Portable base station network for local differential GNSS corrections

• US 10,571,576 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2018
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agjunction LLC (Kubota Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Agjunction LLC (Kubota Corporation)
• Inventors: McClure, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kasraian, Allahyar
• Application Number:
  US15/866,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20180156918A1
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers

Abstract

A DGNSS-based guidance system, wherein a rover receiver first utilizes data from a master base station transceiver, a DGNSS reference network, or some other differential source to compute a differentially corrected location to establish a reference DGNSS relationship. Using this location and data observed only at the rover, the rover computes an internal set of differential corrections, which set is stored in computer memory, updated as necessary, and applied in future times to correct observations taken by the rover. As the rover enters into areas of other base station receiver reference networks, the rover transceiver will send positional information it receives from the master base station to the new, secondary base station. The secondary base station then calibrates its own reference information using information sent from the original master base station.

Claims

1. A positioning system, comprising:

a computer system located in a vehicle and configured to;

receive first position signals from a master base station;

receive second position signals from a secondary base station;

determine a position shift between the first position signals and the second position signals; and

upload the position shift to the secondary base station to calibrate the second position signals relative to the first position signals.

2. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the first position signals from the master base station and the second position signals from the secondary base station are differential correction signals.

3. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to transmit the position shift to the master base station and the secondary base station.

4. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to upload the position shift to the secondary base station over a radio or cellular communication link.

5. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

calculate different position shifts for different locations of the secondary base station;

save the different position shifts for the different locations of the secondary base station;

determine a current global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location for the secondary base station;

identify one of the different locations closest to the current GNSS location as a closest GNSS location; and

use one of the saved position shifts for the closest GNSS location to determine the location of the vehicle.

6. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to use the calibrated second position signals to determine the location of the vehicle when the vehicle transitions into a coverage area of the secondary base station.

7. The positioning system of claim 6, wherein the computer system is further configured to use the first position signals of the master base station to determine the location of the vehicle when the vehicle transitions back into a coverage area of the master base station.

8. The positioning system of claim 6, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

determine an average for position shifts between the master base station and different secondary base stations; and

use the average of the position shifts to determine the location of the vehicle.

9. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

receive the first position signals from the master base station and the second position signals from the secondary base station when the vehicle is located in an overlapping coverage area of the master base station and the secondary base station; and

use the first position signals from the master base station to determine the location of the vehicle when the vehicle is in the overlapping coverage area.

10. The positioning system of claim 9, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

detect a blocked-signal area within the overlapping coverage area where signals from the master base station are blocked; and

use the calibrated second position signals from the secondary base station to determine the location of the vehicle when the vehicle is in the blocked-signal area.

11. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

determine an additional position shift between the first position signals of the master base station and third position signals from a third base station; and

upload the additional position shift to the third base station to calibrate the third position signals relative to the master base station.

12. A method for using a computing device, comprising:

determining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) based position for a secondary base station;

receiving a position shift between the GNSS based position and a position of a master base station;

updating the GNSS based position of the secondary base station with the position shift; and

sending the updated GNSS based position to vehicles within a coverage area of the secondary base station.

13. The method of claim 12, including receiving the position shift from a vehicle transitioning from a first coverage area of the master base station to a second coverage area of the secondary base station.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

saving different locations and associated GNSS based positions for the secondary base station;

determining a current location of the secondary base station;

identifying one of the different locations closest to the current location; and

use one of the saved GNSS base positions for the identified one of the different locations as the GNSS based position of the secondary base station.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

saving locations for the secondary base station as associated differential correction data;

determining a current location of the secondary base station; and

generating differential correction data for the current location by averaging the differential correction data for some of the saved locations closest to the current location.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising reusing the position shift for new locations of the secondary base station.

17. A global navigation satellite system (GNSS) based positioning system, comprising:

a secondary base station configured to;

receive a position offset between first position signals for a master base station and second position signals for the secondary base station;

use the position offset to adjust the second position signals relative to the first position signals; and

send the adjusted second position signals to a vehicle within a coverage area of the secondary base station.

18. The positioning system of claim 17, wherein the secondary base station is further configured to receive the position offset from a vehicle moving into an overlapping coverage area of the master and secondary base stations.

19. The positioning system of claim 17, wherein the secondary base station is further configured to:

save different base locations and associated location data for the secondary base station;

determine a current location of the secondary base station;

identify one of the saved base locations closest to the current location; and

generate the second position signals for the secondary base station based on the location data associated with the closest one of the saved base locations.

20. The positioning system of claim 19, wherein the secondary base station is further configured to generate the second position data by averaging the location data associated with multiple saved base locations closest to the current location.