Jacob Walker Undergraduate Dissertation 2016/17

Indoor Positioning by Ambient Magnetic Fields: A Study in the Diamond

Supervised by R.Taylor

Abstract

Location determination outdoors is largely a solved problem: GPS (or, more generally, a GNSS - global navigation satellite system) provides a reliable and accurate method of positioning almost anywhere on Earth, but this breaks down as soon as one steps inside. Buildings interfere with GPS signals such that the system can, at times, be rendered useless when a user is indoors, and effective solutions to this problem often require costly infrastructure. The problem has been tackled on small scales with much success and a commercial project claims to have solved it for any building, but the precise implementation remains a trade secret. Promising results are found regarding the feasibility of using only a widely available smartphone and the ambient magnetic fields of a busy, well-equipped university building, and methods explored, to measured success.