A Study on Altitude Estimation using Smartphone Pressure Sensor for Emergency Positioning

This paper introduces a study to estimate the user altitude in need of rescue in an emergency. The altitude is estimated by using the barometric pressure sensor embedded in the smartphone. Compared to GPS, which is degraded in urban or indoor environments, it has the advantage of not having spatial restrictions. With the endless development of smartphone hardware, it is possible to estimate the absolute altitude using the measured value if only the bias of the embedded barometric pressure sensor is applied. The altitude information of the person in need of rescue in an emergency is a great help in reducing rescue time. Since time is tight, we propose online calibration that provides the barometric pressure sensor bias used for altitude estimation through database. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to understand the characteristics of the barometric pressure sensor, which is greatly affected by wind. At the end, the altitude estimation performance was confirmed through an actual field tests in various floors in the building.