Last-Mile Navigation Using Smartphones

摘要

Although GPS has become a standard component of smartphones, providing accurate navigation during the last portion of a trip remains an important but unsolved problem. Despite extensive research on localization, the limited resolution of a map imposes restrictions on the navigation engine in both indoor and outdoor environments. To bridge the gap between the end position obtained from legacy navigation services and the real destination, a “last-mile” navigation system is proposed to enable plug-and-play navigation in indoor and semi-outdoor environments. The system exploits the ubiquitous, stable geomagnetic field and natural walking patterns to navigate the users to the same destination taken by an earlier traveler. Unlike existing localization and navigation systems, the proposed system is infrastructure-free, energy-efficient and cost-saving.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for navigating a pedestrian using a mobile phone, comprising:
capturing, by a magnetometer in a mobile phone, data for a magnetic field over time along a path being taken by the pedestrian; determining, by the processor, a number of steps taken by the pedestrian along the path; comparing, by a processor in the mobile phone, the captured magnetic field data with reference data for the magnetic field captured along the path at an earlier time; estimating, by the processor, a relative position of the pedestrian on the path as the pedestrian traverses the path, where the estimation of the relative position is based on the comparison and the number of steps taken by the pedestrian; and issuing, by the processor, a navigation instruction to the pedestrian when the relative position correlates to a particular position along the path at which to issue the navigation instruction.