Context Detection for Improving Positioning Performance and Enhancing user Experience

M. Chowdhary, M. Sharma, A. Kumar, K. Paul, M. Jain, C. Agarwal, G. Narula

Abstract:	Integration of MEMS sensors with GPS enables a variety of features that improve location availability and enhance mobile user experience. Context (or situational) detection is one such important set of features. It is necessary to have the knowledge of state of user in order to deploy the most appropriate location technology in conjunction with GPS, for example, in indoor environments, where the GPS signal is not available or is severely degraded. Context detection algorithms utilize low cost MEMS sensors such as 3-axis accelerometer, pressure sensor integrated with GPS. These algorithms recognize and track user activity modes such as walking, stationary, jogging, driving, climbing up/down stairs, on the escalator or in the elevator and predict the locale such as inside/outside the building. The context detection algorithms can be designed to use any available MEMS sensor data independent of the underlying location technology in the devices. These algorithms do not require that the sensors be accurately aligned or calibrated for them to be effective. Usefulness of the context detection algorithms is dependent on the performance parameters such as probability of false detection of context and latency in detecting transition between various user modes. In this paper, a description of algorithms is provided. Performance of these algorithms is dependent on the type (sensing capability and class of sensor) and combination of sensors used. Results of testing these algorithms for the various use cases experienced in the real-life scenarios is presented.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2009) September 22 - 25, 2009 Savannah International Convention Center Savannah, GA
Pages:	2072 - 2076
Cite this article:	Chowdhary, M., Sharma, M., Kumar, A., Paul, K., Jain, M., Agarwal, C., Narula, G., "Context Detection for Improving Positioning Performance and Enhancing user Experience," Proceedings of the 22nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2009), Savannah, GA, September 2009, pp. 2072-2076.
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