Travi-Navi: Self-Deployable Indoor Navigation System

Abstract

We present Travi-Navi-a vision-guided navigation system that enables a self-motivated user to easily bootstrap and deploy indoor navigation services, without comprehensive indoor localization systems or even the availability of floor maps. Travi-Navi records high-quality images during the course of a guider's walk on the navigation paths, collects a rich set of sensor readings, and packs them into a navigation trace. The followers track the navigation trace, get prompt visual instructions and image tips, and receive alerts when they deviate from the correct paths. Travi-Navi also finds shortcuts whenever possible. In this paper, we describe the key techniques to solve several practical challenges, including robust tracking, shortcut identification, and high-quality image capture while walking. We implement Travi-Navi and conduct extensive experiments. The evaluation results show that Travi-Navi can track and navigate users with timely instructions, typically within a four-step offset, and detect deviation events within nine steps. We also characterize the power consumption of Travi-Navi on various mobile phones.