Digital Map Permeability Attributes for Indoor Navigation Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital maps struggle to accurately navigate within indoor and closed-perimeter locations, such as ports and multi-level structures, due to limited GPS availability, increased navigational errors, and the inability of simple longitude and latitude coordinates to provide unique locations.
Innovation Solution
A digital map representation is developed as a hierarchical structure of cells, each with attributes like permeability in a three-dimensional coordinate system, which captures the essential characteristics of the physical environment, including radio frequency signal permeability and physical travel constraints, to provide accurate navigation and error minimization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS coordinates are used for navigation in indoor and closed-perimeter locations, then location identification is straightforward in open areas, but positioning accuracy deteriorates due to signal blockage and inability to distinguish multi-level locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the physical environment into discrete cells with unique identifiers, where each cell represents a specific location within a bounded environment. This segmentation allows the system to provide unique location identification in multi-level structures and closed-perimeter locations where GPS coordinates fail to distinguish between different positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces permeability attributes as an intermediary mechanism that mediates between physical boundaries and navigation logic. These attributes quantify the traversability of boundaries between cells, enabling the system to determine valid travel paths and constrain navigation to physically possible routes, thereby improving positioning reliability in environments where GPS signals are blocked.
2Device complexity
If simple longitude and latitude coordinates are used to represent locations, then the system is simple to implement, but it cannot provide unique location identification in multi-level structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the traditional two-dimensional coordinate system by introducing a cellular dimension with unique identifiers. Each location is represented not just by coordinates but by a specific cell identifier within a hierarchical structure, adding another dimension of location specification that enables unique identification in multi-level structures without significantly increasing overall system complexity.
3Ease of operation
If digital maps assume travel occurs along specific linear segments, then route planning is simplified, but this assumption is invalid in indoor and closed-perimeter locations where travel is not constrained to linear paths
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning permeability attributes to individual cell boundaries rather than assuming uniform travel constraints across the entire environment. This allows the system to adapt to local variations in traversability, accommodating both linear segment-based navigation where applicable and more flexible movement patterns in indoor and closed-perimeter locations.
4Measurement precision
If sensor fusion techniques are used to counteract navigation errors, then short-term accuracy is improved, but error accumulation limits accuracy over longer periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-defining the cellular structure and permeability attributes of the environment before navigation begins. This pre-established framework provides continuous constraints on valid positions and paths, enabling the system to maintain accuracy over extended periods without relying solely on short-term sensor fusion corrections.
Data Source
AI summary
A digital map representing a physical location as a hierarchical structure of cells. Each cell has attributes including but not limited to permeability in each direction of a three-dimensional coordinate system and associated with one or more faces or edges of a boundary. The permeability pertains separately to transmissions of radio frequency signals and to physical travel of objects and persons.