Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have emerged to use different technologies to promote safety, convenience, and efficiency of transportation networks. Many applications of ITS depend on the availability of the real-time positioning of the vehicles in the network. In this research, the two open challenges in the field of vehicle localization for ITS are introduced and addressed. First, in order to have safe and efficient transportation systems, the locations of the vehicles need to be available everywhere in a network. Conventional localization techniques mostly rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology which cannot meet the accuracy requirements for all applications in all situations. This work advances the study of vehicle positioning in ITS by introducing an integrated positioning framework which uses several resources including GPS, vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, radio-frequency identification, and dead reckoning. These technologies are used to provide more reliable and accurate location information. The suggested framework fills the gap between the accuracy of the current vehicle localization techniques and the required one for many ITS applications. Second, different ITS applications have different localization accuracy and latency requirements. A smart positioning algorithm is proposed which enable us to change the positioning accuracy delivered by the algorithm based on different applications. The algorithm utilizes only the most effective resources to achieve the required accuracy, even if more resources are available. In this way, the complexity of the system and the running time decrease while the desired accuracy is obtained. The adjective Smart is selected because the algorithm smartly selects the most effective connection which has the most contribution to vehicle positioning when a connection needs to be added. On the other hand, when a connection should be removed, the algorithm smartly selects the least effective one which has the least contribution to the position estimation. This study also provides an overview about the positioning requirements for different ITS applications. A close-to-real-world scenario has been developed and simulated in MATLAB to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms. The simulation results show that the vehicle can acquire accurate location in different environments using the suggested Integrated framework. Moreover, the advantages of the proposed Smart algorithm in terms of accuracy and running time are presented through a series of comprehensive simulations. / Master of Science

Position in the environment is essential in any autonomous system. As increased accuracy is required, the costs escalate accordingly. This paper presents a simple way to systematically integrate sensory data to provide a drivable and accurate position solution at a low cost. The data fusion is handled by a Kalman filter tracking five states and an undetermined number of asynchronous measurements. This implementation allows the user to define additional adjustments to improve the overall behavior of the filter. The filter is tested using a suite of inexpensive sensors and then compared to a differential GPS position. The output of the filter is indeed a drivable solution that tracks the reference position remarkably well. This approach takes advantage of the short-term accuracy of odometry measurements and the long-term fix of a GPS unit. A maximum error of two meters of deviation from the reference is shown for a complex path over two minutes and 100 meters long. / Master of Science

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Global Positioning System (GPS) was analyzed in terms of its repeatable accuracy, UTM projection for 2D plane coordinate system, satellite visibility performance and the horizontal dilution of positioning (HDOP). The principle of Dead Reckoning together with body coordinate system transformation was introduced. The complementary performance of GPS and DR, and GPS/DR integration using gyroscope and accelerometer were given. Test results were demonstrated that the repeatable accuracy of GPS alone is about 10 meters in open air, and DR can provide continuous positioning output within sufficient accuracy when GPS signal is outage.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1985 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / The purpose of this paper is to describe the Tri-Service effort to use the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) on Tri-Service ranges. It will describe the background, the development program, the equipment, the management team, the specifications that the equipment must satisfy, the integration into five DOD ranges, an assessment of developmental risk, a recap of logistical aspects, and will provide a development schedule.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Bantam Robust Guidance Navigation & Control Project is investigating off the shelf navigation sensors that may be inexpensively combined into Kalman filters specifically tuned for launch and orbital vehicles. For this purpose, Marshall has purchased several GPS receivers and is evaluating them for these applications. The paper will discuss the receiver selection criteria and the test equipment used for evaluation. An overview of the analysis will be presented including the evaluation used to determine their success or failure. It will conclude with goals of the program and a recommendation for all GPS users.

Ett starkt varumärke är nyckeln till att ett tjänsteföretag ska lyckas behålla en framstående position på marknaden samt för att urskilja dem från andra aktörer. Därutöver krävs det att företaget lyckas med sin positionering, det vill säga att när kunden eller intressenten får ett behov ska den kunna koppla företagets varumärke till just det uppkomna behovet. Vid etablering på en ny marknad är det viktigt att undersöka företagets positionering och varumärkesstyrkor på hemmamarknaden för att avgöra om dessa går att nyttja även på den nya marknaden, eller om de behöver anpassas. Fastighetsmäklarföretag har sett sin chans att internationalisera sig då allt fler svenskar väljer att köpa bostad utomlands. Ett av de mest populära länderna för svenskar att köpa bostad i är Spanien, detta med anledning av klimatet, atmosfären, arbetssituationer eller familjerelationer. Forskare menar att ett företag kan ha svårigheter med att imitera samma varumärkesimage på den internationella marknaden som på hemmamarknaden, det kan beror på faktorer som exempelvis kulturella och legala skillnader. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur svenska fastighetsmäklarföretag valt att positionera sitt varumärke på hemmamarknaden respektive den spanska marknaden samt utreda om de anpassar sin positioneringsstrategi beroende på vilken marknad de riktar sig till. I teoridelen användes befintliga teorier och modeller, i den empiriska delen utgicks detifrån den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden därdatainsamlingen begränsadestill intervjuer. Detta ansågs ge störst djupet i studien samt att det var den mest lämpliga metoden för att få ut den informationen som söktes från informantföretagen. Resultatet av studien visade att samtliga informantföretag vill förmedla ett enhetligt varumärke till sina kunder på de båda marknaderna för att öka tryggheten mot dem. Dock tyder resultatet på att fastighetsmäklarföretagen väljer att anpassa sin positioneringsstrategi på hemmamarknaden jämfört med den spanska marknaden då de huvudsakligen vill förmedla en dröm. / For a company to succeed it must have a strong and recognizable brand, this is the most important tool a company can use to be successful. If a company succeeds with its positioning, the client should be able to connect the company’s brand to their needs. When starting in a new market, it is important to examine the company’s positioning and brand strengths in the home market in order to determine whether they can use similar ideas in the new market, or whether the brand positioning need to be adapted. Real estate brokerage firms have seen their opportunity to internationalize due to that more and more Swedes are choosing to buy a property abroad. Spain is one of the most popular countries for Swedes to buy properties in, because of the climate, the atmosphere, work situations and family relationships. Researchers believe that a company may have difficulties imitating the same image in the international market as the home market, it may depend on factors such as cultural and legal differences. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Swedish real estate brokerage firms have chosen to position their brand in the home market and the Spanish market, as well as investigate whether they adapt their positioning depending on the market they are operating on. Existing theories and models where used and as for the empirical part, we have chosen to use qualitative research method and to limit the data collection to interviews. We believed this provided a greater depth to our study and that it was the most feasible way to get access to the information we sought from the companies that we interviewed. We came to the conclusion that all companies that took part in our study want to convey a united brand to its customers in both markets. However, we found that theychoose to alter the way of working their positioning strategy in their home market compared to the Spanish market.

Robust long-term positioning for autonomous mobile robots is essential for many applications. In many environments this task is challenging, as errors accumulate in the robot’s position estimate over time. The robot must also build a map so that these errors can be corrected when mapped regions are re-visited; this is known as Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping, or SLAM. Successful SLAM schemes have been demonstrated which accurately map tracks of tens of kilometres, however these schemes rely on expensive sensors such as laser scanners and inertial measurement units. A more attractive, low-cost sensor is a digital camera, which captures images that can be used to recognise where the robot is, and to incrementally position the robot as it moves. SLAM using a single camera is challenging however, and many contemporary schemes suffer complete failure in dynamic or featureless environments, or during erratic camera motion. An additional problem, known as scale drift, is that cameras do not directly measure the scale of the environment, and errors in relative scale accumulate over time, introducing errors into the robot’s speed and position estimates. Key to a successful visual SLAM system is the ability to continue operation despite these difficulties, and to recover from positioning failure when it occurs. This thesis describes the development of such a scheme, which is known as BoWSLAM. BoWSLAM enables a robot to reliably navigate and map previously unknown environments, in real-time, using only a single camera. In order to position a camera in visually challenging environments, BoWSLAM combines contemporary visual SLAM techniques with four new components. Firstly, a new Bag-of-Words (BoW) scheme is developed, which allows a robot to recognise places it has visited previously, without any prior knowledge of its environment. This BoW scheme is also used to select the best set of frames to reconstruct positions from, and to find efficient wide-baseline correspondences between many pairs of frames. Secondly, BaySAC, a new outlier- robust relative pose estimation scheme based on the popular RANSAC framework, is developed. BaySAC allows the efficient computation of multiple position hypotheses for each frame. Thirdly, a graph-based representation of these position hypotheses is proposed, which enables the selection of only reliable position estimates in the presence of gross outliers. Fourthly, as the robot explores, objects in the world are recognised and measured. These measurements enable scale drift to be corrected. BoWSLAM is demonstrated mapping a 25 minute 2.5km trajectory through a challenging and dynamic outdoor environment in real-time, and without any other sensor input; considerably further than previous single camera SLAM schemes.

A technique is proposed to improve the accuracy of indoor positioning systems based on WIFI radio-frequency signals by using dynamic access points and fingerprints (DAFs). Moreover, an indoor position system that relies solely in DAFs is proposed. The walking pattern of indoor users is classified as dynamic or static for indoor positioning purposes. I demonstrate that the performance of a conventional indoor positioning system that uses static fingerprints can be enhanced by considering dynamic fingerprints and access points. The accuracy of the system is evaluated using four positioning algorithms and two random access point selection strategies. The system facilitates the location of people where there is no wireless local area network (WLAN) infrastructure deployed or where the WLAN infrastructure has been drastically affected, for example by natural disasters. The system can be used for search and rescue operations and for expanding the coverage of an indoor positioning system.

A review of the literature indicates that how infants are positioned is related to the risk of SIDS, the incidence and severity of plagiocephaly, torticollis, and developmental delays. A quantitative approach with survey methodology was used with 66 pediatric primary care providers responding to 26 questions. Overall, PCPs are educating caregivers about sleep positioning with a high frequency. There was a relationship between practice site, and the frequency of sleep positioning education is provided. While the participants provide education about awake positioning, and the use of positioning devices, it was with less frequency than they do about sleep positioning; there is limited education and awareness surrounding issues related to infants' prolonged use positioning devices among PCPs in this study. This information indicates there is room for further study of the long-term effects upon child development of extensive supine positioning, as well as potential areas for occupational therapy intervention in the area of preventative education.

The diploma thesis analyzes the brand positioning and marketing strategy of the company Plzeňský Prazdroj, a.s. The first part of the study presents the main marketing terms and theories. The next chapter deals with the subject of brand identity and brand value. The practical part presents the brewery company Plzeňský Prazdroj, a.s. and portfolio of its products. The following chapter analyzes brand positioning, communication campaigns and sponsoring activities of the brands of Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, Radegast and Velkopopovický Kozel. The results of the field questioning show the associations of consumers with the brands mentioned above and the knowledge of their communication campaigns. Those results are compared to the identity of brands. At the end of the thesis there are some recommendations for changes in the brand communication.