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I am working on a project that needs tracking location and speed of pedestrians/runners/athletes (so not really robotics, but I see a lot of related usage and posts in the robotics domain, and an answer to this question could help with follower robots). I'm interested in just the 2D location (latitude-longitude).

Using just the GPS position has noisy/jump samples and also the degradation due to multi-path near trees etc. From reading about filtering solutions, I understand that sensor fusion that fuses GPS with the data from inertial sensors (INS) helps improve a lot of these issues. Also, this kind of sensor fusion seems to be used in a lot of places -- robotics, wearables, drones etc. Hence I think there might be off the shelf chips/modules/solutions for this, but I couldn't find any.

I found a sensor hub from Invensense that integrates the 9 dof inertial sensors and comes with the fusion firmware, but it doesn't seem to have hookups and firmware for fusing GPS and providing filtered latitude-logitude.

So, what should I be looking for? Are there any off the shelf chips/modules/solutions that come with the built in sensor fusion Software/firmware for doing GPS+INS fusion?

I understand that it will still need tuning some params as well as some calibration.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's asking for shopping recommendations, those do not belong here. $\endgroup$
    – holmeski
    Aug 6, 2015 at 12:22
  • $\begingroup$ Actually, its more of a search for a part on my part, which I am unable to find (not really asking for feedback/recommendations on which is best to buy). I thought asking a community that most likely uses these kind of parts can help. $\endgroup$
    – O.K.
    Aug 6, 2015 at 15:59
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    $\begingroup$ If no such part exists even to the knowledge of this community, then its probably a good indication that they probably dont really exist and that something has to built ground-up. It would be good to get this confirmation from the community (and perhaps a few pointers in the right direction). If you still think this is off topic, I'd appreciate a suggestion where I can post such a question to a similarly knowledgeable community? Thank you. $\endgroup$
    – O.K.
    Aug 6, 2015 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ Any comments people? How are the drones' folks getting accurate location and speed -- doing sensor fusion from scratch using inputs from gps+imu sensors or some off-the-shelf solution? $\endgroup$
    – O.K.
    Aug 8, 2015 at 20:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Robz In this [1] post, you mention an integrated IMU/GPS sensor with EKF. Can you please point me to it (and cost)? [1]: robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/994/… $\endgroup$
    – O.K.
    Aug 9, 2015 at 22:06

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There are many GPS+INS fusion units available on the market. The price, weight and size of the units can vary dramatically depending on the GPS positioning accuracy and rate of drift from the INS. The choice of GPS+INS sensor really depends on the requirements of your application.

From my own experience, Xsens (https://www.xsens.com) make lightweight version that is the size of a matchbox. This is suitable for lightweight robotics applications or human tracking. Their units can also contain barometers and magnetometers for improved position accuracy. However without a good GPS signal, the INS will quickly drift away from the true location so can be problematic when used indoors or in built-up areas.

For a low cost option, it might also be worth looking at what cellphones can provide for your application as as they already contain GPS, INS, Magnetometers, Barometers, Wifi positioning and cellphone positioning.

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