Multi-Sensor Deep Integration for Next Generation Land Vehicle Positioning and Navigation

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Present land vehicle positioning and navigation (POS/NAV) systems provide drivers with route guidance information relying mostly on the Global Positioning System (GPS). They have become indispensable in many of the new automobile models, and their design concepts have evolved to include functionalities that make them more than just a vehicle location and map displaying system. Future land vehicle POS/NAV technology will integrate number of sensors and systems to increase the driving efficiency and enhance both driver’s experience and safety. In addition, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) require a POS/NAV system that can provide sub-meter accuracy to enable efficient operation of newly emerging ITS technologies including cooperative vehicles for improved urban mobility and for cooperative collision avoidance. GPS – based POS/NAV systems suffer from satellite signal blockage, interference and multipath usually experienced by land vehicles in urban canyons. Integration with vehicle motion sensors (speedometers, accelerometers and gyroscopes) enhances the performance for short period of time. However, the required level of accuracy for the above applications, which is sub-meter accuracy 95% of the time, has not been yet achieved. Land vehicles are now equipped with vision cameras, Radar and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) devices utilized for blind spot display and forward collision and lane departure warning systems. The availability of these technologies provides an attractive opportunity to further increase the POS/NAV system accuracy. The ultimate goal of this research is the development of next generation integrated multi-sensor POS/NAV system capable of offering seamless positioning at sub-meter level of accuracy for land vehicles. This project will device a new POS/NAV paradigm that expands the capabilities of current GPS receiver technology for robust processing of GPS satellite signals in challenging urban canyons. It will also enable the integration of GPS with wider range of sensors and systems of complimentary characteristics on a single platform. The core development will be based on a reconfigurable GPS software receiver that will be developed in this research to enable access to the low-level signal observables inside the GPS receiver.  A POS/NAV system with continuous sub-meter accuracy shall have a significant impact in wide range of applications. For instance, car industry will benefit from a POS/NAV system that increases driving efficiency and enhances driver’s experience and safety. The proposed POS/NAV technology shall maintain reliable and robust performance for different ITS applications and services. It will enable efficient interaction between the vehicle drivers, the ITS and the road network infrastructure. Unmanned vehicles widely used in national defence and mining industry will also benefit from the proposed technology.