Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The research will involve invention and application of methods to enhance portable navigation methods formobile devices for both indoor and outdoor environments when no reliable wireless positioning signals (likeGPS and Wi-Fi) are available. The wireless positioning signals will be integrated with sensors that can befound in most mobile and portable devices including those low cost and small size inertial measurement units(IMU) incorporating three-axis accelerometers and three-axis gyroscopes that monitor, respectively, thetranslational and the rotational motions. This research project will also benefit from other sensors includingbarometers and magnetometers that can be found in many portable and mobile devices. Pedestrian deadreckoning (PDR) will be applied, but to do so, methods of heading estimation and resolving the misalignmentbetween the mobile device and the moving body are required. This research will therefore explore threeinnovative methods to address the above challenges. The first will provide online magnetometer calibration toobtain accurate heading angle updates of the device while compensating for all possible magnetic interferenceeffects. The second method targets the use of dual IMUs to resolve the misalignment between the mobiledevice and the moving body. The third method targets the use of single IMU to estimate the misalignmentusing mode detection and use case classification. Mode detection will be used to separate transit modes, suchas walking, driving, on a train, escalator etc. Methods of feature extraction and classification will be used fromthe sensor signals only, that will enable application of pedestrian dead reckoning even when the mobile devicechanges orientation with respect to the person's body. By providing an embedded portable navigation modulethat is capable of functioning in all environments (outdoor/indoor) using a technological solution that alsoimproves user access to information, this project is addressing a gap in the current international market. Canadahas made significant contributions to the development of innovative navigation technologies and this projectwill contribute in keeping Canada's leading expertise and in developing highly demanded new technologies.