Real time embedded personal navigation system

• Main Author: Lim, Dawen.
• Other Authors: Low Kay Soon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Satellite telecommunication
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/17295
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This thesis describes the hardware design and development of a portable real-time embedded personal navigation system. The objective of the system is to allow users to carry the system around when in use, so that it is able to track the position especially when GPS is unavailable. This thesis covers the literature review on GPS, Dead Reckoning, Boost Converter as well as stride detection. The details of the construction of the hardware development, testing of the system and the discussion of the results will also be covered. The system comprises of a Global Positioning System (GPS) integrated with accelerometer, magnetic compass controlled by a PIC18F452 microprocessor. The magnetic compass and the accelerometer are interfaced to the microprocessor through the use of Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), while the GPS is interfaced through the Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (USART). A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) will be used for displaying the system position and status of the system. The whole system will be based on Surface Mount Technology (SMT) for the development of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and it will be housed by a portable casing. The system had gone through a series of scenario tests to test for it reliability and accuracy in different kinds of conditions and environment. The results show that the accuracy for the stride detection was no less than 97%. During the on-the-ground test, the system proves to be effective in different terrain, with errors averaged at 3meters for every 100meters. Also, the total current consumption had been reduced from 172mA to 100mA. This had greatly improved the battery lifespan to over 10hours of continuous usage.