Probably everyone who has every used a GPS navigation device, whether PND or mobile phone, has had problems acquiring a satellite fix inside, in tunnels, or in so-called ‘urban canyons’. Well aware of this shortcoming, Japan’s Aichi Steel has invented a navigation device that, rather than GPS, uses geomagnetic and acceleration sensors to provide six axes of detection that’ll accurately position the device anywhere on Earth.
Because it doesn’t need a GPS satellite fix to find position, Aichi’s device will succeed precisely where typical GPS devices fail. Currently the devices is running through trials which, in successful, will result in commercialization in 2009. Aichi Steel is also considering combining their technology with GPS in the future, forming what they believe will be a earth-shatteringly accurate in-car navigation device.
via techradar
