Bounding INS Positioning Errors with Magnetic-Field-Signatures in Railway Environments

Benjamin Siebler, Oliver Heirich, Stephan Sand

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	In this paper we propose a new train localization method that is based solely on an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and magnetometers. The positioning error of the inertial navigation system (INS) is bounded with magnetic field signatures. To achieve this, the measurements of a magnetometer are matched to a map of the magnetic field. When a match is found, the position of the matching signature is obtained from the map. The proposed method is independent from global satellite navigation system (GNSS) measurements and therefore is available also in tunnels and other environments with severe GNSS blockage. The combination of the INS and the position estimates from signature matching is performed in an error state Kalman filter (ESKF) known from loosely coupled INS/GNSS systems. In an evaluation with measurement data, we prove the feasibility of the method and show that the magnetic field can be used to obtain an INS with long-term stability.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2017) September 25 - 29, 2017 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon
Pages:	3224 - 3230
Cite this article:	Siebler, Benjamin, Heirich, Oliver, Sand, Stephan, "Bounding INS Positioning Errors with Magnetic-Field-Signatures in Railway Environments," Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2017), Portland, Oregon, September 2017, pp. 3224-3230. https://doi.org/10.33012/2017.15311
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