No abstract

No abstract

Carl Fischer is a research assistant and doctoral candidate in Lancaster University's Department of Computing. His research focuses on localization, particularly systems that require little or no infrastructure. Fischer has a joint MS from Supélec and the University of Rennes 1 in computer systems and networks.

No abstract

Ad hoc solutions for tracking and providing navigation support to emergency response teams is an important and safetycritical challenge. We propose a navigation system based on a combination of foot-mounted inertial sensors and ultrasound beacons. We evaluate experimentally the performance of our dead reckoning system in different environments and for different trail topologies. The inherent drift observed in dead reckoning is addressed by deploying ultrasound beacons as landmarks. We study through simulations the use of the proposed approach in guiding a person along a defined path.Simulation results show that satisfactory guidance performance is achieved despite noisy ultrasound measurements, magnetic interference and uncertainty in ultrasound node locations. The models used for the simulations are based on experimental data and the authors' experience with actual sensors. The simulation results will be used to inform future development of a full real time system.