Next generation navigation system read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1265-next-generation-navigation-system

A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside has developed a highly reliable and accurate navigation system that exploits existing environmental signals such as cellular and Wi-Fi, rather than the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The technology could be used to develop navigation systems that meet the stringent requirements of fully autonomous vehicles.

Most navigation systems in cars and portable electronics use the space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS).  

For precision technologies, such as aerospace and missiles, navigation systems typically combine GPS with a high-quality on-board Inertial Navigation System (INS), which delivers a high level of short-term accuracy but eventually drifts when it loses touch with external signals.

Despite advances in this technology, current GPS/INS systems will not meet the demands of future autonomous vehicles for several reasons. Current trends in autonomous vehicle navigation systems rely not only on GPS/INS, but a suite of other sensor-based technologies such as cameras, lasers, and sonar.

Zak Kassas, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in UCR's Bourns College of Engineering, and his team, said, adding more and more sensors to prepare autonomous vehicle navigation systems that could tap into the hundreds of signals around us at any time, like cellular, radio, television, Wi-Fi, and other satellite signals.

In the research the team showcased ongoing research exploits these existing communications signals, called signals of opportunity (SOP) for navigation.

The team building specialized software-defined radios (SDRs) that will extract relevant timing and positioning information from SOPs, developing practical navigation algorithms, and finally testing the system on ground vehicles and unmanned drones.

Kansan said, autonomous vehicles will inevitably result in a social-cultural revolution. My team is addressing the challenges associated with realizing practical, cost-effective, and trustworthy autonomous vehicles.