Hybrid navigation is the simultaneous use of more than one
navigation system for location data determination, needed for
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
. By using multiple systems at once, the accuracy as a whole is improved. It also allows for a more reliable navigation system, as if one system fails, the other can kick in and provide accurate navigation for the user. Especially for
self-driving cars, the exact and continuous knowledge of the navigating object's location is essential.
Function
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
or other satellite based systems (
GLONASS
GLONASS (russian: ГЛОНАСС, label=none, ; rus, links=no, Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, r=Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, t=Global Navigation Satellite System) is ...
,
GALILEO
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
,
BEIDOU
The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS; ) is a Chinese satellite navigation system. It consists of two separate satellite constellations. The first BeiDou system, officially called the BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System and ...
,
QZSS) provide a way to learn one's location, but these methods require
free field conditions in order to receive the radio signal. Various satellite systems are subject to switching-off or reduction of data precision by the company or government that runs them.
They are also prone to intentional or unintentional disturbances. Even passing through a tunnel or a garage interrupts the data flow. In situations where the signal cannot be received reliably, alternate sources of location data are needed. Combining GPS with other methods can avoid these limitations, but each method has its own specific limitations. A hybrid system provides
fault tolerance for each underlying method and improves the overall precision of the result.
The hybrid system needs to decide how to choose among the different methods at any given time. One solution is a triple configuration, allowing 'result voting' for data collecting systems.
Alternate systems that supply navigational data include:
*
Beacons providing
radio- or
infrared based signals.
*
Inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
s. This system determines location by summing the movement vectors from start of the trip or some other
waypoint whose location is well-defined.
* Incremental sensors. This system uses vehicle speed data supplied by a
Fleet Management System.
*
Differential GPS
Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPSs) supplement and enhance the positional data available from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). A DGPS for GPS can increase accuracy by about a thousandfold, from approximately to .
DGPSs c ...
. This system uses
terrestrial radio transmitters with well-defined locations that broadcast information about how accurate the GPS signals are at identifying the locations of these transmitters.
See also
*
Automotive navigation system
An automotive navigation system is part of the automobile controls or a third party add-on used to find direction in an automobile. It typically uses a satellite navigation device to get its position data which is then correlated to a position on ...
*
Hybrid positioning system
A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. One of the most well-known and commonly used positioning systems is the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Positioning system technologies exist ranging from world ...
*
Navigation Data Standard
The Navigation Data Standard (NDS) is a standardized format for automotive-grade navigation databases, jointly developed by automobile manufacturers and suppliers. NDS is an association registered in Germany. Members are automotive OEMs, map dat ...
*
Sensor fusion
Sensor fusion is the process of combining sensor data or data derived from disparate sources such that the resulting information has less uncertainty than would be possible when these sources were used individually. For instance, one could potentia ...
References
External links
Homepage of 'Deutschen Gesellschaft für Ortung und Navigation (DGON)'Wildau Video
{{Commons category, Navigation
Mobile technology
Communication
Navigational equipment