Summary and Legacy of the Smartphone Decimeter Challenge (SDC) 2022

Michael Fu, Mohammed Khider, Frank van Diggelen

Abstract:	The Google Smartphone Decimeter Challenge (SDC), co-sponsored with the ION, is a competition where teams develop high precision GNSS positioning using a pool of smartphone GNSS + IMU datasets accompanied by high accuracy ground truth. Teams compete to achieve the best location accuracy with the datasets provided. Winners received cash prizes and sponsored attendance at ION GNSS+ 2022 to present their results. This presentation summarizes the competition, the datasets and ground truth generation, the results, and legacy. Origins The SDC has its origins in the Android Operating System, which is an open source platform: In 2016 Google made GNSS raw measurements available as a public API on all Android phones. Since then the available measurements have become more sophisticated, and more accurate. For example, dual frequency carrier phase data is now available on many Android phones. This enables new areas of research. Goals There are two goals of the competition: 1) stimulate the research and development of high accuracy algorithms that can produce submeter position accuracy on phones. 2) establish a publicly accessible repository of labeled data so that all future research on location algorithms can be judged in a consistent way against a standard set of data. The first goal was met beyond our expectations. In the two competitions we had a total participation of 1381 teams. Discussion amongst competitors on the competition platform (kaggle.com) was wide ranging, incredibly collegial, and beneficial to the entire community. Competitors have written and shared detailed descriptions, and these have been reviewed and commented on by other competitors. Moreover, winners have written formally peer-reviewed papers and made presentations at the ION GNSS+ conferences, and these are available from ion.org. The second goal is a work-in-progress, and is discussed in this presentation.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 35th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2022) September 19 - 23, 2022 Hyatt Regency Denver Denver, Colorado
Pages:	2301 - 2320
Cite this article:	Fu, Michael, Khider, Mohammed, van Diggelen, Frank, "Summary and Legacy of the Smartphone Decimeter Challenge (SDC) 2022," Proceedings of the 35th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2022), Denver, Colorado, September 2022, pp. 2301-2320. https://doi.org/10.33012/2022.18379
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