Systems and methods for using magnetic field readings to refine device location estimates

摘要

Systems and methods for using magnetic field readings to refine device location estimates are provided. As an example, a plurality of magnetic field readings can be collected by a device as it travels along a path. A positioning system (e.g., GPS) or other sensors can be used to provide a coarse location for the device at each reading. A contribution to each of the magnetic field readings by the Earth's magnetic field can be removed to obtain a plurality of residual readings and a plurality of regions of interest along the path can be identified based at least in part on the residual readings. The regions of interest can be compared to each other to identify a plurality of correspondences between magnetic field readings or residual readings and the plurality of correspondences can be used to refine the location estimates.

主权项

1. A method for revising location estimates, the method comprising:
obtaining, by one or more computing devices, a plurality of readings of a magnetic field collected by a magnetometer of a device, wherein the plurality of readings are respectively associated with a plurality of location estimates of the device along a location path, wherein each of the one or more computing devices comprises one or more processors; identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a plurality of regions of interest of the plurality of readings along the location path; comparing, by the one or more computing devices, each of the plurality of regions of interest of the plurality of readings with at least one other of the plurality of regions of interest to identify a plurality of correspondences; and revising, by the one or more computing devices, at least one of the plurality of location estimates based at least in part on the plurality of correspondences.