Working Student: Integration of GNSS in Navigation and Communication Prototypes for Tracking First Responders (w/m/d)

In indoor emergency situations, such as a building on fire, usually the first responders enter in small teams the building without knowing the floorplan. At the same time, the commander of the first responders on sight needs to know the positions of the first responders in the building to coordinate their actions. Therefore, DLR developed a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) solution based on inertial measurements with a sensor located on the foot. The PDR positions have to be communicated reliably to the central command.

The complete wearable PDR system is integrated into a small prototype. It includes the inertial sensor, a CPU/microcontroller for the PDR algorithm, and a Wi-Fi unit for transmitting the positions to a second transmitter box. The additional transmitter box contains a LoRa transmitter unit to send the signals to the central unit. For the overall system a GNSS unit has to be integrated and tested. The GNSS unit is necessary for obtaining the starting position and direction for initializing the inertial positioning system, and for sensor fusion outdoors – if GNSS data is available.

Your task is to test and design additional commercially available GNSS units either integrated in the PDR prototype or in the LoRa transmitter prototype. In detail, your tasks are:

· Prepare and test existing GNSS boards for providing additional GNSS based localization data for sensor fusion. Research extensively possible solutions for integrating a GNSS tool.

· Test extensively the LoRa communication technology, investigate the communication performance and analyze advantages and disadvantages.