Shoe-Based PDR System for Two-Dimensional Tracking

The most famous absolute self-positioning is GPS (Global Positioning System). However, GPS cannot be used in indoor and underground environments. Thus, relative positioning methods such as sensor-based pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) are required. The visually impaired has difficulty using navigation devices using visual information, such as smartphones, and it is necessary to develop navigation devices using non-visual information. In this paper, we propose a highly accurate two-dimensional PDR using Ashirase device, a shoe-based wearable sensor. This sensor provides non-visual navigation aids through the underfoot vibrations and has an accurate position estimation as the sensor is strongly attached to the shoe. The proposed method obtained a low estimation error <0.2% walking in straight lines and <1.2% walking in circles.