From curse to blessing: harnessing geomagnetic field disturbances for ubiquitous navigation

Abstract

Determination of location is a fundamental problem with a long history of research and technical solutions. The research described in this thesis focuses on the use of a specific signal, the magnetic field, to achieve improvements in coverage and accuracy for location estimation of pedestrians and robots. Firstly, we aim to extend coverage deep into indoor environments, where traditional radio-based localization technologies, such as ranging-signals from satellites or terrestrial stations, suffer from difficult propagation channels. Secondly, we wish to improve location accuracy, and enable applications such as intuitive indoor navigation, which require significantly higher accuracy than today’s systems can provide. We make use of a freely available signal that does not require any infrastructure, and can be measured with sensors that add very little to a device’s bill of material and power budge