A GNSS/INS-based architecture for rescue team monitoring

The present work shows the results that have been obtained using a low-cost pedestrian system made up of a GPS receiver and an inertial platform. This positioning system could be used by rescue teams to locate hazard zones and escape routes. Our study shows how multiple sensors can be used in a non-traditional way: the inertial platform is used as an odometer (step counter) in which the magnetometers allow the estimation of gyroscope drifts. The GPS receiver has instead been used to correct the bias when the GPS observations are sufficiently reliable. We have in particular focused on the estimation of sensor errors and on the reliability of the system, which is the main problem of this equipment.