Accuracy of Magnetic Field-Based Train Localization and the Impact of Unknown Calibration Parameters

Benjamin Siebler, Stephan Sand, and Uwe D. Hanebeck

Abstract:	The idea of magnetic field-based train localization is derived from the observation that magnetic material in the vicinity of railway tracks introduces position-specific and time-invariant distortions in the Earth magnetic field. A map of the magnetic field thus can be used to estimate the position of a train by comparing the map to the measurements of a train-mounted magnetometer. In this paper, we derive and evaluate the Bayesian Cramer-Rao lower Bound (BCRLB) for magnetic field-based train localization ´ with simultaneous magnetometer calibration. The BCRLB gives a lower limit for the achievable position accuracy and allows to systematically analyze the impact of unknown but jointly estimated calibration parameters. Furthermore, the bound can be used to show the observability of all calibration parameters.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 37th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2024) September 16 - 20, 2024 Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Baltimore, Maryland
Pages:	2046 - 2055
Cite this article:	Siebler, Benjamin, Sand, Stephan, Hanebeck, Uwe D., "Accuracy of Magnetic Field-Based Train Localization and the Impact of Unknown Calibration Parameters," Proceedings of the 37th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2024), Baltimore, Maryland, September 2024, pp. 2046-2055. https://doi.org/10.33012/2024.19927
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