GPS: New GPS Technology Being Developed For More Accuracy from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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GPS: New GPS Technology Being Developed For More Accuracy

February
2013

  File under GPS
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Riding around with a GPS on your motorcycle can be heaven-sent for bikers who adventure further than their normal day-to-day route. Memorizing routes, unfolding paper maps, tearing them, etc are ways of the past. Plug in your GPS and follow the female/male voice to your destination. Easy.

It sounds great, and many of you do exactly that. But many of you also know what happens when you've reached a big city and need to navigate the narrow streets, often one way, with tens of intersections. The tall buildings block the GPS signal, and with only 1 or 2 satellites tracking your efforts, your accuracy is reduced from 50 feet (15 meters) to 165 feet (50 meters) or even 0 feet (0 meters). 165 feet of accuracy means you'll miss that important road you had to turn into. Not that it's a big issue, since the GPS will recalculate and bring you back the way you should go. The same applies to tunnels, thick forests, etc. But if you're in a hurry, it can be a pain.

Many cars are using a built-in gyroscope and speedometer data to "estimate" your position during these GPS blackouts, but although they do work, they are far from accurate. The Spanish university Carlos III in Madrid have come up with a small device that is added to your GPS (and could be incorporated in future units), consisting of 3 accelerometers and 3 gyroscopes, and combined with your GPS, allow for an accuracy of 3.3 feet (2 meters) in an urban environment. The system keeps track of your speed and orientation, and maps this out with the built-in map. 3 to 5 feet accuracy is incredible, since it will really tell you exactly where you are. You could even, as some airplanes do, use it to ride in thick fog.

This means with an accuracy like this, and built-in hardware, you'll never have black-out spots when navigating your motorcycle through a big city. It also means when aliens take down our satellites, we'll still be able to navigate our motorcycles.

The technology is being developed to allow driver-less cars, but the Spanish researchers are working on a smartphone system, since most smartphone already have accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS. So you can expect the accurate GPS coming to device on your motorcycle in the next few years.

Via: BBC