Time distance of arrival based mobile device location detection with disturbance scrutiny

• US 10,375,668 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2018
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Puthenpura, Sarat, Chen, Jie, Parker, Sam Houston, Wang, Huahui, Zhao, Wenjie
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Quoc Thai N
• Application Number:
  US15/946,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20180227876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 488 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Techniques for locating a mobile device using a time distance of arrival (TDOA) method with disturbance scrutiny are provided. In an aspect, for respective combinations of three base station devices of a number of base station devices greater than or equal to three, intersections in hyperbolic curves, generated using a closed form function with input values based on differences of distances from the device to pairs of base station devices of the respective combinations of three base station devices, are determined. The intersection points are then tested for robustness against measurement errors associated with the input values and a subset of the intersection points that are associated with a degree of resistance to the measurement errors are selected to estimate a location of the device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving signal information from a mobile device indicating arrival times of signals received by the mobile device from respective base station devices included in a group of base station devices;

determining, using a closed form hyperbolic curve function, an intersection point between hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information;

determining, using the closed form hyperbolic curve function, a disturbed intersection point between disturbed hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information as modified based on a deliberate error value;

determining a distance between the intersection point and the disturbed intersection point; and

determining a location of the mobile device using the intersection point based on the difference being determined to be less than a threshold distance.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

discarding the intersection point based on the being determined to be greater than the threshold distance.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining, using the closed form hyperbolic curve function, intersection points between hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information; and

selecting the intersection point from the intersection points based on the intersection point being determined to minimize a root mean squared error criterion.

4. The system off claim 1, wherein the hyperbolic curve was further generated based on location information identifying base station locations of the respective base station devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the hyperbolic curve was further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of base station devices of the respective base station devices.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the group of base station devices comprises at least three base station devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the location further comprises determining the location using the intersection point based on the intersection point being determined to satisfy a root mean square error criterion.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, signal information from a mobile device indicating arrival times of signals received by the mobile device from respective base station devices of a group of base station devices;

determining, by the system using a closed form hyperbolic curve function, intersection points between hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information and base station location information identifying respective locations of the base station devices;

determining, by the system using the closed form hyperbolic curve function, disturbed intersection points between disturbed hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information as modified based on a deliberate error value;

determining, by the system, a degree of robustness of respective intersection points of the intersection points based on differences between the respective intersection points and corresponding disturbed intersection points of the disturbed intersection points; and

determining, by the system, a location of the mobile device based on robust intersection points of the intersection points that are associated with at least a defined degree of robustness.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the differences represent distances between the respective intersection points and the corresponding disturbed intersection points.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the defined degree of robustness is based on a maximum distance value.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting, by the system, a subset of the robust intersection points based on the subset of the robust intersection points minimizing a root mean squared error criterion; and

determining, by the system, the location based on the subset of the robust intersection points.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the hyperbolic curves were further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of base station devices of the respective base station devices.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the group of base station devices comprises at least three base station devices.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving signal information from a mobile device indicating arrival times of signals received by the mobile device from respective base station devices included in a group of base station devices;

determining, using a closed form function, intersection points between hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information and base station location information identifying respective locations of the base station devices;

determining, using the closed form function, disturbed intersection points between disturbed hyperbolic curves generated based on the signal information as modified based on a deliberate error value;

determining a degree of robustness of respective intersection points of the intersection points based on differences between the respective intersection points and corresponding disturbed intersection points of the disturbed intersection points; and

determining a location of the mobile device based on a robust intersection point of the intersection points based on the robust intersection point being determined to have an acceptable degree of robustness.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the determining the location further comprises determining the location based on the robust intersection point being determined to satisfy a root mean squared error criterion.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the hyperbolic curves were further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of base station devices of the respective base station devices.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the differences represent distances between the respective intersection points and the corresponding disturbed intersection points.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the acceptable degree of robustness is based on a maximum distance value.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the group of base station devices comprises at least three base station devices.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

discarding an intersection point of the intersection points based on the intersection point being determined not to have the acceptable degree of robustness.