Sensor-Assisted Map Validation for Navigation Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional satellite-based navigation systems, such as GPS and GNSS, experience signal degradation due to reflections, attenuations, and multipath effects in environments with tall buildings or obstructions, leading to unreliable navigation solutions.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that utilize sensor-assisted validation and usage of map information to determine and compute navigation solutions, incorporating measurements from sensors like pedometers, accelerometers, and gyroscopes to provide accurate direction and location information, even in environments with limited or no satellite signal reception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If satellite-based navigation signals are used for position updating, then navigation solutions can be obtained, but signal reception is degraded in environments with tall buildings or obstructions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple navigation measurement sources (satellite-based navigation signals, sensor measurements, and map information) into a unified navigation solution. The system integrates data from GPS/GNSS receivers, inertial sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, pedometers), and digital map databases to compensate for signal degradation in urban environments with tall buildings and obstructions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces map information as an intermediary element to validate and supplement navigation measurements. By comparing sensor-derived position changes against expected paths from map data (road networks, sidewalks, building footprints), the system can identify and correct erroneous satellite signals caused by multipath effects or obstructions.
2Reliability
If sensor measurements are used to obtain navigation solutions, then navigation can work without satellite signals, but measurement precision may be insufficient without validation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where map information continuously validates sensor measurements. The system compares estimated position changes from sensors against expected geometric constraints from map data (e.g., movement should follow road paths, not cut through buildings). Discrepancies trigger correction algorithms that adjust sensor-derived positions to align with map-constrained expectations, improving measurement precision.
3Reliability
If map information is used for navigation, then satellite signal degradation is compensated, but validation of sensor measurements requires complex processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-loading and storing detailed map information (road networks, sidewalks, building footprints, land use data) in the navigation device before navigation begins. This pre-processing allows the system to quickly validate sensor measurements against pre-computed geometric constraints during navigation, reducing real-time processing complexity while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Navigation solutions for a pedestrian or vehicle user are obtained by determining whether the direction and location of the user obtained from a map at least substantially conform to the direction and location of the user based on one or more measurements obtained from one or more sensors, and if the direction and location of the user obtained from the map at least substantially conform to the direction and location of the user based on one or more measurements obtained from one or more sensors, computing the navigation solutions based, at least in part, on the direction and location of the user.