Magnetic Anomaly Based Indoor Positioning

We know that certain animals have the ability to orient themselves and navigate using the earth's magnetic field. Unfortunately humans do not have that ability and therefore humans have to rely on their ingenuity and technological skill for navigation purposes. From early methods of using celestial bodies for navigation to present day Global Positioning Systems, it is technology that has enabled humans to find their way.

These days most phones are equipped with GPS based navigation and location services. GPS however is not very accurate indoors. A company called Indoor Atlas sets out to solve this problem by offering a unique way to navigate inside buildings. This company which is based in Oulu, Finland and Oxford, UK, has developed a method of navigating indoors using the local variations of earth's magnetic field, or magnetic anomalies. These variations of earth's magnetic field depend on several factors such as mineralogical variations in the ground and surrounding magnetic sources. The unique differences in the magnetic field thus created can be detected and used for navigation purposes.

Most of the smartphones today are equipped with magnetic sensors that enable them to act as digital compasses and are used in mapping and augmented reality apps. these magnetic sensors in smartphones can detect the the said magnetic anomalies. The system Indoor Atlas has developed works in 3 stages. First the users are allowed to add buildings to an online mapping application developed by the company. Then users can use their smartphones to map the building by walking around the building using their smartphones. The phones will detect the magnetic signature and upload the magnetic data to the mapping application. The final step is using mobile applications to use the uploaded magnetic data for navigation purposes. The magnetic data can be downloaded to any device running the application and by comparing the data with the actual magnetic signature positioning can be done. The accuracy of this positioning technology is within 0.1 and 2.0 metres.

This method has several advantages over existing methods that are presently used to navigate indoors such as wifi or radio access points. Unlike these methods, magnetic anomaly based positioning does not require additional hardware or infrastructure. It also won't be affected by radio blackouts or satellite disturbances. It is also interesting to see how this technology will be used in augmented reality applications because there's a lot that can be done with magnetic data if readily available. This technology has a lot of potential to become a groundbreaking success.

magnetic anomalies can be used to navigate inside buildings

More information : http://www.indooratlas.com/
http://web.indooratlas.com/web/WhitePaper.pdf