Method for accelerometer-assisted navigation

1. A method for primarily sensor-based navigation of a vehicle on a road surface, the method comprising:

in a first time period, collecting geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of a navigation device;

in the first time period, collecting a first set of supplementary data using a supplementary sensor of the navigation device;

determining a first set of vertical vehicular motion data based on the first set of supplementary data;

generating a mapping association between the first set of vertical vehicular motion data and the geophysical position data;

in a second time period after the first time period, collecting a second set of supplementary data using the supplementary sensor;

determining a second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on the second set of supplementary data; and

determining an estimated location of the vehicle based on the second set of vertical vehicular motion data and the mapping association.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplementary sensor comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU), wherein the first and second sets of supplementary data are collected by the IMU.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein vertical vehicular motion data describes motion of the vehicle perpendicular the road surface.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a set of previously traveled routes, each previously traveled route of the set of previously traveled routes associated with geophysical positions previously mapped to vertical vehicular motion data;

receiving, at the navigation device, a travel source and a travel destination;

determining that a first previously traveled route from the set of previously traveled routes intersects the travel source, the travel destination, and the estimated location of the vehicle; and

navigating the vehicle according to the first previously traveled route.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, in response to identifying the first previously traveled route, switching off the GPS receiver; wherein navigating the vehicle according to the first previously traveled route comprises navigating based on vertical vehicular motion data without collecting additional GPS data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises:

inferring a GPS-measured initial vehicular location from a second set of geophysical position data collected by the GPS receiver; wherein the geophysical position data is collected at a first time between the first time period and the second time period;

generating a set of potential locations, each potential location of the set of potential locations associated with a vertical vehicular motion profile; and

calculating the estimated location of the vehicle from the set of potential locations based on: proximities of the set of potential locations to the GPS-measured initial vehicular location and correlations of the vertical vehicular motion profiles to the second set of vertical vehicular motion data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises:

inferring a GPS-measured initial vehicular location from a second set of geophysical position data collected by the GPS receiver; wherein the geophysical position data is collected at a first time between the first time period and the second time period;

collecting a third set of supplementary data between the first time and a second time in the second time period;

analyzing the third set of supplementary data to produce a first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;

calculating a vehicle position change from the first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;

calculating a GPS-and-supplemental-sensor-derived location by adding the vehicle position change to the GPS-measured initial vehicular location;

generating a set of potential locations, each potential location of the set of potential locations associated with a vertical vehicular motion profile; and

calculating the estimated location of the vehicle from the set of potential locations based on both of proximities of the set of potential locations to the GPS-and-supplemental-sensor-derived location and correlations of the vertical vehicular motion profiles to the second set of vertical vehicular motion data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in the first time period, collecting a first vehicle speed;

in the second time period, collecting a second vehicle speed;

wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises time-scaling the second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on a difference between the first vehicle speed and the second vehicle speed.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in the first time period, collecting a first vehicle suspension profile;

in the second time period, collecting a second vehicle suspension profile;

wherein determining the estimated location of the vehicle comprises analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data based on: the mapping association, the first vehicle suspension profile, and the second vehicle suspension profile.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of vertical vehicular motion data describes motion of the vehicle perpendicular a road surface supporting the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before collecting the set of accelerometer data:

in a time period, collecting the set of geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of a navigation device;

in the time period, collecting a second set of accelerometer data using an accelerometer of the navigation device;

analyzing the second set of accelerometer data to produce the first set of vertical vehicular motion data; and

generating the mapping association based on the first set of vertical vehicular motion data and the set of geophysical position data.

12. A method for navigation of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a mapping association between a first set of vertical vehicular motion data and a set of geophysical position data;

after receiving the mapping association, collecting a set of accelerometer data;

analyzing the set of accelerometer data to produce a second set of vertical vehicular motion data; and

determining an estimated location of the vehicle based on the second set of vertical vehicular motion data and the mapping association.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining a set of vehicle suspension calibration data, wherein determining the estimated location comprises analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data in light of: the mapping association and the set of vehicle suspension calibration data.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected during a time period, wherein determining the set of vehicle suspension calibration data comprises:

collecting a set of geophysical position data, the set of geophysical position data received by a GPS receiver during the time period;

deriving a GPS-derived location based on the set of geophysical position data;

generating a reference vertical vehicular motion profile from the mapping association and the GPS-derived location;

determining a comparison between the reference vertical vehicular motion profile and the second set of accelerometer data; and

generating the set of vehicle suspension calibration data based on the comparison.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected at an accelerometer of a navigation device, the method further comprising, at the navigation device, detecting a vehicle type of the vehicle, wherein the set of vehicle suspension calibration data is determined based on the vehicle type.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a set of previously traveled routes, each previously traveled route of the set of previously traveled routes associated with geophysical positions previously mapped to vertical vehicular motion data;

receiving a travel source and a travel destination;

determining that a first previously traveled route from the set of previously traveled routes intersects the travel source, the travel destination, and the estimated location of the vehicle; and

navigating the vehicle according to the first previously traveled route.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected at an accelerometer of a navigation device, the method further comprising:

determining a location estimate error; and

in response to the location estimate error falling below a location estimate error threshold, disabling a GPS receiver of the navigation device and navigating based on vertical vehicular motion data without collecting additional GPS data.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected during a time period, wherein determining the location estimate error comprises:

collecting a set of geophysical position data, the set of geophysical position data received by the GPS receiver during the time period;

determining a GPS-derived location based on the set of geophysical position data;

determining a comparison between the GPS-derived location and the estimated location of the vehicle; and

calculating the location estimate error based on the comparison.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein calculating an estimated location of the vehicle comprises:

inferring a GPS-measured initial vehicular location from a second set of geophysical position data collected by the GPS receiver; wherein the geophysical position data is collected at a first time between the first time period and the second time period;

collecting a third set of accelerometer data between the first time and a second time in the second time period;

analyzing the third set of accelerometer data to produce a first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;

calculating a vehicle position change from the first set of horizontal vehicular motion data;

calculating a GPS-and-accelerometer-derived location by adding the vehicle position change to the GPS-measured initial vehicular location;

calculating a vertical-accelerometer-derived location and a vertical-accelerometer confidence by analyzing the second set of vertical vehicular motion data in light of the mapping association; and

selecting one of the GPS-and-accelerometer-derived location and the vertical-accelerometer-derived location as the estimated location of the vehicle based on the vertical-accelerometer-derived confidence.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the set of accelerometer data is collected during a time period at an accelerometer of a navigation device, the method further comprising:

collecting a second set of geophysical position data using a GPS receiver of the navigation device during the time period;

deriving a GPS-derived location based on the second set of GPS geophysical position data;

calculating a GPS accuracy confidence in the GPS-derived location; wherein:

calculating an estimated location of the vehicle comprises calculating an estimated location of the vehicle from a weighted combination of an initial estimated location and the GPS-derived location;

the initial estimated location is calculated from analysis of the second set of vertical vehicular data alone; and

the GPS-derived location is weighted by the GPS accuracy confidence.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising modifying a duty cycle of the GPS receiver based on the GPS accuracy confidence.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein calculating a GPS accuracy confidence comprises computing a geometric dilution of precision rating and comparing the geometric dilution of precision rating to a geometric dilution of precision rating threshold.