Cooperative Smartphone GNSS/PDR for Pedestrian Navigation

Pedestrian navigation using smartphone built-in sensors attracted wide attention with the booming Location-based Service (LBS). Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) and Global Navigation Satellite Navigation (GNSS) integration is recognized as a reliable solution for smartphone-based pedestrian navigation. However, GNSS is vulnerable under some conditions. Multi-path, None-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS), and signal blockage all pose negative impacts on GNSS position accuracy. PDR position errors increase with the pedestrian walking distance without GNSS. Aiming at improving the smartphone-based pedestrian position accuracy under GNSS signal challenging conditions, in this brief, we propose a cooperative PDR/GNSS integration method with Factor Graph Optimization (FGO). A factor graph is constructed to represent the relationship between the multiple agents' states, measurements and inter-ranging information. Optimal estimation is realized considering all the historical measurements and inter-ranging measurements between these agents. Field tests were carried out to assess the performance of the proposed cooperative navigation method. Results manifest that the proposed method can improve the position accuracy especially under the GNSS signals challenging conditions.