Honeywell announced today that it has added a DRM4000 miniature electronic navigation aid to its existing line of dead reckoning products.
The DRM4000 Dead Reckoning Module provides accurate position information for first responders and other people on foot in places that the global positioning system (GPS) is unable to reach. The small, easy-to-integrate unit contains ten sensors including three gyros, accelerometers and magnetometers as well a barometric altimeter to accurately deliver position location.
“The miniature size of this state-of-the-art dead reckoning device enables man-portable applications like personnel tracking, disaster relief operations, safe pathway guidance and mapping tasks,” stated Tamara Bratland, Director, Magnetic Sensors, Honeywell Defense and Space. “The DRM4000 uses patented motion classification algorithms to analyze walking motion and compensate for unique user kinematics.”
The device enables a wider variety of applications than previously designed modules and can be extremely helpful to first responders in emergency and disaster operations as well as site inspectors and visually impaired persons for everyday navigation use.
The DRM4000 contains an internal Kalman filter for integrating onboard sensors and external GPS data. It nominally provides position data that is accurate to within 2% of the actual distance traveled by a user in environments without GPS. The unit can be directly interfaced to many GPS receivers and man-pack computers and includes capabilities for accurate field calibration.
