Outdoor human navigation with GPS and sensor systems

In this paper we propose a robust wearable human navigation system for outdoor environments based on Global Positioning System (GPS), computer vision and inertial navigation techniques. The system can guide user to a desired location accurately through voice commands. The proposed system enhances GPS localization with user compatible inertial navigation techniques based on step counting, distance estimation and dead reckoning. Further, a vision system has been developed to improve the system awareness with real time pathway and boundary detection. A systematic fuzzy logic control method with voice output has been used to make the system more user compatible. The proposed system is assistive for navigation in outdoor environments with walking pathways. Moreover, the system can be used to guide visually disabled and elderly people to their desired destinations in an effective manner.