Methods and systems for performing physical measurements using radio frequency (RF) signals
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- transmitting, from a first radio device, a spread-spectrum waveform radio frequency (RF) signal;
receiving, by a second radio device, the RF signal;
transforming, using a Fourier transform, a spread-spectrum waveform into a frequency domain to generate a transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform;
determining a carrier frequency of the RF signal;
determining a slope of a carrier phase versus the carrier frequency corresponding to a rate of change of the carrier phase with the carrier frequency based on the transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform; and
determining a physical distance between the first radio device and the second radio device based on the slope, wherein the physical distance is proportional to the slope plus an integer ambiguity term.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The subject matter described herein includes methods and systems for performing physical measurements using radio frequency (RF) signals. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method is disclosed for determining the distance between a first radio device and a second radio device. The method includes transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal from the first radio device and receiving the RF signal by the second radio device. The method further includes a determining a carrier frequency of the RF signal and determining a slope of a carrier phase versus the carrier frequency corresponding to a rate of change of the carrier phase with the carrier frequency. The method also includes determining a physical distance between the first radio device and the second radio device based on the slope; wherein the physical distance is proportional to the slope plus an integer ambiguity term and a bias term.
17 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
transmitting, from a first radio device, a spread-spectrum waveform radio frequency (RF) signal; receiving, by a second radio device, the RF signal; transforming, using a Fourier transform, a spread-spectrum waveform into a frequency domain to generate a transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform; determining a carrier frequency of the RF signal; determining a slope of a carrier phase versus the carrier frequency corresponding to a rate of change of the carrier phase with the carrier frequency based on the transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform; and determining a physical distance between the first radio device and the second radio device based on the slope, wherein the physical distance is proportional to the slope plus an integer ambiguity term. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A system comprising:
-
a first radio device configured for transmitting a spread-spectrum waveform radio frequency (RF) signal; a second radio device configured for receiving the RF signal; a measurement device configured for; transforming, using a Fourier transform, a spread-spectrum waveform into a frequency domain to generate a transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform; determining a carrier frequency of the RF signal; determining a slope of a carrier phase versus the carrier frequency corresponding to a rate of change of the carrier phase with the carrier frequency based on the transformed frequency domain spread-spectrum waveform; and determining a physical distance between the first radio device and the second radio device based on the slope, wherein the physical distance is proportional to the slope plus an integer ambiguity term. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method comprising:
-
transmitting, from a first radio device, a first radio frequency (RF) signal; transmitting, from a second radio device, a second RF signal; receiving, by the second radio device, the first RF signal; receiving, by the first radio device, the second RF signal; determining a first carrier frequency of the first RF signal; determining a first slope of a first carrier phase versus the first carrier frequency corresponding to a first rate of change of the first carrier phase with the first carrier frequency; determining a second carrier frequency of the second RF signal; determining a second slope of a second carrier phase versus the second carrier frequency corresponding to a second rate of change of the second carrier phase with the second carrier frequency; determining a round trip phase slope value by combining the first slope and the second slope; and determining a round trip physical distance between the first and second radio devices, wherein the round trip physical distance is proportional to the round trip phase slope value.
-
-
23. A system comprising:
-
a first radio device configured for transmitting a first radio frequency (RF) signal and receiving a second RF signal; a second radio device configured for receiving the first RF signal and transmitting the second RF signal; a measurement system configured for; determining a first carrier frequency of the first RF signal; determining a first slope of a first carrier phase versus the first carrier frequency corresponding to a first rate of change of the first carrier phase with first the carrier frequency; determining a second carrier frequency of the second RF signal; determining a second slope of a second carrier phase versus the second carrier frequency corresponding to a second rate of change of the second carrier phase with the second carrier frequency; determining a round trip phase slope value by combining the first slope and the second slope; and determining a round trip physical distance between the first and second radio devices, wherein the round trip physical distance is proportional to the round trip phase slope value.
-
Specification