Grid2Guide: A* Enabled Small Language Model for Indoor Navigation
This provides a lightweight, infrastructure-free solution for real-time indoor navigation support, though it is incremental as it integrates existing methods (A* and SLMs) in a novel way.
The paper tackles indoor navigation in environments without external positioning signals by introducing Grid2Guide, a hybrid framework that combines A* search with a Small Language Model to generate human-readable route instructions, achieving accurate and timely guidance as validated in experiments.
Reliable indoor navigation remains a significant challenge in complex environments, particularly where external positioning signals and dedicated infrastructures are unavailable. This research presents Grid2Guide, a hybrid navigation framework that combines the A* search algorithm with a Small Language Model (SLM) to generate clear, human-readable route instructions. The framework first conducts a binary occupancy matrix from a given indoor map. Using this matrix, the A* algorithm computes the optimal path between origin and destination, producing concise textual navigation steps. These steps are then transformed into natural language instructions by the SLM, enhancing interpretability for end users. Experimental evaluations across various indoor scenarios demonstrate the method's effectiveness in producing accurate and timely navigation guidance. The results validate the proposed approach as a lightweight, infrastructure-free solution for real-time indoor navigation support.