A step length estimation method based on frequency domain feature analysis and gait recognition for pedestrian dead reckoning

PurposeStep length is a key factor for pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR), which affects positioning accuracy and reliability. Traditional methods are difficult to handle step length estimation of dynamic gait, which have larger error and are not adapted to real walking. This paper aims to propose a step length estimation method based on frequency domain feature analysis and gait recognition for PDR, which considers the effects of real-time gait.Design/methodology/approachThe new step length estimation method transformed the acceleration of pedestrians from time domain to frequency domain, and gait characteristics of pedestrians were obtained and matched with different walking speeds.FindingsMany experiments are conducted and compared with Weinberg and Kim models, and the results show that the average errors of the new method were improved by about 2 meters to 5 meters. It also shows that the proposed method has strong stability and device robustness and meets the accuracy requirements of positioning.Originality/valueA sliding window strategy used in fast Fourier transform is proposed to implement frequency domain analysis of the acceleration, and a fast adaptive gait recognition mechanism is proposed to identify gait of pedestrians.