Next Generation Smart Navigation Technology – From Systems to Smart Agents

信息和通信技术的最新进展要求开发可靠的定位和导航系统。无线定位技术包括全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)，如开放天空中的GPS和室内无线局域网(WLAN)，目前被广泛用于POS/NAV应用。然而，在一些具有挑战性的环境中，它们仍然存在信号阻塞、干扰和多径等缺点。全球导航卫星系统/无线局域网与其他传感器(如加速计、陀螺仪和磁力计)的集成可以在这种具有挑战性的环境中弥合精度差距。然而，目前的集成POS/NAV系统仍然依赖于传统的方法(如卡尔曼滤波或粒子滤波)。这些方法在集成其他复杂信息源方面存在重大限制，如数字地图、知识库、地理信息系统、图像库以及其他传感器，如视觉和激光扫描仪。这一差距要求传统的导航概念发生范式转变。新的概念必须将POS/NAV技术从传统的单独和孤立的特定应用系统的观点转变为智能导航代理的概念，该概念可以读取、处理、解释、推断、学习、适应、通信和集成广泛的信息和传感器测量。本研究的战略长期目标是建立和实现一个可靠和准确的POS/NAV平台，可以为多个应用程序定制，以提高安全、保障和生活质量。为实现这一目标，该项目的目标是将全球导航卫星系统/无线局域网技术与一些尚未充分探索用于POS/NAV目的的新兴传感器/系统相结合。集成越来越多的传感器/技术是一项挑战，仅使用卡尔曼或粒子滤波等传统方法无法应对。因此，本研究旨在设计一种基于现代软计算技术的POS/NAV集成框架。这一框架将导致开发导航代理，这些导航代理可以智能地管理和协调这组不同的传感器/技术，使其成为一致、准确和强大的智能导航系统。此外，该项目的目标是利用计算能力的最新进展以及上述传感器和信息源的可用性，在不同的移动平台上实现和部署开发的智能导航代理，用于多种应用。该项目为多传感器组合导航领域提供了一个根本性的概念变革。POS/NAV系统可以在室外和室内环境以及不同的移动平台上无缝工作，有可能成为一种无处不在的使能技术，适用于许多应用。这项研究的意义在于它为提高许多领域的生活质量提供了机会。例如，行动不便的残疾人将享有更强的自主性和安全性。汽车行业将受益于POS/NAV系统，该系统可以提高驾驶效率，增强驾驶员的体验和安全性。在国防和矿业中广泛使用的寻求米级精度的无人驾驶车辆也将受益于拟议的POS/NAV技术。此外，学生和研究人员获得上述技术知识将是加拿大学术界和工业界的一大财富。

The recent advances in information and communication technologies necessitate the development of reliable positioning and navigation (POS/NAV) systems. Wireless positioning technologies including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS in open sky and wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) indoors are presently widely used for POS/NAV applications. However, they still suffer from several shortcomings such as signal blockage, interference and multipath in some challenging environments. Integration of GNSS/WLANs with other sensors (like accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers) can bridge the accuracy gaps in such challenging environments. However, current integrated POS/NAV systems still depend on traditional methods (like Kalman or particle filtering). These methods suffer from significant limitations in integrating other sophisticated sources of information such as digital maps, knowledge bases, geographical information systems, image bases, and other sensors like vision and laser scanners. This gap calls for a paradigm shift in the traditional concept of navigation. The new concept has to transform the POS/NAV technology from the traditional view of individual and isolated application-specific systems toward the concept of smart navigation agents that can read, process, interpret, infer, learn from, adapt to, communicate and integrate a wide range of information and sensors measurements. The strategic long-term goal of this research is to establish and realize a reliable and accurate POS/NAV platform customizable to several applications to enhance the safety, security and quality of life. To achieve this goal, this project targets integrating GNSS/WLAN technologies with number of emerging sensors/systems that have not been sufficiently explored for POS/NAV purposes. The integration of such growing number of sensors/technologies is a challenge that cannot be addressed using only traditional methods like Kalman or particle filtering. Therefore, this research aims at designing an efficient framework for integrated POS/NAV based on modern soft computing techniques. This framework will lead to developing navigation agents that can smartly manage and coordinate this heterogeneous set of sensors/technologies into a consistent, accurate, and robust smart navigation system. Moreover, this project targets the realization and the deployment of the developed smart navigation agents in different mobile platforms for several applications utilizing the recent advances in computation capabilities and the availability of the above-mentioned sensors and sources of information. This project offers a fundamental conceptual change in the filed of multi-sensor integrated navigation. A POS/NAV system that can work seamlessly on both outdoor and indoor environments and on different mobile platforms has the potential to become a ubiquitous and enabling technology for many applications. The significance of this research is in the opportunities it opens to enhance quality of life in many areas. For instance, people with disabilities and limited mobility will enjoy an enhanced autonomy and safety. Car industry will benefit from a POS/NAV system that increases driving efficiency and enhances both driver’s experience and safety. Unmanned vehicles widely used in national defence and mining industry seeking meter level accuracy will also benefit from the proposed POS/NAV technology. Furthermore, students and researchers acquiring knowledge in the above technologies will be a great asset to the academia and industry in Canada.