Exploring new localization applications using a smartphone

Abstract

Localization is an enabling technology in many applications and services today and in the future. Satellite navigation often works fine for navigation, infotainment, and location-based services, and it is the dominating solution in commercial products today. A nice exception is the localization in Google Maps, where radio signal strength from WiFi and cellular networks are used as complementary information to increase accuracy and integrity. With the ongoing trend with more autonomous functions being introduced in our vehicles and with all our connected devices, most of them operated in indoor environments where satellite signals are not available; there is an acute need for new solutions. At the same time, our smartphones are getting more sophisticated in their sensor configuration. Therefore, in this chapter we present a freely available Sensor Fusion app developed in house, how it works, how it has been used, and how it can be used based on a variety of applications in our research and student projects.