Navigation using Accelerometer

[poopsie]

Alright, here is something that I think would be really cool. I don't anything about coding, but if someone is ambitious I think this could be kind of a cool thing. If anyone is a pilot and has heard of INS, it is basically a self contained navigation system on a plane, usually an airliner.

Basically the pilots set in the coordinates of the gate they are at, then a gyro or accelerometer measures speed in all directions to navigate itself. You can read about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system).

Why couldn't we use the accelerometers on our phones along with maps to do the same thing? Why? Well, it would help with battery life and would be great in really low GPS signal areas. Then you could have it get a location from the GPS every so often to make corrections for error and what not.

I don't know, just thought it would be kind of cool, maybe its lame maybe its not. If not, have fun I think it would be cool.

[gobmonster]

I think this takes a dive into calculus :(

When a person stops accelerating and moves at a constant speed, a g sensor (accelerometer) gives a zero reading back. It gets really screwy trying to track position with only one accelerometer. Think of it this way, the nintendo wii recently announced a wii controller add on for one to one motion... why? It takes more than one accelerometer to track exactly how a person moves in free space (and a butt load of mathematics).

Basic as can be said, position tracking cannot be done on this device without the aid of a gps or more accelerometers, i hope that helps

[poopsie]

I think this takes a dive into calculus :(

When a person stops accelerating and moves at a constant speed, a g sensor (accelerometer) gives a zero reading back. It gets really screwy trying to track position with only one accelerometer. Think of it this way, the nintendo wii recently announced a wii controller add on for one to one motion... why? It takes more than one accelerometer to track exactly how a person moves in free space (and a butt load of mathematics).

Basic as can be said, position tracking cannot be done on this device without the aid of a gps or more accelerometers, i hope that helps

Oh well, I thought it would take quite a bit. Thanks!