Satellite navigation is having an enormous impact on our daily lives. In practical terms it means the only place left to get lost is indoors, where satnav signals fail to reach. But one ESA project is changing that.
With initial results presented at last week’s Techno/Innovation Days, the DINGPOS project combines a highly-sensitive receiver capable of picking up GPS and Galileo signals indoors with additional positioning methods.
These include accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, local WiFi-based positioning and ‘map-matching’ – associating available location data of its user in terms of a computer model of the building concerned, like a character moving through a video game.
Indoor GNSS receiver at work
This extreme effort is still worthwhile because Inertial Measurement Units integrating accelerometers and gyroscopes are prone to drift over time. Any GNSS signal that can be detected works as an absolute reference for cross-checking and correcting the user’s estimated position.
Initially the DINGPOS system is envisaged as serving emergency services, with other applications under consideration for the longer term. A pair of consortia are developing and testing separate platforms in parallel.
Testing has been taking place at the European Navigation Laboratory at ESTEC, the respective company facilities and the Galileo Test and Development Environment in Bavaria, Germany. This test facility is equipped with Galileo-like transmitters placed at high points in advance of Europe’s own GNSS system becoming operational.
The DINGPOS project is supported through ESA’s Basic Technology Research Programme and builds on previous Agency research, with both consortia exploiting technology originally patented by ESA within this field.
DINGPOS remains a proof-of-concept-project at this stage. The current platforms are bulky – reflecting the sheer density of number-crunching required.