Queen’s University: Navigation Algorithm
Key Documents
FPGA-based system provides hardware acceleration for mobile multi-sensor navigation system.
In the search for a more-accurate and low-cost positioning solution in GPS-denied areas, researchers are developing integrated navigation algorithms that utilize measurements from low-cost sensors. Once a navigation algorithm is developed, verified, and proven to be worthy, the ultimate goal is to put it on a low-cost, real-time embedded system.
In their work to design such a system, researchers at Queen’s University incorporated a Xilinx FPGA. Their applied navigation algorithm is a 2D GPS/reduced inertial sensor system (RISS) integration algorithm that incorporates measurements from a gyroscope and a vehicle’s odometer or a robot’s wheel encoders, along with those from a GPS receiver.
The FPGA provides many advantages over off-the-shelf processors in developing a mobile multi-sensor navigation system, including customization, the ability to design a multiprocessor system, and hardware acceleration. Designers of the FPGA-based embedded processor system also have the total flexibility to add any custom combination of peripherals and controllers.
Finally, one of the most compelling reasons for choosing Xilinx is the ability to concurrently develop hardware and software, and have them coexist on a single chip.
Additional Information
Read the full story, MicroBlaze Hosts Mobile Multisensor Navigation System in XCell Journal Issue 74