Seamless Localization

Localization Services for E-Cars and Mobile Devices

Seamless localization is an essential part of an electric car sharing application. When a user requests a car, his position as well as the positions of all available cars must be known regardless where they are during the transaction. This information is crucial to select the car that fits best to the user‘s requirements e.g. in terms of travel distance.

In the context of project GeMo Fraunhofer IIS develops localization services for e-cars and mobile devices. For this purpose various localization technologies are combined to realize a reliable positioning solution. Satellite-based navigation has its limitations and is not sufficient to provide a seamless localization. Especially in urban environments where shadowing and reflections from buildings or trees can cause degradations in the reception of satellite signals, WiFi data can enhance positioning and close gaps.

Fraunhofer IIS has already a proven system called awiloc based on the measurement of received Wi-Fi signal strengths of available access points and the correlation of these measurements with patterns in a database, which have been recorded in a calibration phase together with position information. This method is suitable for urban areas due to the high density of Wi-Fi routers in these regions.

A combination of GNNS and Wi-Fi increases the position accuracy also in regions, where both technologies are present. The fusion strategy  uses probabilistic motion and measurement models to infer the most likely position from all the available information.