Supporting Orientation During Indoor and Outdoor Navigation

This paper describes construction of the M-CubITS pedestrian WYSIWYAS navigation system both in outdoor and indoor areas, toward realization of the M-CubITS pedestrian WYSIWYAS navigation environment. In outdoor navigation, we construct the experimental Saitama University campus outdoor navigation system "CamNavi" using ordinary mobile phone terminals as users' terminals and the i-application platform provided by Japanese NTT DoCoMo. Here, our studies on the outdoor system are mainly based on image processing for outdoor M-CubITS elements and a user interface for the mobile phone terminals. On the other hand, in indoor navigation, we also introduce the route guidance using the Dijkstra method and study databases. Then, we construct an experimental system at the seven-storied buildings in the faculty of engineering, Saitama University, and check the system operation

Universal navigation is accessible primarily through smart phones providing users with navigation information regardless of the environment (i.e., outdoor or indoor). Universal Navigation for Smart Phones provide the most up-to-date navigation technologies and systems for both outdoor and indoor navigation. It also provides a comparison of the similarities and differences between outdoor and indoor navigation systems from both a technological stand point and users perspective. All aspects of navigation systems including geo-positioning, wireless communication, databases, and functions will be introduced. The main thrust of this book presents new approaches and techniques for future navigation systems including social networking, as an emerging approach for navigation.

Cultural Heritage represents a resource of inestimable value in Italy. This work presents a project to allow people affected by specific mental disabilities to enjoy the experience of an exhibition, by exploiting experienced AAL technological solutions. Basing on the results obtained by Casa+, a project to support daily life of people affected by the Down syndrome, we designed and developed a system based on a flexible architecture providing a set of context-aware applications for assisting people with cognitive disabilities to experiment an autonomous cultural experience. This is achieved allowing a safe location reaching through outdoor navigation and an assisted personal experience inside the exhibition building. In particular, we propose a location-aware mobile navigation system that integrates a consecutive point navigation system for outdoor navigation and an indoor navigation system that integrates recommendation mechanisms based on the localization information. A case study for a real single smart space and some preliminary experimental results are presented and discussed.

With the invent of GPS and related technologies, outdoor navigation is simply possible with great accuracy nowadays. But we are still in need of an efficient, reliable and cheaper technology for indoor navigation. In this paper we put forward the idea of an android based application which enables efficient indoor navigation and tracks the exact location of people inside large buildings. Though different technologies like WiFi, Bluetooth, RFID e.t.c, are available for indoor navigation and location tracking, the main problem is that the implementation and maintenance costs are very high. Also, the change in climatic condition affects the working and degrades its performance. In this work, we incorporate the innovative idea of magnetic field identification technology which uses the naturally occurring magnetic fields inside the concrete buildings with simplified magnetic map matching algorithm and the idea from Route boxer algorithm for effective indoor positioning and navigation. A Smart phone with magnetic field sensor and accelerometer enables the application to provide the best indoor navigation facility to the end users.

Abstract. Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of navigation systems. They gradually become the default way of navigating in our daily life. Despite benefiting from their convenience, we may be negatively influenced by them (Parush et al. 2007). Current navigation systems usually draw too much of users' attention to the mobile devices, which leads to users’ lacking interaction with the environment. It is often the case that people easily forget travelled route and get lost without navigation systems (Reilly et al. 2008). Empirical study shows that by dividing attention, navigation systems impair users’ spatial memory, and thus impact their navigation skills (Gardony et al. 2013). Since a higher engagement with the environment can improve users’ spatial knowledge acquisition without decreasing efficiency (Brügger et al. 2017), navigation systems should incorporate important environmental features.As objects of visual, cognitive or structural importance (Sorrows & Hirtle 1999), landmarks have been extensively studied, and considered as an important environmental feature to be incorporated into navigation systems (Nuhn & Timpf 2018, Richter 2017, Duckham et al. 2010, Raubal & Winter 2002). They serve as references to provide users with more natural and pleasant navigating experience (Richter & Winter 2014). However, most of landmark-related studies are in outdoor environment. Although researchers have attempted to classify and assess indoor landmarks (Ohm 2014, Viaene 2014), it is still very difficult to determine suitable ones. As a subset of semantic indoor landmarks, existing navigational aids (e.g. signs and floor plans) are designed to assist navigation. Among them, signs are most preferred by users (Wang et al. 2017). Being the signs that give necessary information to route users to possible destinations, directional signs contribute most to wayfinding (Gibson 2009). With route information explicitly presented by them, they are relevant environmental features to be incorporated into indoor navigation systems.In this study, we therefore propose to incorporate directional signs into indoor navigation systems, in order to guide users’ attention back to the environment, to facilitate their spatial learning and improve their spatial knowledge acquisition.We incorporated directional signs into a proof-of-concept indoor navigation system. First, we integrated directional signs and their semantics into a graph-based model. A directional sign was modelled as a node. Each destination on the sign was linked with the sign by an edge. In order to differentiate it from the normal edge, it was marked as semantic edge. Thus, the semantics of the sign was modelled directly into the graph, instead of being stored as attributes in a previous version of our study (Wang & Gartner 2018). Then, a top-K shortest path algorithm was employed to find candidate routes (Yen 1971). In the end, the route with the largest coverage of semantic edges was suggested to the user. The users would then be explicitly guided to follow the directional signs in the environment.In the next step, we will evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed navigation system by an empirical study with human subjects. Within the experiment, we will also investigate on whether this kind of guidance can succeed in drawing users’ attention back to the environment and support their spatial knowledge acquisition.

Currently, several outdoor navigation and orientation electronic traveling aid (ETA) solutions for visually impaired (VI) people are commercially available or in active development. This paper’s survey of blind experts has shown that after outdoor navigation, the second most important ETA feature for VI persons is indoor navigation and orientation (in public institutions, supermarkets, office buildings, homes, etc.). VI persons need ETA for orientation and navigation in unfamiliar indoor environments with embedded features for the detection and recognition of obstacles (not only on the ground but also at head level) and desired destinations such as rooms, staircases, and elevators. The development of such indoor navigation systems, which do not have Global Positioning System (GPS) locational references, is challenging and requires an overview and evaluation of existing systems with different navigation technologies. This paper presents an evaluation and comparison of state-of-the-art indoor navigation solutions, and the research implications provide a summary of the critical observations, some insights, and directions for further developments. The paper maps VI needs in relation to research and development (R&D) trends using the evaluation criteria deemed most important by blind experts.

Car navigation systems have made place everywhere around the globe. Outdoor navigation systems can be widely located in almost every geographical location that has access to the internet. However, indoor navigation system is very important for the pedestrians to find out their ways in complicated indoor areas such as shopping malls, subways, universities, exhibitions, underground areas, and tunnels etc. The recent rapid expansion of Wi-Fi zones and the increase of Wi-Fi equipped smartphones have enabled transformation of this idea to the reality. This work presents university indoor navigation system designed to help students, staff, and visitors to find their desired location. The work shows promising results when using distance measuring algorithm, the Trilateration, and the ITU-R P.1238 model together using the Network Simulator 2 “NS2” for the indoor navigation.

Currently, the route planning functions in 2D/3D campus navigation systems in the market are unable to process indoor and outdoor localization information simultaneously, and the UI experiences are not optimal because they are limited by the service platforms. An ARCore-based augmented reality campus navigation system is designed in this paper in order to solve the relevant problems. Firstly, the proposed campus navigation system uses ARCore to enhance reality by presenting 3D information in real scenes. Secondly, a visual inertial ranging algorithm is proposed for real-time locating and map generating in mobile devices. Finally, rich Unity3D scripts are designed in order to enhance users’ autonomy and enjoyment during navigation experience. In this paper, indoor navigation and outdoor navigation experiments are carried out at the Lingang campus of Shanghai University of Electric Power. Compared with the AR outdoor navigation system of Gaode, the proposed AR system can achieve increased precise outdoor localization by deploying the visual inertia odometer on the mobile phone and realizes the augmented reality function of 3D information and real scene, thus enriching the user’s interactive experience. Furthermore, four groups of students have been selected for system testing and evaluation. Compared with traditional systems, such as Gaode map or Internet media, experimental results show that our system could facilitate the effectiveness and usability of learning on campus.

Today, people prefer supermarkets where they can meet all their needs today for their daily needs. People prefer large markets where they can meet all their needs today for their daily needs. These markets, which have a lot of product capacity, mean more waste of time for the consumer. In such indoor and large areas, it is necessary to plan a route to prevent loss of time. In this study, location determination process was made with visible light communication (VLC) in closed areas and the most suitable route was determined by using Genetic Algorithm (GA) with these locations. It is thought that wireless communication resources will not be sufficient in the future due to the density. VLC systems, developed to solve this problem, are a communication system that uses the light source for data transmission. It has been seen in related studies that this system is quite successful in terms of speed, reliability and energy efficiency. VLC systems basically use a transmitter, receiver and microcontroller for their control. In this study, LED light source, TEMP6000 phototransistor-light sensor and ATMEGA328P (Arduino) are used. Due to its very fast on and off feature, the data sent from the LED light source, is detected by the light sensor TEMP6000. After that, it was modulated using On-Off Keying (OOK). In addition to data transmission, VLC systems, which can be used to determine location especially in indoor areas, can also be used for indoor navigation. Also in this study, indoor positioning is designed on the basis of a market application with VLC. The location data was obtained according to the signal strength, which was transferred from the receiver to Matlab. The operation of the system has been tested on the basis of light sources, products under these sources and the shortest path to the products selected by the user. The shortest distance between the stops selected for this navigation process was found by the Floyd-Warshall algorithm. The shortest path was determined by using a GA for the stops with known distance between them, as in the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). In this way, the customer will be able to minimize the time and energy consumed in the market.

Autonomous navigation is a crucial aspect of the visually impaired community’s pursuit of independence and social equity. To achieve this goal, visually impaired people (VIP) require a navigation and wayfinding system that works both outdoors and indoors. While outdoor navigation can rely on ubiquitous signals such as global navigation satellite system (GNSS), indoor navigation presents a significant challenge, especially in unfamiliar environments. Despite over two decades of research and development, the issue of delivering a high performance and cost-effective indoor positioning solution for VIPs remains unresolved. Bluetooth-based angle of arrival (AOA) positioning is a cost-effective method that offers accuracy ranging from upper decimeters to meters. However, it still faces challenges in detecting and mitigating outliers caused by nonline-of-sight (NLOS) and multipath effects during signal propagation. In light of these challenges, this article proposes a novel dead reckoning aided AOA Bluetooth indoor positioning system that utilizes a smart cane. The developed model takes into account the swinging characteristic of the cane, which is integral to visually impaired individuals’ mobility. Furthermore, this article incorporates a novel outlier detection and exclusion layer to reduce the impact of NLOS and multipath effects. The proposed system’s performance was evaluated through a series of experiments, and the positioning error distribution was analyzed. The results showed that the accumulated probability of errors less than 0.5 m was 93.56%, and 99.64% of errors were within 0.7 m. With the demonstrated high level of accuracy, the proposed system presents a promising solution for indoor navigation for VIPs.

The development of indoor navigation systems should utilize advanced teleinformation, geoinformation and cartographical knowledge. The authors analyzed available specifications of prototypes of indoor navigation systems and drew conclusions about how to enhance the use of cartographical methods in the whole process of designing a new system. The analysis proves that cartographical methodology is still very limited in the process of designing indoor navigation systems. Researchers focus mainly on improving the positioning accuracy, and they often neglect the issue of developing spatial databases and the rules of their effective visualization. The process of designing indoor navigation systems, just like in the case of outdoor navigation systems, consists of a number of tasks that can be supported by the theory and practice of cartography. This article presents the issues of determination of spatial database model appropriate for an indoor system, improvement of accuracy of positioning algorithms utilizing spatial data and methodology of generating graphical and voice directions for indoor navigation. In the authors’ opinion, the discussed cartographical methods and techniques may considerably enhance indoor navigation systems and accelerate their development. The fundamental knowledge of cartographical methods should be within the interest of designers of these systems. At present the first attempts in this field may be observed, although they are still not mature and complex

An autonomous star tracker (AST) is basically a `star field in, attitude out' device capable of determining its attitude without requiring any a priori attitude knowledge. In addition to this attitude acquisition capability, an AST can perform attitude updates autonomously and is able to provide its attitude `continuously' while tracking a star field. The Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory is developing a reliable, low-cost, miniature AST that has a one arcsec overall accuracy, weighs less than 1.5 kg, consumes less than 7 watts of power, and is sufficiently sensitive to be used at all sky locations. The device performs attitude acquisition in a fraction of a second and outputs its attitude at a 10 Hz rate when operating in its tracking mode. Besides providing the functionality needed for future advanced attitude control and navigation systems, an AST also improves spacecraft reliability, mass, power, cost, and operating expenses. The AST comprises a-thermalized, refractive optics, a frame-transfer CCD with a sensitive area of 1024 by 1024 pixels, camera electronics implemented with application- specific integrated circuits, a compact single board computer with a radiation hard 32 bit RISC processor, and an all-sky guide star database. Star identification is performed by a memory- efficient and highly robust algorithm that finds the largest group of observed stars matching a group of guide stars. An important milestone has recently been achieved with the validation of the attitude acquisition capability through correct and rapid identification of all 704 true-sky star fields obtained at the Lick Observatory, using an uncalibrated prototype AST with a 512 by 1024 pixel frame-transfer CCD and a 50 mm f/1.2 lens that provided an effective 6.5 by 13.2 degree field of view. The overlapping fields cover 47% of the sky, including both rich and sparse areas. The paper contains a description of the AST, a summary of the functions enabled or improved by the device, an overview of the identification algorithm, results obtained with a realistic simulation program, a description of the true-sky star field identification method and a presentation of the results obtained. The AST tolerates the presence of bright objects as was demonstrated by a field that included Jupiter.

Because of its high time-domain resolution, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is capable of precise range measurement and has been applied in many accurate indoor positioning systems. This paper presents a practical indoor positioning and navigation system using the UWB modules we developed based on Decawave UWB chipset. In order to enhance the performance of the system in NLOS scenarios, a neural network approach is integrated. The feasibility of the combined approach is analysed and its accuracy is evaluated. The experiment results indicate that the neural network can maintain a stable accuracy no matter whether it is in an NLOS scenario and it is capable to identify the locations on two trajectories which are next to each other with very high confidence.

This paper presents an improved method for compensating ultra-tiny electromagnetic tracker (UEMT) outputs and its application to a flexible neuroendoscopic surgery navigation system. Recently, UEMT is widely used in a surgical navigation system using a flexible endoscope to obtain the position and the orientation of an endoscopic camera.However, due to the distortion of the electromagnetic field, the accuracy of such UEMT system becomes low. Several research groups have presented methods for compensating UEMT outputs that are deteriorated by ferromagnetic objects existing around the UEMT. These compensation methods firstly acquired positions and orientations (sample data) by sweeping a special tool (hybrid tool) having a UEMT and an optical tracker (OT) in free-hand. Then a polynomial compensating UEMT outputs is computed from both outputs. However, these methods have following problems: 1) Compensation function is obtained as a function of position, and orientation information is not used in compensation. 2) Although we need to slowly move the hybrid tool to obtain better compensation results, this leads increase of time. To overcome such problems, this paper presents a UEMT-output compensation function that is a function of not only position but also orientation. Also, a new sweeping method of the hybrid tool is proposed in order to reduce the sweeping time required for obtaining sample data. We evaluated the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method by experiments in an OpenMR operating room. According to the result of experiments, the accuracy of the compensation method is improved about 20% than that of the previous method. We implemented the proposed method in a navigation system for flexible neuroendoscopic surgery and performed a phantom test and several clinical application tests. The result showed the proposed method is efficient for UEMT output compensation and improves accuracy of a flexible neuroendoscopic surgery system.

Conduct a systematic evaluation of indoor and outdoor areas of selected airports, assess compliance and identify areas of improvement with smoke-free policies in airports. Cross-sectional observational study conducted at 21 airports in Europe (11) and the United States (10). Using a standardized protocol, we assessed compliance (smoking, cigarette butts, smoke smell), and the physical environment (signage, ashtrays, designated smoking rooms [DSRs], tobacco sales). Cigarette butts (45% vs. 0%), smoke smell (67% vs. 0%), ashtrays (18% vs. 10%), and DSRs (63% vs. 30%) were observed more commonly indoors in Europe than in the United States. Poor compliance indoors was related to the presence of DSRs (OR 4.8, 95% CI 0.69, 33.8) and to cigarettes sales in pre-security areas (OR 6.0, 95% CI 0.57, 64.7), although not significantly different. Smoking was common in outdoor areas of airports in Europe and the United States (mean (SD) number of smokers 27.7 (23.6) and 6.3 (7.7), respectively, p value < .001). Around half (55%) of airports in Europe and all airports in the United States had some/partial outdoor smoking restrictions. Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) remains a public health problem in major airports across Europe and in some airports in the United States, specifically related to the presence of DSRs and SHS exposure in outdoor areas. Airports must remove DSRs. Research is needed in low- and middle-income countries and on the effectiveness of outdoor smoking-restricted areas around entryways. Eliminating smoking at airports will protect millions of people from SHS exposure and promote social norms that discourage smoking. Airports are known to allow exceptions to smoke-free policy by providing DSRs. We found that smoking still occurs in indoor areas in airports, particularly in the context of DSRs. Smoking, moreover, is widespread in outdoor areas and compliance with smoking restrictions is limited. Advancing smoke-free policy requires improvements to the physical environment of airports, including removal of DSRs and implementation of stricter outdoor smoking restrictions.