The Application of Magnetic Sensors in Self-Contained Local Positioning

Nowadays, GPS (Global Positioning System) has been widely used to position airplanes, ships, automobiles, migrating animals, and human beings, etc. However, GPS has its own limitations. Other than the user groups for whom GPS is operated, there is no service level agreement with anyone else. As more and more people become dependant on GPS in more and more countries, the political control of GPS raised doubt about its value. Moreover, in the event of system failure, equipment depending on GPS, such as airplanes or ocean-going vessels, needs alternative positioning systems. Furthermore, GPS relies on complicated infrastructure and cannot provide sufficient accuracy, stability and coverage for environments such as indoors and highly urbanized areas (known as “urban canyon”) due to the lack of lineof-sight (LOS) to the satellites of GPS. As a result, most commercial and social activities taking place in such environment can not benefit from positioning services offered by GPS.