An automated 3D modeling of topological indoor navigation network

Indoor navigation is important for various applications such as disaster management, building modeling, safety analysis etc. In the last decade, indoor environment has been a focus of wide research that includes development of indoor data acquisition techniques, 3D data modeling and indoor navigation. In this research, an automated method for 3D modeling of indoor navigation network has been presented. 3D indoor navigation modeling requires a valid 3D model that can be represented as a cell complex: a model without any gap or intersection such that two cells (e.g. room, corridor) perfectly touch each other. This research investigates an automated method for 3D modeling of indoor navigation network using a geometrical model of indoor building environment. In order to reduce time and cost of surveying process, Trimble LaserAce 1000 laser rangefinder was used to acquire indoor building data which led to the acquisition of an inaccurate geometry of building. The connection between surveying benchmarks was established using Delaunay triangulation. Dijkstra algorithm was used to find shortest path in between building floors. The modeling results were evaluated against an accurate geometry of indoor building environment which was acquired using highly-accurate Trimble M3 total station. This research intends to investigate and propose a novel method of topological navigation network modeling with a less accurate geometrical model to overcome the need of required an accurate geometrical model. To control the uncertainty of the calibration and of the reconstruction of the building from the measurements, interval analysis and homotopy continuation will be investigated in the near future. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.