WIRELESS GUIDANCE SYSTEM

• US 20040232277A1
• Filed: 05/21/2003
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Lawrence, Victor B., Gehlot, Narayan L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,830,213 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/3.19
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 7/346 using global navigation satellite systems, e.g. GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/21 Interference related issues ; Issues related to cross-correlation, spoofing or other methods of denial of service
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

A wireless means of guidance for a device in accordance with the present invention includes receiving signals from at least one wireless base station indicating at least a respective position thereof, determining the current position of the device using at least the information contained in the received signals, calculating a vector between the determined current position and a predetermined desired destination for the device, and making trajectory corrections to the device'"'"'s current trajectory so as to guide the device to the desired destination. In addition to the information contained in the received signals, the guidance system may also use stored information regarding parameters, such as the location, communication protocols and operating frequencies of the wireless base stations, as well as previous position information, for determining a current position for the device.

Claims

1. A method for guidance of a device, comprising:

receiving signals from at least one wireless base station indicating at least a respective position thereof;

determining the current position of said device using said received signals;

calculating a vector between the determined current position and a predetermined desired destination for said device; and

using said calculated vector to make any required trajectory corrections to said device'"'"'s current trajectory for guiding said device to the desired destination.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the received signals from said at least one wireless base station to stored information regarding known wireless base stations to determine the identity and location of said at least one wireless base station to assist in determining the current position of said device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is utilized as a backup guidance system and is implemented for the guidance of said device only after a failure of a primary guidance system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said method is utilized as a backup guidance system for a GPS guidance system.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said device'"'"'s current position determined by said method is utilized as an initial position estimate for a primary guidance system when the primary guidance system is again operational after a failure.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said method utilizes a last position estimate determined by a primary guidance system before a failure for determining the current position of said device after a failure of the primary guidance system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one wireless base station comprises more than one wireless base station and wherein signals from said more than one wireless base stations are received substantially in parallel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one wireless base station comprises more than one wireless base station and wherein signals from said more than one wireless base station are processed substantially in parallel.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one wireless base station comprises more than one wireless base station and wherein signals from said more than one wireless base station are received and processed substantially in parallel.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with said at least one wireless base station to initiate the transmission of signals from said at least one wireless base station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmission of information from said at least one wireless base station is initiated by activating an alternate source of power for said at least one wireless base station in the event of an outage of primary power source power for said wireless base station.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one wireless base station comprises a plurality of wireless base stations employing different carrier frequencies.

13. A wireless base station guidance system for a device, comprising:

a receiver, for receiving signals from wireless base stations; and

a processor for determining the current position of said device utilizing the signals received by said receiver and information stored in a memory, and for calculating a vector between the determined position and a desired destination for said device, wherein said calculated vector is used to make trajectory corrections to said device'"'"'s current trajectory for guiding said device to the desired destination.

14. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 13, further comprising at least one wireless transceiver adapted to communicate with a respective one of said wireless base stations.

15. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 14, wherein said at least one wireless transceiver is used to activate an alternate power source of the respective wireless base station to initiate the transmission of information from said respective wireless base station in the event of an outage of primary power source power for said wireless base station.

16. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 13, wherein said wireless base stations comprise at least one temporary base station.

17. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 13, wherein said receiver is adapted to receive signals from wireless base stations employing different carrier frequencies.

18. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 13, wherein the information stored in said memory comprises information regarding at least one of the set consisting of the location, communication protocols and operating frequencies of known wireless base stations, wherein said information is used to identify said wireless base stations from which signals are received.

19. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 13, wherein said wireless base station guidance system is utilized as a backup guidance system and determines the current position of said device only after a failure of a primary guidance system.

20. The wireless base station guidance system of claim 19, wherein said wireless base station guidance system is utilized as a backup guidance system for a GPS guidance system.

21. The guidance system of claim 20, wherein a last position estimate determined by a primary GPS guidance system before a failure, is communicated to said wireless base station guidance system to be used in determining a current position for said device after a failure of the GPS guidance system.

22. A guidance system for a device, comprising:

means for receiving signals from multiple wireless base stations; and

means for determining the current position of said device utilizing the received signals and stored information, and for calculating a vector between the determined position and a desired destination for said device, wherein said calculated vector is used to make trajectory corrections to said device'"'"'s current trajectory for guiding said device to the desired destination.

23. The guidance system of claim 22, further comprising means for communicating with a respective one of said multiple wireless base stations.

24. The guidance system of claim 23, wherein said means for communicating is used to activate an alternate power source of the respective wireless base station to initiate the transmission of information from said respective wireless base station in the event of an outage of primary power source power for said wireless base station.