired. Finally, two experimental scenarios are designed in a narrow corridor and computer room at a university. The accuracy of pedestrian positioning when all the data are available is verified in the first scenario; the positioning accuracy of a situation where part of UWB is unlock is verified in the second scenario. The results show that the proposed scheme can reliably achieve decimeter-level positioning.

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An Indoor Localization Method for Pedestrians Base on Combined UWB/PDR/Floor Map.

We consider personal navigation systems in devices equipped with inertial sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS), where we propose an improved Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) algorithm that learns gait parameters in time intervals when position estimates are available, for instance from GPS or an indoor positioning system (IPS). A novel filtering approach is proposed that is able to learn internal gait parameters in the PDR algorithm, such as the step length and the step detection threshold. Our approach is based on a multi-rate Kalman filter bank that estimates the gait parameters when position measurements are available, which improves PDR in time intervals when the position is not available, for instance when passing from outdoor to indoor environments where IPS is not available. The effectiveness of the new approach is illustrated on several real world experiments.

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Improved Pedestrian Dead Reckoning positioning with gait parameter learning

Global positioning system (GPS) offers a perfect solution to the 3-dimension(3D) navigation. However, the GPS-only solution can’t provide continuous and accurate position information in the unfavourable environments, such as urban canyons, indoor buildings, dense foliages due to signal blockage, interference, or jamming etc. A pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) system integrating the self-contained inertial sensors with GPS receiver is proposed to provide a seamless outdoor/indoor 3D pedestrian navigation. The MEM sensor module attached to the user’s waist is composed of a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis digital compass and a barometric pressure sensor, which doesn’t rely on any infrastructure. The positioning algorithm implements a loosely coupled GPS/PDR integration. The sensor data are fused via a complementary filter to reduce the integral drift and magnetic disturbance for accurate heading. The four key components of the PDR algorithm: step detection, stride length estimation, heading and position determination are described in detail and implemented by the microcontroller. The step is detected using the accelerometer signals by the combination of three approaches: sliding window, peak detection and zero-crossing. The step length is estimated using a simple linear relationship with the step frequency. By coupling the step length, azimuth and height, 3D navigation is achieved. The performance of the proposed system is carefully verified through several field outdoor and indoor walking tests. The positioning errors are below 3% of the total traveled distance. The main error source comes from the orientation estimation. The results indicate that the proposed system is effective in accurate tracking.

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Xiao mei Liu

Papers

An Autonomous Waist-Mounted Pedestrian Dead Reckoning System by Coupling Low-Cost MEMS Inertial Sensors and GPS Receiver for 3D Urban Navigation