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Challenges |
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Tracking a person walking in an indoor or underground environment is a challenging technical problem. Although recent developments have enabled GPS to successfully position a person walking in some indoor environments, there are many locations where GPS is denied and other external aiding solutions are unavailable. Unfortunately, no one technology exists as a general pedestrian positioning capability in GPS-denied environments.
The key to meeting the position accuracy required for a given application is to understand the operational requirements, constraints and the environment where the technology will be used. A basic technology, consisting of aiding an inertial measurement unit (IMU) with a compass, is a viable alternative to GPS in most environments and is self-contained, small, inexpensive and requires only passive sensors (no infrastructure to set up). Sophisticated signal processing methods must be implemented to effectively exploit magnetic data in steel-framed structures. Integration with GPS allows continuous tracking from outdoor and absolute-reference frame geolocation to the indoor or underground environment. Aiding sensors such as RF ranging, cameras, and barometers can be integrated for some operational environments.
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