A system (10) for pedestrian use includes an accelerometer (110) having multiple electronic sensors; an electronic circuit (100) operable to generate a signal stream representing magnitude of overall acceleration sensed by the accelerometer (110), and to electronically correlate a sliding window (520) of the signal stream with itself to produce peaks at least some of which represent walking steps, and further operable to electronically execute a periodicity check (540) to compare different step periods for similarity, and if sufficiently similar then to update (560) a portion of the circuit substantially representing a walking-step count; and an electronic display (190) responsive to the electronic circuit (100) to display information at least in part based on the step count. Other systems, electronic circuits and processes are disclosed.

The invention regards a navigation system and a method for error correction. The navigation system comprises a base navigation system and a correction system. Measurement uncertainties are assigned to each measurement and an error threshold is computed on the basis of these uncertainties. Redundant measurements are determined and residuals for at least a pair of redundant measurements as a discrepancy measure are calculated. In case that the residual exceeds a respective threshold an error count for each measurement involved in the determination of the residual is increased. All residuals for each measurement are summed up for a particular measurement and for carrying out the correction in a fusion filter measurements are selected on the basis of their respective error count and summed up residuals.

A mobile device comprises a communicator configured to communicate with another communication device; an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value; a direction sensor configured to detect a change of a direction of the mobile device; and at least one controller configured to determine number of steps of a user of the mobile device based on the acceleration value, and a direction of walking of the user based on the change of the direction of the mobile device to perform notification to the other communication device through the communicator when cumulative number of steps of the walking of the user in one of directions exceeds a first value.

A system is provided for maneuvering a payload in an air space constrained by one or more obstacles, and may include first and second aerial vehicles coupled by a tether to a ground station. Sensor systems and processors in the ground station and aerial vehicles may track obstacles and the tether's and the vehicles' positions and attitude to maneuver the payload and the tether to carry out a mission. The sensor system may include airborne cameras providing data for a scene reconstruction process and simultaneous mapping of obstacles and localization of aerial vehicles relative to the obstacles. The aerial vehicles may include a frame formed substantially of a composite material for preventing contact of the rotors with the tether segments.

A navigation module and method for providing an INS/GNSS navigation solution for a device that can either be tethered or move freely within a moving platform is provided, comprising a receiver for receiving absolute navigational information from an external source (e.g., such as a satellite), an assembly of self-contained sensors capable of obtaining readings (e.g. such as relative or non-reference based navigational information) about the device, and further comprising at least one processor, coupled to receive the output information from the receiver and sensor assembly, and operative to integrate the output information to produce an enhanced navigation solution. The at least one processor may operate to provide a navigation solution by benefiting from nonlinear models and filters that do not suffer from approximation or linearization and which enhance the navigation solution of the device.

A method and apparatus for reconstructing the behavior of an individual which provides:

a detection operation, comprising recording monitoring signals using a detection apparatus carried by the subject;
a mapping operation, comprising recording monitoring signals in an environment in which the behavior of the subject is to be reconstructed and the monitoring signals are to be associated with a map of the environment;
an operation of reconstructing the behavior, comprising taking on as positions, over time, points on the map in which the monitoring signals recorded in the detection operation correspond to the monitoring signals recorded in the mapping operation.

Microchip assemblies, such as self-contained, aided, INS microchip assemblies configured for being coupled with a circuit board or another electrical component. In some embodiments, two inertial navigation sensors may be provided, along with a receiver configured to receive an external signal comprising location data or another aiding sensor, such as a barometric pressure sensor, magnetometer, or WIFI receiver. The assembly may further comprise a processor configured to receive inertial parameter data from inertial navigation sensors and location data from the receiver, and may be configured to process the inertial parameter data and location data to output inertial navigation information.

Various embodiments of the invention provide for automatic, real-time bias detection and error compensation in inertial MEMS sensors often used in handheld devices. Real-time bias correction provides for computational advantages that lead to optimized gyroscope performance without negatively affecting user experience. In various embodiments, bias non-idealities are compensated by utilizing raw output data from the gyroscope itself without relying on additional external sensors.

The gyroscope-free accelerometer based inertial sensor allows for instantaneous (not time-recursive) measurement of angular velocity, angular acceleration of the rigid body, and linear acceleration of any point on the rigid body. The analytical solution to obtain orientation measurements (angular velocity and angular acceleration) does not require knowledge of body dynamics. Measurement of the rigid body angular acceleration can be used to estimate angular velocity in sensor fusion of various inertial and non-inertial sensor. For a body moving on ground with a point of contact with zero relative acceleration, the sensor can compensate for non-gravitational, dynamic acceleration, thus, is capable of separating gravity from motion. The presented accelerometer-magnetometer based sensor can uniquely measure the orientation between two bodies with a point of contact with zero relative acceleration (e.g. a rotating joint).

A method configured to operate an electronic device is provided. The method includes first sensing information of a geomagnetic sensor and second sensing information of at least one motion sensor. Designated attributes of the first sensing information and the second sensing information are compared. When the geomagnetic sensor is determined as a specific state depending on the comparison result, performance of a designated internal device is controlled.