Indoor positioning systems are becoming popular nowadays. Indeed, there is plenty of opportunities for real-time user navigation in GPS-denied environments.
An interesting use cases are as follows:
Fig. 1. Indoor navigation use cases
There are several options for hardware (see It-Jim blog post).
We have developed the positioning algorithm based on cheap Bluetooth beacons and built-in IMU sensors on a mobile device.
Here is a high-level diagram of the solution:
BLE signal processing module is based on custom algorithms providing stable positioning results. IMU signal processing module provides robust step detection and device heading estimation in real-time basis. Specifically developed fusion scheme provides stable and precise user positioning. Our algorithms are implemented in C++ and integrated on Android and iOS platforms.
Positioning engine works in different modes for corridors and open environments like halls. Below are examples of real-time navigation on android device.
Positioning in corridor:
Positioning in open-space:
Developed positioning engine provides 1-2m accuracy in real-time.