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:
Fig. 2. High-level scheme of hybrid navigation system
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.