Global-positioning system uses cameras instead of satellites
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Australian researchers have developed a global-positioning system (GPS) based not on satellites, but camera systems and database algorithms.
Dr Michael Milford from Queensland University of Technology’s Science and Engineering Faculty claims his research would make navigating a far cheaper and simpler task.
‘At the moment you need three satellites in order to get a decent GPS signal and even then it can take a minute or more to get a lock on your location,’ he said.
’There are some places geographically, where you just can’t get satellite signals and even in big cities we have issues with signals being scrambled because of tall buildings or losing them altogether in tunnels.’
The approach to visual navigation algorithms, which has been dubbed SeqSLAM (Sequence Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping), uses local best match and sequence recognition components to lock in locations. SeqSLAM uses the assumption that you are already in a specific location and tests that assumption over and over again.
Milford said the ‘revolution’ of visual-based navigation came about when Google took photos of almost every street in the world for their Street View project.
However, the challenge was making those streets recognisable in a variety of different conditions and to differentiate between streets that were visually similar.
The research, which utilises low-resolution cameras, was inspired by the navigational patterns of small mammals such as rats.
‘My core background is based on how small mammals manage incredible feats of navigation despite their eyesight being quite poor,’ he said.
The research has been funded for three years by an Australian Research Council $375,000 (£254,000) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellowship.
Readers' comments (9)
Pete Higgins | 20 Feb 2012 1:58 pm
Is this an early April Fools Day joke?
How is it going to differentiate between one stretch of rural road with a few trees on it and thousands of other similar bits of rural road with a few trees on them?
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An Old Weekend Sailor | 20 Feb 2012 3:14 pm
Ideal for Global boating then!
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Rod Russell | 20 Feb 2012 6:20 pm
I won't plan to rely on it in the tundra.
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Robert | 20 Feb 2012 10:03 pm
...and rainforest. Has Google streetview mapped all the world's deserts and mountain ranges? I presume this is only for in-car navigation where you are on defined roads, but what happens when you are on a new road as yet unmapped?
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David | 21 Feb 2012 3:22 pm
Did the commenters read the whole article ?
They state clearly it is for places where satellite access is difficult. I would say the world's tundra and deserts would have no problem with satellite access.
This technology is for dense urban areas.
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Anonymous | 22 Feb 2012 8:37 am
You don't need it on the tundra on in the rainforest or on a rural road but when you're in town and it takes you several minutes to get a gps lock because of all the buildings and because your phone's receiver is a bit poor then it could be very convenient.
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Stephen Dickinson | 23 Feb 2012 12:22 pm
This has similarities to an idea which I had a few years ago. (which I did infact run for a couple of final year UG student projects at Lancaster University (Uk)). My idea differed in that it did not use cameras, but instead used a combination of a magnetic compas for determining direction and wheel rotation sensors for determining distance. Using data thus obtained enables the generation of a route taken shape which could be fitted to a database based map.
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Pete Higgins | 23 Feb 2012 7:13 pm
The second paragraph states..."Dr Michael Milford from Queensland University of Technology’s Science and Engineering Faculty claims his research would make navigating a far cheaper and simpler task."
This implies that it is intended to be an alternative to GPS and therefore needs to work anywhere the user is likely to want to go. It won't be cheaper or simpler if it has to be used in addition to GPS.
Admittedly it is clearly only meant to be for use in satnavs and any talk about seas or deserts is irrelevant.
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Armin Faltl | 11 Mar 2012 6:37 pm
Unless you insist on a cloudy day, in deserts or at sea, the camera might see the sun or stars ;-)
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