Sensor data fusion in UWB-supported inertial navigation systems for indoor navigation

Indoor navigation using inertial sensors with additional radio-signal support is considered in this paper. The experimental results of data fusion between a navigation system, based on inertial measurement unit (IMU) and impulse-based UWB localization system, are presented. The IMU is additionally supported by a pedestrian step length estimations, barometer and electronic compass. The Ultra-Wideband part consists of receiver, carried by the person, and access points distributed in the scenario. The focus of the paper is put on hardware implementation and choice of the optimal data fusion technique. The presented results indicate the clear benefit of tightly coupled navigation filter, where the time differences of arrival of UWB signals are directly processed, without prior calculation of the localization solution.