Cyclist 360° Alert: Validation of an Instrumented Bicycle Trajectory Reconstruction Mechanism Using Satellite and Inertial Navigation Systems

Abstract

Cycling is an increasingly popular mode of travel in cities owing to the great advantages that it offers in terms of space consumption, health and environmental sustainability. However, the number of recent accidents between cyclists and heavy goods vehicles has increased substantially. Our study shows that one of the main causes of accidents is drivers not being able to observe cyclists. Thus, this research reported here involves the development of an innovative low-cost technological solution called Cyclist 360° Alert and as an integral part of this system, this paper focuses on the bicycle localization aspect and presents an approach based on low-cost micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor con figurations on an instrumented prototype bicycle system, called “iBike”. The iBike has the capability of sensing its motion, which can be then analysed to compute the trajectory path. The paper describes the overall system of the instrumented bicycle which incorporates an Inertial Navigation System (INS) and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. The paper then evaluates and compare the accuracy of the three positioning systems using experimental field data. Finally, the paper also draws conclusions on the applicability of specific sensor configurations, both in terms of sensors’ accuracy and reliability with respect to the measurements of motion, and the ability of tracking trajectories based on the data gathered from the sensor