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About

Patrick Robertson is a leading figure in pedestrian navigation and indoor localization, renowned for pioneering the use of Earth’s magnetic field as a reliable positioning signal. His foundational work, including the highly cited "Characterization of the indoor magnetic field for applications in Localization and Mapping" (127 citations) and "Magnetic maps of indoor environments for precise localization of legged and non-legged locomotion" (107 citations), demonstrated that the naturally distorted indoor magnetic field is rich in spatial features. By combining magnetic field maps with inertial sensors or wheel encoders, Robertson enabled precise, infrastructure-free localization for both humans and robots—a breakthrough that bypasses the need for Wi-Fi or beacons. He further advanced the field with Foot-SLAM, a novel approach applying simultaneous localization and mapping principles to shoe-mounted inertial sensors for pedestrian tracking. His development of a Three Dimensional Pedestrian Movement Model (3D-MM) probabilistically represents realistic human motion across complex indoor and outdoor environments, with applications in evacuation planning and infrastructure design. With over 270 citations across his key publications, Robertson’s work has fundamentally shaped modern indoor navigation, offering robust solutions for emergency responders, autonomous systems, and ubiquitous positioning.