System and method for locating sources of unknown wireless radio signals
First Claim
1. A method for determining a location of a source of a wireless radio signal comprising steps of:
- a. receiving the wireless radio signal at a plurality of known locations to generate receive signal sample data representative thereof at each known location;
b. using the receive signal sample data obtained at one of the known locations as a reference waveform, determining the time of arrival of the wireless radio signal at each of the known locations;
c. computing the time difference between the time of arrival of the wireless radio signal and time of arrival of a reference signal at each of the known locations; and
d. determining a location of the source of the wireless radio signal based on the time difference of arrival measurements at the plurality of known locations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for determining the location of a source (target device) of a wireless radio signal of an unknown or arbitrary type for which a signal correlator is not known or available. The target device'"'"'s signal is received at a plurality of known locations to generate receive sample data representative thereof at each known location. Receive signal data samples associated with the target device'"'"'s signal at one of the plurality of known locations is selected to be used as a reference waveform. For example, information concerning the target device'"'"'s signal received at each known location is compared to determine the known location that best receives it. The receive signal sample data obtained by the known location that best receives the target device'"'"'s signal is used as the reference waveform. A measurement experiment is run in which the target device'"'"'s signal is followed or preceded relatively close in time by a transmission of a reference signal. The reference signal and the target device'"'"'s signal are received at the plurality of known locations. The reference waveform is used to correlate against the received signal data obtained at each known location to determine the time of arrival of the target device'"'"'s signal. The time difference between arrival of the target device'"'"'s signal and arrival of the reference signal at each of the known locations is computed. A location of the source of the wireless radio signal is computed based on the time difference of arrival measurements at the plurality of known locations.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for determining a location of a source of a wireless radio signal comprising steps of:
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a. receiving the wireless radio signal at a plurality of known locations to generate receive signal sample data representative thereof at each known location;
b. using the receive signal sample data obtained at one of the known locations as a reference waveform, determining the time of arrival of the wireless radio signal at each of the known locations;
c. computing the time difference between the time of arrival of the wireless radio signal and time of arrival of a reference signal at each of the known locations; and
d. determining a location of the source of the wireless radio signal based on the time difference of arrival measurements at the plurality of known locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for determining the location of a target device that transmits a wireless radio signal, comprising:
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a. a plurality of radio devices that receive radio signals at corresponding known locations; and
b. a computing device coupled to the plurality of radio devices that computes a location of the source of the wireless radio signal based on time differences between arrival of the wireless radio signal and a reference signal at each of the radio devices, wherein arrival of the wireless radio signal at each of the radio devices is determined using receive signal sample data of the wireless radio signal at one of the radio devices as a reference waveform. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for determining a location of a radio device based on a first time difference between arrival of a first signal at a first known location and arrival of a second signal transmitted by the radio device at the first known location, and at least a second time difference between arrival of the first signal at a second known location and arrival of the second signal at the second known location, where samples of the second signal received at one of the first and second known locations are used as a reference waveform to correlate to the second signal in order to determine time of arrival of the second signal.
- 39. A processor readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to compute a location of a radio device based on a first time difference between arrival of a first signal at a first known location and arrival of a second signal transmitted by the radio device at the first known location, and at least a second time difference between arrival of the first signal at a second known location and arrival of the second signal at the second known location, where samples of the second signal received at one of the first and second known locations are used as a reference waveform to correlate to the second signal in order to determine time of arrival of the second signal.
Specification