Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The Multisensor-integrated kinematic positioning and navigation (MSIKPN) technology affirmatively belongs to the most successful and highly demanded civilian applications of the original integrated inertial navigation technology for military and national defense industry. The rapidly increased market availability of low-cost sensors (e.g., MEMS IMUs, cameras, LiDARs, indoor ultrasonic sensors etc.) continually broadens the range of its applications from positioning and orientation, navigation and mapping, location based services, to robotic and autonomous vehicles. We are, at the same time, facing the challenge of optimally integrating their data to reach satisfactory solution in challenging (e.g. rural and/or indoor) environments and with the intricate sensor errors. Hence, the main goal of this research program is to meet such challenges by consistently innovating and advancing multisensor integration strategy and error analysis techniques in Kalman filtering. Specifically, the objectives of this program include: 1) Continually improve and optimize the generic multisensor integration strategy (GMIS) for its full potential through practically developing variance components-based robust and adaptive Kalman Filters and AI-assisted mechanisms for automatically switching between alternate motion models; 2) Develop novel techniques to innovatively utilizing low-cost IMUs inclusive of auto-calibration in standard data fusion process, creative integration of IMU array at sensor level with other sensors on the basis of GMIS, and practical kinematics-supported IMU Dead Reckoning (DR) and other DRs; and 3) Develop competitive solution to high quality indoor geospatial data acquisition with the capability of automatic-observation-enabled indoor active control network required for direct-georeferencing of integrated multisensor navigation systems indoors. The proposed research program will practically generate novel knowledge and highly demanded expertise and tools, and also widen its technological adaptability for application diversity, and consistently help overcome the shortage of highly-demanded HQP for MSIKPN in academia and industry. Its success will greatly contribute to research and development innovation and advancement of low-cost MSIKPN in poor and/or non-GNSS environment, and indoor as a whole. The successful development of the outlined objectives will further contribute to maintaining Canada in its leading position in the designated research area and enhancing Canada's brain trust in geospatial technologies at large through the dissemination of research achievements through publications, technology transfers and commercialization. The proposed research is greatly conductive to developing low-cost systems and working more reliably in challengeable environment with advantage of observing our global and enhancing spatial infrastructure that lead positive influence on positioning Canada as a global leader in navigation and mapping technology.