Common Navigation Systems Research Articles

Marine Internet of Things Platforms for Interoperability of Marine Robotic Agents: An Overview of Concepts and Architectures

The creation of a Marine Internet of Things platform, including the Underwater Internet of Things, is needed to ensure the interaction and digital navigation of heterogeneous marine robotic agents. It is necessary to combine the following robotic agents: autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, active and passive marine sensors, buoys, underwater sonar stations, coastal communication posts, and other elements of the platform. To ensure the interaction of all these elements, it is necessary to use a common communication system within the platform, as well as a common navigation and control system to solve complex problems of the navigation and control of the movement of robotic agents in order to implement a joint mission to collect and transmit data, including video information in real time. The architecture of the Marine Internet of Things platform must first be defined in order to use a unified approach to data exchange. This article provides an overview of approaches to determining the architectures of network underwater and marine communication systems based on the concept of the Internet of Things. This paper provides a comprehensive study of MIoT applications, challenges, and architectures. The main contributions of this paper are summarized as follows: we introduce potential MIoT applications; we point out the challenges of MIoT (i.e., the differences between MIoT and IoT); and we analyze the MIoT system architecture.

RIDE VIBRATIONS: TOWARDS COMFORT-BASED BICYCLE NAVIGATION

Abstract. Providers for common navigation systems and mobile applications apply their route choice concepts for cars almost unmodified to cyclists. In contrast to motorists the latter are not significantly influenced by the traffic situation or speed limits, but notably by other factors like slopes and path’s surface type and quality. In a volunteered geographic information fashion this paper contributes a smartphone-based mobile sensing and evaluation approach for bicycle way’s roughness. It presents the complete process chain from data acquisition using the mobile app ”RideVibes” to a detailed data analysis on street segment level to finally enable a comfort sensitive route optimization and recommendation.

Integration and comparison of multi-criteria decision making methods in safe route planner

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the U.S. In order to reduce death and serious injury, road and traffic engineers manually evaluate road segments and visualize the safety level of roads. These existing risk maps can be confusing and must be manually interpreted by drivers to find the safest path from a source to a given destination; this can result in ignoring the safety of the routes by drivers. In addition, common navigation systems such as Google Maps and Waze present two or three alternative paths from a source to a given destination based on the travel time and distance. A navigation system is required to take the safety level of the road segments into consideration while suggesting a path. This navigation system needs to acquire knowledge from various sources, a user interface to obtain user preferences, and an inference engine to find the best paths. Such a system can still suggest multiple conflicting paths, such as shortest, fastest and safest paths. This paper presents the addition of a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, Analytical Hierarchy Process, to a previously designed Safe Route Planner to aid users in choosing the most suitable path among M alternative paths. Different MCDM methods can generate different results while applied to the same problem. There are a few comparative studies to compare the results of different Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. Therefore, a particular attention is devoted to comparing the results of five decision-making techniques, namely AHP, Fuzzy AHP, TOPSIS, Fuzzy TOPSIS and PROMETHEE through two real-world case studies. In addition, the comparative studies fail to adequately quantify the results of the MCDM methods; consequently, another aim of this research is to investigate the applicability of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Average Overlap and Discounted Cumulative Gain techniques to quantify the results of the MCDM methods.

The Use of Navigation in Operations Supporting Drilling Processes

Abstract The paper presents the analysis of navigation processes used in wells and around-drilling processes. Most common navigation systems used in drilling processes are described. The authors have presented a concept of applying navigation to operations supporting drilling processes, including operations ensuring the safety of drilling staff. Also, they have discussed around-drilling processes which have not been supported by navigation systems. Finally, they have presented ideas of their possible applications as well as benefits resulting from using navigation systems.

Survivorship and relative risk of revision in computer-navigated versus conventional total knee replacement at 8-year follow-up

Background and purpose — The long-term effects of computer-assisted surgery in total knee replacement (CAS) compared to conventionally operated knee replacement (CON) are still not clear. We compared survivorship and relative risk of revision in CAS and CON based on data from the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register.Patients and methods — We assessed primary total knee replacements without patellar resurfacing reported to the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register from 2005 through 2014. The 5 most used implants and the 3 most common navigation systems were included. The groups (CAS, n = 3,665; CON, n = 20,019) were compared using a Cox regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, ASA category, prosthesis brand, fixation method, previous surgery, and diagnosis with the risk of revision for any reason as endpoint. Secondary outcomes were reasons for revision and effects of prosthesis brand, fixation method, age (± 65 years), and hospital volume.Results — Prosthesis survival and risk of revision were similar for CAS and CON. CAS had significantly fewer revisions due to malalignment. Otherwise, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups in analyses of secondary outcomes. Mean operating time was 13 minutes longer in CAS.Interpretation — At 8 years of follow-up, CAS and CON had similar rates of overall revision, but CAS had fewer revisions due to malalignment. According to our findings, the benefits of CAS at medium-term follow-up are limited. Further research may identify subgroups that benefit from CAS, and it should also emphasize patient-reported outcomes.

Automatic Moving of a Robotic Mobile Device Making a Map of a Building

This article describes methods of solving problems of automatic navigation of robotized mobile devices inside of a building. A robotized mobile device has tracks and can move back and forth and turn right-hand and left-hand. Micro controller based on Arduino is responsible for receiving and processing of information taken from sensors. Analysis of the data occurs directly onboard of a robotized mobile device using a single-board computer Raspberry Pi or some kind of it. The article shows a method and an algorithm of a robotized mobile device to follow the path and then make a map of a particular building. While moving a robotized mobile device records in memory the data received from sensors. Then it processes the data and forms a map of the building. The relevance of this work is that the most common navigation systems using GPS (Global Positioning System) / GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) don't work in those conditions when a robotized mobile device is located in buildings, such as a room or a building hallway. A satellite signal is lost while going through cemental, metal or wooden constructions. The algorithms presented in the article are based on the properties of the standard deviation values of the distance to objects surrounding a robotized mobile device. The data were obtained through a set of range finders, which was installed onboard of a robotized mobile device, without using a complex and expensive scanning device. Developed algorithms have an advantage, they can work in a building without reference to GPS or GLONASS. The main features of the algorithm are simplicity, low price and accessibility of the used hardware.

Cognitively Inspired Algorithm for Imprecise Navigation

This paper presents an algorithm, namely the private navigation algorithm. The aim of this algorithm is to bridge the gap between high quality navigation services and low quality of location information or imprecise data. Generally, the imprecision is due to the poor positioning technology and the algorithms use to protect location privacy. The benefits of the algorithm are at least two-fold: Firstly, it provides an efficient instructions for navigation under imprecision and secondly it supports location privacy protection while using navigation services. In common navigation systems, the navigation instructions generated are based on geometry oriented representation, e.g., shortest path which is based on the distance travelled and normally involves many turns. In human wayfinding, the navigation instruction is considered efficient if the instruction can reduce the cognitive load during the wayfinding activities as well as can guide users to a destination. The algorithm applies the simplest path computations for generating simple navigation instructions due to its ability to minimize the complexity of communicating the instructions. The research examines the efficiency of the algorithm based on several performance measurers. The research also takes into account the wayfinding heuristics such as the initial orientation and agent’s behavior (passive or active), that possibly can improve agent’s navigation performance. The cognitively motivated simplest cardinal direction weighting function is introduced which reflects the complexity of communicating cardinal instructions. The results show that the private navigation algorithm was efficient when it is incorporated with wayfinding heuristic for imprecise navigation.

Autofocusing SAR images via local estimates of flight trajectory

High-resolution imaging with an airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) calls for precise trajectory measurements that can hardly be achieved with common navigation systems. In this paper, an efficient method called the local-quadratic map-drift autofocus is developed for the estimation of residual (uncompensated) motion errors directly from the received radar data. The map-drift autofocus is applied locally on short time intervals to estimate the cross-track components of the aircraft acceleration. The estimated acceleration is then integrated to evaluate the residual trajectory errors on the whole data frame interval. The method has been successfully tested with an X-band airborne SAR system.

Bridging GPS Outages for Fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper reports on a new navigation algorithm for fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to bridge Global Position System (GPS) outages, based on a common navigation system configuration. The ground velocity is obtained from wind-compensated airspeed, and a centripetal force model is introduced to estimate the motion acceleration. Compensated by this acceleration, the gravity vector can be extracted from the accelerometer measurement. Finally, fusing the information of the ground velocity, magnetic heading, barometric height, and gravity vector, the Integrated Navigation System (INS) is reconstructed, and an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used to estimate INS errors. Hardware-in-loop simulation results show that compared with INS-only solutions, the proposed method effectively resists long-term drift of INS errors and significantly improves the accuracy for dynamic navigation during GPS outages.

Integrated motion measurement illustrated by a cantilever beam

The combination of inertial sensors and satellite navigation receivers like those of GPS (Global Positioning System) represents a very typical integrated navigation system. Integrated navigation is the most common example of integrated motion measurement determining the translational and angular position, velocity, and acceleration of a vehicle. Traditionally, this object is assumed to be a rigid body and the signals of its closely spaced sensors are referenced to a single point of the structure. During periods of low vehicle dynamics such common navigation systems typically show stability problems due to a loss of observability of some of the motion variables.The range of applications for integrated navigation systems can be expanded due to the continuously increasing performance of data processing and cheap sensors. Further, it can be shown that the stability of such a navigation system (i. e. of the motion observer employed for the system, typically a Kalman filter) can be sustained by distributing appropriately additional sensors over the vehicle structures at distinct locations. This comprises the compensation of drift effects of the system by adding sensors that are drift-free and the guarantee of the observability of all estimated motion components. Large structures like airplanes, space stations, skyscrapers, and tower cranes with distributed sensors, however, have to take the flexibility of the structure into account. This includes an appropriate kinematical model of the structure. In this case, the theory of integrated systems has to be expanded to flexible structures. On the other hand, the additional system information obtained can be used not only for vehicle guidance but also for structural control.Within this work individual kinematical models especially of a cantilever beam, idealizing e.g. the wing of an airplane, are developed and investigated with regard to the observability of the motion variables to guarantee a stable integrated system behaviour. Finally, the application and verification of integrated measurement systems for flexible structures is shown by experiments.

Three-dimensional anatomical accuracy of cranial models created by rapid prototyping techniques validated using a neuronavigation station

In neurosurgery and ear, nose and throat surgery the application of computerised navigation systems for guiding operations has been expanding rapidly. However, suitable models to train surgeons in using navigation systems are not yet available. We have developed a technique using an industrial, rapid prototyping process from which accurate spatial models of the cranium, its contents and pathology can be reproduced for teaching. We were able to register, validate and navigate using these models with common available navigation systems such as the Medtronic StealthStation S7®.

Preferred Truck Routes Meet Navigation

Many routes taken by truck drivers are suggested by navigation devices. These navigation devices do not always consider the needs of trucks. This leads to substantial problems in cities, such as trucks colliding with low bridges or taking unsuitable routes via the city centre or residential areas. This paper describes the steps required to integrate communal routing preferences and interests into navigation systems. It shows (1) which rules have to be considered when developing a concept for preferred routes and (2) what the consequences are for system design. All project stages are shown. This includes implementing the preferred truck routing concept, extracting the common construction rules for modelling preference networks, consolidating the findings from the process, and building a realistic, working navigation system that has implemented the technology. Besides the pure feasibility aspects, the project shows strategies for integrating communal routing preferences into common navigation systems.

Short-term outcome of 1,465 computer-navigated primary total knee replacements 2005–2008

Background and purpose Improvement of positioning and alignment by the use of computer-assisted surgery (CAS) might improve longevity and function in total knee replacements, but there is little evidence. In this study, we evaluated the short-term results of computer-navigated knee replacements based on data from the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register.Patients and methods Primary total knee replacements without patella resurfacing, reported to the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register during the years 2005–2008, were evaluated. The 5 most common implants and the 3 most common navigation systems were selected. Cemented, uncemented, and hybrid knees were included. With the risk of revision for any cause as the primary endpoint and intraoperative complications and operating time as secondary outcomes, 1,465 computer-navigated knee replacements (CAS) and 8,214 conventionally operated knee replacements (CON) were compared. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis with adjustment for age, sex, prosthesis brand, fixation method, previous knee surgery, preoperative diagnosis, and ASA category were used.Results Kaplan-Meier estimated survival at 2 years was 98% (95% CI: 97.5–98.3) in the CON group and 96% (95% CI: 95.0–97.8) in the CAS group. The adjusted Cox regression analysis showed a higher risk of revision in the CAS group (RR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1–2.5; p = 0.02). The LCS Complete knee had a higher risk of revision with CAS than with CON (RR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3–3.4; p = 0.004)). The differences were not statistically significant for the other prosthesis brands. Mean operating time was 15 min longer in the CAS group.Interpretation With the introduction of computer-navigated knee replacement surgery in Norway, the short-term risk of revision has increased for computer-navigated replacement with the LCS Complete. The mechanisms of failure of these implantations should be explored in greater depth, and in this study we have not been able to draw conclusions regarding causation.

Experimental validation of noninvasive referencing in navigated procedures on long bones

Navigation procedures in orthopedic surgery require fixation of reference markers to the anatomic region of interest. Inadequate fixation might lead to micromotion or loosening of the reference marker, consequently causing registration failures or errors in navigation. Osseous rigid fixation is usually achieved by minimally invasive Schanz screws or pins. The goal of this study was to evaluate a non invasive external fixation device, a headband so far used in cranial navigation, as an alternative invasive fixation technique to reference markers in the femur. A common navigation system with an adapted trauma software application was used to track the positions of the soft tissue-attached headband relative to an invasive reference marker on the femur during manipulations of the thigh. Relative translative and rotational movements of the headband were measured during defined movements of the hip and knee and manipulations of the headband itself. The results revealed high translative and rotational movements, up to 6 mm and 3 degrees , respectively, due to minor manipulations of the affected lower extremity. Noninvasive soft tissue fixation with a headband does not allow rigid fixation for accurate navigated registration or operative procedures at the femur. Necessary intraoperative movements or manipulations would cause substantial registration failures. Invasive fixation techniques with screws or pins are still the method of choice.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN EVENT-REPORTING INTELLIGENT VEHICLE NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR AREAS WITH URBAN CANYONS

Common vehicle navigation systems employ mostly GPS satellite positioning to track the vehicle's position and velocity. The tracked position can be dynamically shown on a digital map or automatic route guidance can be performed. So-called “Intelligent GPS Vehicle Navigation Systems”, simply speaking, are extensions of common GPS vehicle navigation systems. It can be said, that they are GPS vehicle positioning systems with embedded intelligence. From the authors' point of view, an intelligent system should be able to detect the changes of the real-world situation and to give an appropriate response to the changes. Therefore, an Intelligent GPS Navigation System should have all the basic functionality of a common GPS navigation system, and be able to detect and react to the conditions that are of concern of the driver or the vehicle manager. To achieve this, an intelligent GPS navigation system should be integrated with different types of sensors and communication devices that are able to monitor and perform event reporting to the vehicle's real-word situation. Hence, event reporting is an essential component of an Intelligent Vehicle Navigation System (IVNS). With regard to the navigation part of the system, it is essential that the vehicle's trajectory can be continuously tracked to provide necessary guidance for the driver. However, for GPS-alone systems a reliable position determination in urban canyons may not always be possible, therefore it is necessary to investigate the integration of other vehicle tracking devices and methods.After the discussion of the potential applications of an event reporting IVNS, a more detailed description of a prototype system will be given. Such a system is being developed in a research project at the Department of Land Surveying and Geoinformatics of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Finally, field test results of the prototype IVNS conducted in Hong Kong are presented and the integration of wireless location services for positioning and a new GPS-alone position tracking method for urban canyons are briefly discussed.

Position-fixing using the USSR's GLONASS C/A code

The possibility of the USSR's global satellite navigation system GLONASS and the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System using a common navigation system can only be determined following exhaustive testing of two systems in a variety of satellite and receiver modes and configurations. The authors describe their first attempts to carry out basic position-fixing and timing measurements with a single-channel, sequencing digital receiver in a C/A code phase-measurement mode using the GLONASS satellites. The receiver used to produce the fixes was a digital sequencing unit with a single stage of downconversion and followed by 1-bit quantization. Code acquisition was accomplished using 1-Q channels measuring code phase. The number of satellites available in the present preoperational phase heavily restricts the time and satellite configurations which can be tested. However, the results have encouraged the authors to propose a range of experiments aimed at evaluating the two systems and eventual integration.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>