Position Estimation with Fuzzy Logic Based Dead Reckoning for GPS-Denied Environment

Abstract

The importance of security precautions has been increased as a consequence of raised terrorist incidents. Terrorist acts that move into the city from country sides have made tracking of security and military personnel more important. GPS signals, densely utilized for this tracking, pose a problem in signal blockage situation and GPS-denied environments. The main goal of this research is that to develop a practical positioning system for walking military personnel in GPS denied environments. The system is very useful for GPS signal blockage environments, such as tunnels, thick-walled structures and dense high rise buildings, etc. Proposed system contains a 6-degree of freedom (DOF) inertial measurement unit (IMU) and digital compass attached to the military personnel’s shoe. Tri-axis accelerometer and gyroscope measurements are obtained by IMU. These measurements are applied to fuzzy logic algorithms and total displacement for each step is calculated. Digital compass is utilized to determine direction of personnel. Thus, current location has been estimated with the known starting point