Method of pedestrian dead reckoning using speed recognition

Abstract

Accurate and robust ubiquitous localization is one of the most demanding challenges that the navigation research community faces currently. The GNSS offers a perfect solution for open sky environment, however, in GPS-denied or unfavourable environments, for example urban canyons or indoors, the traditional GNSS standalone solution cannot provide the user's position at a reasonable accuracy. Therefore, dead reckoning algorithms are one of the research fields which have attracted most research attention in the last few years. A multi-sensor based PDR (pedestrian dead reckoning) algorithm is presented in this paper, which makes full use of the measurements from a barometer and a 3-axis accelerometer. User's dynamics and motion modes are recognized with different speeds. The walking distance is then calculated based on this information and the human physiological characteristics. Hence, the PDR solution can be propagated and a continuous position solution of the user is available. Seven user dynamics with 3 different speeds are tested with the system. The algorithm recognizes the speed of the pedestrian both in horizontal and vertical direction, which makes the algorithm suitable to be applied in a multi-floor building which is a more complex task than navigation in a one floor construction.