Development and Testing of Inertial Measurement System for Indoor Localization

Indoor localization, a process of determining the location of a user or an object, is important for different types of applications, such as localization of first responders inside a building, ubiquitous computing and tracking of materials in an enclosed warehouse. Different types of technologies based on ultrasound waves, infrared waves and radio signals are currently used for indoor localization. The technology based on radio signal strength is widely used as a mechanism for localization. Currently existing technologies are not able to provide localization accurately within a few meters as they are prone to different types of signal propagation problems, and they often rely on prior data on localization. To improve localization accuracy and avoid collecting prior localization data, the authors investigated an alternative technology which combines an inertial measurement system and correction points for indoor localization. The authors have developed and tested an approach based on a Kaiman filter to fuse location data from correction points and an inertial measurement system for outdoor localization. The outdoor test results of the presented approach showed that accuracy up to a few meters (3 meters) can be achieved. The same approach can be used for indoor localization with minor changes.