Height Error Correction for Shoe-Mounted Inertial Sensors Exploiting Foot Dynamics

Area of Science:

• * Navigation and Positioning Systems
• * Sensor Data Fusion
• * Biomechanics

Background:

• * Shoe-mounted inertial sensors are crucial for positioning in satellite-denied environments.
• * Zero-velocity corrections mitigate accumulated errors from sensor noise.
• * Height estimation errors remain a significant challenge in inertial navigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose and evaluate a new height correction algorithm for inertial navigation systems.
• * To leverage foot dynamics, differentiating between horizontal and stair walking, for improved vertical accuracy.
• * To enhance positioning performance in satellite-denied scenarios.

Main Methods:

• * Development of a height correction algorithm based on foot movement dynamics.
• * Implementation of algorithms to identify horizontal surfaces versus stairs during locomotion.
• * Data collection involving 10 volunteers over 5 hours in a multi-story building.

Main Results:

• * The proposed height correction algorithm was evaluated against ground truth data.
• * A significant improvement in vertical positioning accuracy was observed.
• * The correction method enhanced height accuracy by up to 85% compared to uncorrected estimates.

Conclusions:

• * The novel foot-dynamics-based height correction effectively reduces vertical positioning errors.
• * This approach offers a promising solution for accurate indoor and satellite-denied navigation.
• * Further research can explore advanced biomechanical models for even greater precision.