Marker-Based Navigation System for Indoor Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current navigation systems, such as satellite-based GPS and SLAM techniques, face challenges in accurately determining the location and orientation of portable devices in environments with poor signal reception or complex layouts, like indoors, and suffer from initialization and drift issues.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system that uses a set of detectable markers within the environment, identifiable through images taken by a portable device, to determine its location and orientation, eliminating the need for active or powered beacons and correcting for drift by referencing stored navigation information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If satellite-based GPS is used for navigation, then location determination is possible in open environments, but it becomes incapable of determining location in indoor or underground environments with poor signal reception
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces markers as intermediary objects placed in the environment that serve as reference points for the portable device. These markers act as a mediator between the portable device and the navigation system, enabling location determination in environments where satellite signals are unavailable. The markers contain encoded location information that the device can detect and use for positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the satellite-based electromagnetic signal system with a local visual recognition system using markers. Instead of relying on satellite signals that penetrate the environment, the system uses locally deployed markers that can be detected by the portable device's camera or image sensor, substituting the remote satellite-based mechanism with a local optical recognition mechanism.
2Reliability
If active beacons or WiFi signals are used for indoor navigation, then location determination is possible in indoor environments, but relatively expensive and powered hardware must be present in the environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses markers that are inexpensive, passive objects compared to active beacons or WiFi infrastructure. These markers can be simple printed patterns or stickers containing encoded location information, eliminating the need for powered hardware in the environment. The portable device itself performs all the processing, making the infrastructure minimal and cost-effective.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the computational and processing functions from the environmental infrastructure and places them entirely in the portable device. Instead of having active beacons that transmit signals and require processing at infrastructure points, the system extracts all intelligence to the user's device, which captures images of markers and performs location determination locally.
3Adaptability or versatility
If SLAM techniques are used for navigation, then relative positioning information can be obtained using images and inertial tracking, but the system suffers from initialization problems and measurement error accumulation leading to drift
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces markers as fixed reference points that provide absolute position feedback to the navigation system. By periodically detecting known marker locations, the system receives feedback on its actual position, allowing it to correct accumulated errors from inertial tracking and SLAM. This feedback mechanism prevents drift by continuously anchoring the relative positioning to absolute known locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-places markers at known, predetermined locations throughout the environment before navigation begins. This preliminary action of establishing a known reference framework allows the system to initialize accurately and provides continuous reference points for error correction during navigation, preventing the initialization and drift problems associated with pure SLAM techniques.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach provides more accurate absolute positioning and orientation of portable devices, reducing errors and the need for costly infrastructure, while allowing navigation in challenging environments without active hardware.
Implementation Method 1
a portable device comprising an image sensor operable to take images of an environment
Data Source
AI summary
A navigation system uses markers that are identifiable in images of an environment being navigated to determine the location of a portable device in the environment. The portable device takes images of the environment, and those images are analysed to identify markers in the images and the pose of the portable device based on the image of the marker. The identified marker and the determined pose of the portable device are then used to determine the location and orientation of the portable device in the environment being navigated.