GPS/DR Vehicle Location and Navigation System: A Region Division Approach

A region division approach for vehicle location and navigation is presented, which is based on GPS technique, dead reckoning (DR) and the map matching of digital road networks. In order to meet the needs of wide applications, a region divided model for the vehicle location and navigation system (VLNS) is established. Based on this model, a systematic analysis of the central module, and an outline design of the VLNS are discussed on the following issues: (1) the dynamic switch of the working mode between GPS and CDGPS (conventional differential GPS), (2) the layered map database and the dynamic compile of the layered map, and (3) the improved map matching algorithm that compensates the positioning errors of GPS and dead reckoning with the aid of digital map. It has been proved that with the region division approach, the performances of the VLNS get improved. The VLNS model built in this paper can provide high precision application not only for local area, but also for wide area users.