Evaluating indoor positioning systems in a shopping mall : the lessons learned from the IPIN 2018 competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future

An Indoor Navigation System Using a Sensor Fusion Scheme on Android Platform

With the development of wireless communication networks, smart phones have become a necessity for people’s daily lives, and they meet not only the needs of basic functions for users such as sending a message or making a phone call, but also the users’ demands for entertainment, surfing the Internet and socializing. Navigation functions have been commonly utilized, however the navigation function is often based on GPS (Global Positioning System) in outdoor environments, whereas a number of applications need to navigate indoors. This paper presents a system to achieve high accurate indoor navigation based on Android platform. To do this, we design a sensor fusion scheme for our system. We divide the system into three main modules: distance measurement module, orientation detection module and position update module. We use an efficient way to estimate the stride length and use step sensor to count steps in distance measurement module. For orientation detection module, in order to get the optimal result of orientation, we then introduce Kalman filter to de-noise the data collected from different sensors. In the last module, we combine the data from the previous modules and calculate the current location. Results of experiments show that our system works well and has high accuracy in indoor situations

Robust localization with wearable sensors

Measuring physical movements of humans and understanding human behaviour is useful in a variety of areas and disciplines. Human inertial tracking is a method that can be leveraged for monitoring complex actions that emerge from interactions between human actors and their environment. An accurate estimation of motion trajectories can support new approaches to pedestrian navigation, emergency rescue, athlete management, and medicine. However, tracking with wearable inertial sensors has several problems that need to be overcome, such as the low accuracy of consumer-grade inertial measurement units (IMUs), the error accumulation problem in long-term tracking, and the artefacts generated by movements that are less common. This thesis focusses on measuring human movements with wearable head-mounted sensors to accurately estimate the physical location of a person over time. The research consisted of (i) providing an overview of the current state of research for inertial tracking with wearable sensors, (ii) investigating the performance of new tracking algorithms that combine sensor fusion and data-driven machine learning, (iii) eliminating the effect of random head motion during tracking, (iv) creating robust long-term tracking systems with a Bayesian neural network and sequential Monte Carlo method, and (v) verifying that the system can be applied with changing modes of behaviour, defined as natural transitions from walking to running and vice versa. This research introduces a new system for inertial tracking with head-mounted sensors (which can be placed in, e.g. helmets, caps, or glasses). This technology can be used for long-term positional tracking to explore complex behaviours

Integração de localização baseada em movimento na aplicação móvel EduPARK

More and more, mobile applications require precise localization solutions in a variety of environments. Although GPS is widely used as localization solution, it may present some accuracy problems in special conditions such as unfavorable weather or spaces with multiple obstructions such as public parks. For these scenarios, alternative solutions to GPS are of extreme relevance and are widely studied recently. This dissertation studies the case of EduPARK application, which is an augmented reality application that is implemented in the Infante D. Pedro park in Aveiro. Due to the poor accuracy of GPS in this park, the implementation of positioning and marker-less augmented reality functionalities presents difficulties. Existing relevant systems are analyzed, and an architecture based on pedestrian dead reckoning is proposed. The corresponding implementation is presented, which consists of a positioning solution using the sensors available in the smartphones, a step detection algorithm, a distance traveled estimator, an orientation estimator and a position estimator. For the validation of this solution, functionalities were implemented in the EduPARK application for testing purposes and usability tests performed. The results obtained show that the proposed solution can be an alternative to provide accurate positioning within the Infante D. Pedro park, thus enabling the implementation of functionalities of geocaching and marker-less augmented reality.Cada vez mais, as aplicações móveis requerem soluções de localização precisa nos mais variados ambientes. Apesar de o GPS ser amplamente usado como solução para localização, pode apresentar alguns problemas de precisão em condições especiais, como mau tempo, ou espaços com várias obstruções, como parques públicos. Para estes casos, soluções alternativas ao GPS são de extrema relevância e veem sendo desenvolvidas. A presente dissertação estuda o caso do projeto EduPARK, que é uma aplicação móvel de realidade aumentada para o parque Infante D. Pedro em Aveiro. Devido à fraca precisão do GPS nesse parque, a implementação de funcionalidades baseadas no posionamento e de realidade aumentada sem marcadores apresenta dificuldades. São analisados sistemas relevantes existentes e é proposta uma arquitetura baseada em localização de pedestres. Em seguida é apresentada a correspondente implementação, que consiste numa solução de posicionamento usando os sensores disponiveis nos smartphones, um algoritmo de deteção de passos, um estimador de distância percorrida, um estimador de orientação e um estimador de posicionamento. Para a validação desta solução, foram implementadas funcionalidades na aplicação EduPARK para fins de teste, e realizados testes com utilizadores e testes de usabilidade. Os resultados obtidos demostram que a solução proposta pode ser uma alternativa para a localização no interior do parque Infante D. Pedro, viabilizando desta forma a implementação de funcionalidades baseadas no posicionamento e de realidade aumenta sem marcadores.EduPARK é um projeto financiado por Fundos FEDER através do Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização - COMPETE 2020 e por Fundos Nacionais através da FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia no âmbito do projeto POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016542.Mestrado em Engenharia Informátic

적분 및 매개변수 기법 융합을 이용한 스마트폰 다중 동작에서 보행 항법

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 기계항공공학부, 2020. 8. 박찬국.In this dissertation, an IA-PA fusion-based PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning) using low-cost inertial sensors is proposed to improve the indoor position estimation. Specifically, an IA (Integration Approach)-based PDR algorithm combined with measurements from PA (Parametric Approach) is constructed so that the algorithm is operated even in various poses that occur when a pedestrian moves with a smartphone indoors. In addition, I propose an algorithm that estimates the device attitude robustly in a disturbing situation by an ellipsoidal method. In addition, by using the machine learning-based pose recognition, it is possible to improve the position estimation performance by varying the measurement update according to the poses. First, I propose an adaptive attitude estimation based on ellipsoid technique to accurately estimate the direction of movement of a smartphone device. The AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) uses an accelerometer and a magnetometer as measurements to calculate the attitude based on the gyro and to compensate for drift caused by gyro sensor errors. In general, the attitude estimation performance is poor in acceleration and geomagnetic disturbance situations, but in order to effectively improve the estimation performance, this dissertation proposes an ellipsoid-based adaptive attitude estimation technique. When a measurement disturbance comes in, it is possible to update the measurement more accurately than the adaptive estimation technique without considering the direction by adjusting the measurement covariance with the ellipsoid method considering the direction of the disturbance. In particular, when the disturbance only comes in one axis, the proposed algorithm can use the measurement partly by updating the other two axes considering the direction. The proposed algorithm shows its effectiveness in attitude estimation under disturbances through the rate table and motion capture equipment. Next, I propose a PDR algorithm that integrates IA and PA that can be operated in various poses. When moving indoors using a smartphone, there are many degrees of freedom, so various poses such as making a phone call, texting, and putting a pants pocket are possible. In the existing smartphone-based positioning algorithms, the position is estimated based on the PA, which can be used only when the pedestrian's walking direction and the device's direction coincide, and if it does not, the position error due to the mismatch in angle is large. In order to solve this problem, this dissertation proposes an algorithm that constructs state variables based on the IA and uses the position vector from the PA as a measurement. If the walking direction and the device heading do not match based on the pose recognized through machine learning technique, the position is updated in consideration of the direction calculated using PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and the step length obtained through the PA. It can be operated robustly even in various poses that occur. Through experiments considering various operating conditions and paths, it is confirmed that the proposed method stably estimates the position and improves performance even in various indoor environments.본 논문에서는 저가형 관성센서를 이용한 보행항법시스템 (PDR: Pedestrian Dead Reckoning)의 성능 향상 알고리즘을 제안한다. 구체적으로 보행자가 실내에서 스마트폰을 들고 이동할 때 발생하는 다양한 동작 상황에서도 운용될 수 있도록, 매개변수 기반 측정치를 사용하는 적분 기반의 보행자 항법 알고리즘을 구성한다. 또한 타원체 기반 자세 추정 알고리즘을 구성하여 외란 상황에서도 강인하게 자세를 추정하는 알고리즘을 제안한다. 추가적으로 기계학습 기반의 동작 인식 정보를 이용, 동작에 따른 측정치 업데이트를 달리함으로써 위치 추정 성능을 향상시킨다. 먼저 스마트폰 기기의 이동 방향을 정확하게 추정하기 위해 타원체 기법 기반 적응 자세 추정을 제안한다. 자세 추정 기법 (AHRS: Attitude and Heading Reference System)은 자이로를 기반으로 자세를 계산하고 자이로 센서오차에 의해 발생하는 드리프트를 보정하기 위해 측정치로 가속도계와 지자계를 사용한다. 일반적으로 가속 및 지자계 외란 상황에서는 자세 추정 성능이 떨어지는데, 추정 성능을 효과적으로 향상시키기 위해 본 논문에서는 타원체 기반 적응 자세 추정 기법을 제안한다. 측정치 외란이 들어오는 경우, 외란의 방향을 고려하여 타원체 기법으로 측정치 공분산을 조정해줌으로써 방향을 고려하지 않은 적응 추정 기법보다 정확하게 측정치 업데이트를 할 수 있다. 특히 외란이 한 축으로만 들어오는 경우, 제안한 알고리즘은 방향을 고려해 나머지 두 축에 대해서는 업데이트 해줌으로써 측정치를 부분적으로 사용할 수 있다. 레이트 테이블, 모션 캡쳐 장비를 통해 제안한 알고리즘의 자세 성능이 향상됨을 확인하였다. 다음으로 다양한 동작에서도 운용 가능한 적분 및 매개변수 기법을 융합하는 보행항법 알고리즘을 제안한다. 스마트폰을 이용해 실내를 이동할 때에는 자유도가 크기 때문에 전화 걸기, 문자, 바지 주머니 넣기 등 다양한 동작이 발생 가능하다. 기존의 스마트폰 기반 보행 항법에서는 매개변수 기법을 기반으로 위치를 추정하는데, 이는 보행자의 진행 방향과 기기의 방향이 일치하는 경우에만 사용 가능하며 일치하지 않는 경우 자세 오차로 인한 위치 오차가 크게 발생한다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해 본 논문에서는 적분 기반 기법을 기반으로 상태변수를 구성하고 매개변수 기법을 통해 나오는 위치 벡터를 측정치로 사용하는 알고리즘을 제안한다. 만약 기계학습을 통해 인식한 동작을 바탕으로 진행 방향과 기기 방향이 일치하지 않는 경우, 주성분 분석을 통해 계산한 진행방향을 이용해 진행 방향을, 매개변수 기법을 통해 얻은 보폭으로 거리를 업데이트해 줌으로써 보행 중 발생하는 여러 동작에서도 강인하게 운용할 수 있다. 다양한 동작 상황 및 경로를 고려한 실험을 통해 위에서 제안한 방법이 다양한 실내 환경에서도 안정적으로 위치를 추정하고 성능이 향상됨을 확인하였다.Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation and Background 1 1.2 Objectives and Contribution 5 1.3 Organization of the Dissertation 6 Chapter 2 Pedestrian Dead Reckoning System 8 2.1 Overview of Pedestrian Dead Reckoning 8 2.2 Parametric Approach 9 2.2.1 Step detection algorithm 11 2.2.2 Step length estimation algorithm 13 2.2.3 Heading estimation 14 2.3 Integration Approach 15 2.3.1 Extended Kalman filter 16 2.3.2 INS-EKF-ZUPT 19 2.4 Activity Recognition using Machine Learning 21 2.4.1 Challenges in HAR 21 2.4.2 Activity recognition chain 22 Chapter 3 Attitude Estimation in Smartphone 26 3.1 Adaptive Attitude Estimation in Smartphone 26 3.1.1 Indirect Kalman filter-based attitude estimation 26 3.1.2 Conventional attitude estimation algorithms 29 3.1.3 Adaptive attitude estimation using ellipsoidal methods 30 3.2 Experimental Results 36 3.2.1 Simulation 36 3.2.2 Rate table experiment 44 3.2.3 Handheld rotation experiment 46 3.2.4 Magnetic disturbance experiment 49 3.3 Summary 53 Chapter 4 Pedestrian Dead Reckoning in Multiple Poses of a Smartphone 54 4.1 System Overview 55 4.2 Machine Learning-based Pose Classification 56 4.2.1 Training dataset 57 4.2.2 Feature extraction and selection 58 4.2.3 Pose classification result using supervised learning in PDR 62 4.3 Fusion of the Integration and Parametric Approaches in PDR 65 4.3.1 System model 67 4.3.2 Measurement model 67 4.3.3 Mode selection 74 4.3.4 Observability analysis 76 4.4 Experimental Results 82 4.4.1 AHRS results 82 4.4.2 PCA results 84 4.4.3 IA-PA results 88 4.5 Summary 100 Chapter 5 Conclusions 103 5.1 Summary of the Contributions 103 5.2 Future Works 105 국문초록 125 Acknowledgements 127Docto

An inertial motion capture framework for constructing body sensor networks

Motion capture is the process of measuring and subsequently reconstructing the movement of an animated object or being in virtual space. Virtual reconstructions of human motion play an important role in numerous application areas such as animation, medical science, ergonomics, etc. While optical motion capture systems are the industry standard, inertial body sensor networks are becoming viable alternatives due to portability, practicality and cost. This thesis presents an innovative inertial motion capture framework for constructing body sensor networks through software environments, smartphones and web technologies. The first component of the framework is a unique inertial motion capture software environment aimed at providing an improved experimentation environment, accompanied by programming scaffolding and a driver development kit, for users interested in studying or engineering body sensor networks. The software environment provides a bespoke 3D engine for kinematic motion visualisations and a set of tools for hardware integration. The software environment is used to develop the hardware behind a prototype motion capture suit focused on low-power consumption and hardware-centricity. Additional inertial measurement units, which are available commercially, are also integrated to demonstrate the functionality the software environment while providing the framework with additional sources for motion data. The smartphone is the most ubiquitous computing technology and its worldwide uptake has prompted many advances in wearable inertial sensing technologies. Smartphones contain gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers, a combination of sensors that is commonly found in inertial measurement units. This thesis presents a mobile application that investigates whether the smartphone is capable of inertial motion capture by constructing a novel omnidirectional body sensor network. This thesis proposes a novel use for web technologies through the development of the Motion Cloud, a repository and gateway for inertial data. Web technologies have the potential to replace motion capture file formats with online repositories and to set a new standard for how motion data is stored. From a single inertial measurement unit to a more complex body sensor network, the proposed architecture is extendable and facilitates the integration of any inertial hardware configuration. The Motion Cloud’s data can be accessed through an application-programming interface or through a web portal that provides users with the functionality for visualising and exporting the motion data

Custom Dual Transportation Mode Detection by Smartphone Devices Exploiting Sensor Diversity

Making applications aware of the mobility experienced by the user can open the door to a wide range of novel services in different use-cases, from smart parking to vehicular traffic monitoring. In the literature, there are many different studies demonstrating the theoretical possibility of performing Transportation Mode Detection (TMD) by mining smart-phones embedded sensors data. However, very few of them provide details on the benchmarking process and on how to implement the detection process in practice. In this study, we provide guidelines and fundamental results that can be useful for both researcher and practitioners aiming at implementing a working TMD system. These guidelines consist of three main contributions. First, we detail the construction of a training dataset, gathered by heterogeneous users and including five different transportation modes; the dataset is made available to the research community as reference benchmark. Second, we provide an in-depth analysis of the sensor-relevance for the case of Dual TDM, which is required by most of mobility-aware applications. Third, we investigate the possibility to perform TMD of unknown users/instances not present in the training set and we compare with state-of-the-art Android APIs for activity recognition.Comment: Pre-print of the accepted version for the 14th Workshop on Context and Activity Modeling and Recognition (IEEE COMOREA 2018), Athens, Greece, March 19-23, 201

Evaluating Indoor Positioning Systems in a Shopping Mall: The Lessons Learned From the IPIN 2018 Competition

The Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN) conference holds an annual competition in which indoor localization systems from different research groups worldwide are evaluated empirically. The objective of this competition is to establish a systematic evaluation methodology with rigorous metrics both for real-time (on-site) and post-processing (off-site) situations, in a realistic environment unfamiliar to the prototype developers. For the IPIN 2018 conference, this competition was held on September 22nd, 2018, in Atlantis, a large shopping mall in Nantes (France). Four competition tracks (two on-site and two off-site) were designed. They consisted of several 1 km routes traversing several floors of the mall. Along these paths, 180 points were topographically surveyed with a 10 cm accuracy, to serve as ground truth landmarks, combining theodolite measurements, differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and 3D scanner systems. 34 teams effectively competed. The accuracy score corresponds to the third quartile (75 th percentile) of an error metric that combines the horizontal positioning error and the floor detection. The best results for the on-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 11.70 m (Track 1) and 5.50 m (Track 2), while the best results for the off-site tracks showed an accuracy score of 0.90 m (Track 3) and 1.30 m (Track 4). These results showed that it is possible to obtain high accuracy indoor positioning solutions in large, realistic environments using wearable light-weight sensors without deploying any beacon. This paper describes the organization work of the tracks, analyzes the methodology used to quantify the results, reviews the lessons learned from the competition and discusses its future