Abstract: Land vehicle navigation system technology is a subject of great interest today. Global Positioning System (GPS) is a common choice for positioning in such systems. However, GPS alone is incapable of providing continuous and reliable positioning, because of its inherent dependency on external electromagnetic signals. Inertial Navigation is the implementation of inertial sensors to determine the position and orientation of a vehicle. As such, inertial navigation has unbounded error growth since the error accumulates at each step. Thus in order to contain these errors some form of external aiding is required. The availability of low cost Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) inertial sensors is now making it feasible to develop Inertial Navigation System (INS) using an inertial measurement unit (IMU), in conjunction with GPS to fulfill the demands of such systems. Typically IMU’s are very expensive systems; however this INS will use “low cost” components. Unfortunately with low cost also comes low performance and is the main reason for the inclusion of GPS and Kalman filtering into the system. The aim of this paper is to develop a GPS/MEMS INS integrated system, which is able to provide a navigation solution with accuracy levels appropriate for land vehicle navigation. The primary piece of equipment used was a MEMS-based Crista IMU (from Cloud Cap Technology Inc.) and a Garmin GPS 18 PC (which is both a receiver and antenna). The integration of GPS with INS can be implemented using a Kalman filter in loosely coupled mode. In this integration mode the INS error states, together with any navigation state (position, velocity, and attitude) and other unknown parameters of interest, are estimated using GPS measurements. All important equations regarding navigation are presented along with discussion.
Abstract: This paper presents the result of large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance (LSTID) observation during moderate magnetic storm event on 25 October 2011 with SYM-H ~ -160 nT and Kp ~ 7 over Peninsular Malaysia at equatorial region using vertical total electron content (VTEC) from the Global Positioning System (GPS) observation measurement. The propagation of the LSTID signatures in the TEC measurements over Peninsular Malaysia was also investigated using VTEC map. The LSTID was found to propagate equatorward during this event. The results showed that the LSTID propagated with an average phase velocity of 526.41 m/s and average periods of 140 min. The occurrence of this LSTID was also found to be the subsequent effects of substorm activities in the auroral region.
Abstract: As is needless to say; a majority of accidents, which occur, are due to drunk driving. As such, there is no effective mechanism to prevent this. Here we have designed an integrated system for the same purpose. Alcohol content in the driver-s body is detected by means of an infrared breath analyzer placed at the steering wheel. An infrared cell directs infrared energy through the sample and any unabsorbed energy at the other side is detected. The higher the concentration of ethanol, the more infrared absorption occurs (in much the same way that a sunglass lens absorbs visible light, alcohol absorbs infrared light). Thus the alcohol level of the driver is continuously monitored and calibrated on a scale. When it exceeds a particular limit the fuel supply is cutoff. If the device is removed also, the fuel supply will be automatically cut off or an alarm is sounded depending upon the requirement. This does not happen abruptly and special indicators are fixed at the back to avoid inconvenience to other drivers using the highway signals. Frame work for integration of sensors and control module in a scalable multi-agent system is provided .A SMS which contains the current GPS location of the vehicle is sent via a GSM module to the police control room to alert the police. The system is foolproof and the driver cannot tamper with it easily. Thus it provides an effective and cost effective solution for the problem of drunk driving in vehicles.
Abstract: This paper discusses the implementation of the Kalman
Filter along with the Global Positioning System (GPS) for indoor
robot navigation. Two dimensional coordinates is used for the map
building, and refers to the global coordinate which is attached to the
reference landmark for position and direction information the robot
gets. The Discrete Kalman Filter is used to estimate the robot position,
project the estimated current state ahead in time through time update
and adjust the projected estimated state by an actual measurement at
that time via the measurement update. The navigation test has been
performed and has been found to be robust.
Abstract: Surveillance system is widely used in the traffic
monitoring. The deployment of cameras is moving toward a
ubiquitous camera (UbiCam) environment. In our previous study, a
novel service, called GPS-VT, was firstly proposed by incorporating
global positioning system (GPS) and visual tracking techniques for
the UbiCam environment. The first prototype is called GODTA
(GPS-based Moving Object Detection and Tracking Approach). For a
moving person carried GPS-enabled mobile device, he can be
tracking when he enters the field-of-view (FOV) of a camera
according to his real-time GPS coordinate. In this paper, GPS-VT
service is applied to the tracking of vehicles. The moving speed of a
vehicle is much faster than a person. It means that the time passing
through the FOV is much shorter than that of a person. Besides, the
update interval of GPS coordinate is once per second, it is
asynchronous with the frame rate of the real-time image. The above
asynchronous is worsen by the network transmission delay. These
factors are the main challenging to fulfill GPS-VT service on a
vehicle.In order to overcome the influence of the above factors, a
back-propagation neural network (BPNN) is used to predict the
possible lane before the vehicle enters the FOV of a camera. Then, a
template matching technique is used for the visual tracking of a target
vehicle. The experimental result shows that the target vehicle can be
located and tracking successfully. The success location rate of the
implemented prototype is higher than that of the previous GODTA.
Abstract: This paper has introduced a slope photogrammetric mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle. There are two units of UAV has been used in this study; namely; fixed wing and multi-rotor. Both UAVs were used to capture images at the study area. A consumer digital camera was mounted vertically at the bottom of UAV and captured the images at an altitude. The objectives of this study are to obtain three dimensional coordinates of slope area and to determine the accuracy of photogrammetric product produced from both UAVs. Several control points and checkpoints were established Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) in the study area. All acquired images from both UAVs went through all photogrammetric processes such as interior orientation, exterior orientation, aerial triangulation and bundle adjustment using photogrammetric software. Two primary results were produced in this study; namely; digital elevation model and digital orthophoto. Based on results, UAV system can be used to mapping slope area especially for limited budget and time constraints project.
Abstract: Most integrated inertial navigation systems (INS) and
global positioning systems (GPS) have been implemented using the
Kalman filtering technique with its drawbacks related to the need for
predefined INS error model and observability of at least four
satellites. Most recently, a method using a hybrid-adaptive network
based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been proposed which is
trained during the availability of GPS signal to map the error
between the GPS and the INS. Then it will be used to predict the
error of the INS position components during GPS signal blockage.
This paper introduces a genetic optimization algorithm that is used to
update the ANFIS parameters with respect to the INS/GPS error
function used as the objective function to be minimized. The results
demonstrate the advantages of the genetically optimized ANFIS for
INS/GPS integration in comparison with conventional ANFIS
specially in the cases of satellites- outages. Coping with this problem
plays an important role in assessment of the fusion approach in land
navigation.
Abstract: People nowadays love to travel around the world.
Regardless of their location and time, they especially Muslims still need to perform their five times prayer. Normally for travelers, they
need to bring maps, compass and for Muslim, they even have to bring Qibla pointer when they travel. It is slightly difficult to
determine the Qibla direction and to know the time for each prayer. In this paper we present a new electronic device called Universal Qibla and Prayer Time Finder to locate the Qibla direction and to determine each prayer time based on the current user-s location. This device use PIC microcontroller equipped with digital compass and
Global Positioning System (GPS) where it will display the exact Qibla direction and prayer time automatically at any place in the world. This device is reliable, user friendly and accurate in
determining the Qibla direction and prayer time.
Abstract: Dioscorea species or commonly named as yam is
reported to be one of the major food sources worldwide. This
ethnobotanical study was conducted to document local knowledge
and potentials of DioscoreahispidaDennst. and to investigate and
record its distribution in three districts of Terengganu. Information
was gathered from 23 villagers from three districts of Besut, Marang
and Setiu by using semi-structured questionnaire. The villagers were
randomly selected and no appointment was made prior to the visits.
For distribution, the location of Dioscoreahispida was recorded by
using the Global Positioning System (GPS). The villagers identified
Dioscoreahispida or locally named ubigadong by looking at the
physical characteristics that include its leaf shape, stem and the color
of the tuber-s flesh. The villagers used Dioscoreahispida in many
ways in their life such as for food, medicinal purposes and fish
poison.
Abstract: In this paper, the detection of a fault in the Global Positioning System (GPS) measurement is addressed. The class of faults considered is a bias in the GPS pseudorange measurements. This bias is modeled as an unknown constant. The fault could be the result of a receiver fault or signal fault such as multipath error. A bias bank is constructed based on set of possible fault hypotheses. Initially, there is equal probability of occurrence for any of the biases in the bank. Subsequently, as the measurements are processed, the probability of occurrence for each of the biases is sequentially updated. The fault with a probability approaching unity will be declared as the current fault in the GPS measurement. The residual formed from the GPS and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) measurements is used to update the probability of each fault. Results will be presented to show the performance of the presented algorithm.
Abstract: Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is widely used today in the areas of geodesy and topography as well as in aeronautics mainly for military purposes. Due to the military usage of GPS, full access and use of this technology is being denied to the civilian user who must then work with a less accurate version. In this paper we focus on the estimation of the receiver coordinates ( X, Y, Z ) and its clock bias ( δtr ) of a fixed point based on pseudorange measurements of a single GPS receiver. Utilizing the instantaneous coordinates of just 4 satellites and their clock offsets, by taking into account the atmospheric delays, we are able to derive a set of pseudorange equations. The estimation of the four unknowns ( X, Y, Z , δtr ) is achieved by introducing an extended Kalman filter that processes, off-line, all the data collected from the receiver. Higher performance of position accuracy is attained by appropriate tuning of the filter noise parameters and by including other forms of biases.
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to develop and apply the
RSCMAC to enhance the dynamic accuracy of Global Positioning
System (GPS). GPS devices provide services of accurate positioning,
speed detection and highly precise time standard for over 98% area on
the earth. The overall operation of Global Positioning System includes
24 GPS satellites in space; signal transmission that includes 2
frequency carrier waves (Link 1 and Link 2) and 2 sets random
telegraphic codes (C/A code and P code), on-earth monitoring stations
or client GPS receivers. Only 4 satellites utilization, the client position
and its elevation can be detected rapidly. The more receivable
satellites, the more accurate position can be decoded. Currently, the
standard positioning accuracy of the simplified GPS receiver is greatly
increased, but due to affected by the error of satellite clock, the
troposphere delay and the ionosphere delay, current measurement
accuracy is in the level of 5~15m. In increasing the dynamic GPS
positioning accuracy, most researchers mainly use inertial navigation
system (INS) and installation of other sensors or maps for the
assistance. This research utilizes the RSCMAC advantages of fast
learning, learning convergence assurance, solving capability of
time-related dynamic system problems with the static positioning
calibration structure to improve and increase the GPS dynamic
accuracy. The increasing of GPS dynamic positioning accuracy can be
achieved by using RSCMAC system with GPS receivers collecting
dynamic error data for the error prediction and follows by using the
predicted error to correct the GPS dynamic positioning data. The
ultimate purpose of this research is to improve the dynamic positioning
error of cheap GPS receivers and the economic benefits will be
enhanced while the accuracy is increased.
Abstract: Navigation is the processes of monitoring and
controlling the movement of an object from one place to another.
Currently, Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main navigation
system used all over the world for navigation applications. GPS
receiver receives signals from at least three satellites to locate and
display itself. Displayed positioning information is updated
continuously. Update rate is the number of times per second that a
display is illuminated. The speed of update is governed by receiver
update rate. A higher update rate decreases display lag time and
improves distance measurements and tracking especially when
moving on a curvy route. The majority of GPS receivers used
nowadays are updated every second continuously. This period is
considered reasonable for some applications while it is long relatively
for high speed applications. In this paper, the suitability and
feasibility of GPS receiver with different update rates will be
evaluated for various applications according to the level of speed and
update rate needed for particular applications.
Abstract: We developed a GPS-based navigation device for the
blind, with audio guidance in Thai language. The device is composed
of simple and inexpensive hardware components. Its user interface is
quite simple. It determines optimal routes to various landmarks in our
university campus by using heuristic search for the next waypoints.
We tested the device and made note of its limitations and possible
extensions.
Abstract: When the profile information of an existing road is
missing or not up-to-date and the parameters of the vertical
alignment are needed for engineering analysis, the engineer has to recreate
the geometric design features of the road alignment using
collected profile data. The profile data may be collected using
traditional surveying methods, global positioning systems, or digital
imagery. This paper develops a method that estimates the parameters
of the geometric features that best characterize the existing vertical
alignments in terms of tangents and the expressions of the curve, that
may be symmetrical, asymmetrical, reverse, and complex vertical
curves. The method is implemented using an Excel-based
optimization method that minimizes the differences between the
observed profile and the profiles estimated from the equations of the
vertical curve. The method uses a 'wireframe' representation of the
profile that makes the proposed method applicable to all types of
vertical curves. A secondary contribution of this paper is to introduce
the properties of the equal-arc asymmetrical curve that has been
recently developed in the highway geometric design field.