Methods and apparatus for high resolution positioning
First Claim
1. A method of signal analysis, comprising:
- receiving, by at least three receivers, from a transmitter physically decoupled from at least one of the three receivers, a plurality of signal components corresponding to a first continuous-time signal having a first channel including a first plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are orthogonal to one another within a first frequency range;
determining, for at least one of the plurality of signal components, the phase shifts of the carriers of the first channel resulting from the distance the carriers traveled in reaching the receivers; and
determining the location of the transmitter based on the determined carrier phase shifts.
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of signal analysis that determines the location of a transmitter and to devices that implement the method. The method includes receiving by at least three receivers, from a transmitter, a first continuous-time signal having a first channel. The first channel includes a first plurality of signal carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are periodically spaced and which are orthogonal to one another within a first frequency range. The signal analysis method also includes determining the phase shifts of the carriers of the first channel resulting from the distance the carriers traveled in reaching the first receiver. Analysis of the phase shifts yields time difference of arrival information amongst the receivers, which is further processed to determine the location of the transmitter.
65 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method of signal analysis, comprising:
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receiving, by at least three receivers, from a transmitter physically decoupled from at least one of the three receivers, a plurality of signal components corresponding to a first continuous-time signal having a first channel including a first plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are orthogonal to one another within a first frequency range;
determining, for at least one of the plurality of signal components, the phase shifts of the carriers of the first channel resulting from the distance the carriers traveled in reaching the receivers; and
determining the location of the transmitter based on the determined carrier phase shifts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A transmitter location system comprising:
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a first receiver having a first location for receiving a plurality of signal components to a continuous-time signal, sent by a transmitter, the signal having at least one channel, the channel comprising a plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having frequencies which are orthogonal to other frequencies within that channel;
second and third receivers having a second and third locations known relative to the first location for receiving the continuous-time signals; and
a processor configured to;
for each receiver, determine the differences in phase shifts in the carriers of at least one of the channels of the signal components;
for each receiver, selecting one of the plurality of signal component as a most-direct path signal component based on the determined phase shifts; and
determine the location of the transmitter based on the determined phase shifts and the relative receiver locations. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. The transmitter location system of 17, including a locatable transmitter comprising:
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a signal store for storing a signal channel, the channel comprising a plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having frequencies which are orthogonal to other frequencies within that channel and which are spaced periodically over a distinct frequency range; and
an amplifier in communication with the store for transmitting a signal. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A locatable transmitter comprising:
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a signal store for storing a signal channel, the channel comprising a plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having frequencies which are orthogonal to other frequencies within that channel;
a first oscillator in communication with the signal store for modulating the signal channel at a first base band frequency to generate a first transmission channel;
a second oscillator in communication with the signal store for modulating the signal channel at a second base band frequency to generate a second transmission channel; and
an amplifier in communication with the first and second oscillators for broadcasting a location signal including the linear combination of the first and second transmission channels. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A communications device comprising:
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a base band signal generator for generating a base band signal including a first plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are orthogonal to one another within a first frequency range;
an oscillation module in communication with the base band signal generator for modulating the base band signal to generate a set of transmission channels;
a data modulation controller configured to select a subset of the transmission channels as data transmission channels; and
a data modulator for modulating data into the data transmission channels, wherein the unselected channels can be analyzed by a receiver to determine the location of the communications device. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A communications device comprising:
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a demodulation module for demodulating a plurality of signal channels of a plurality of received signal components, each channel including a plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are orthogonal to one another within a distinct frequency range;
a signal analysis module configured to determine a most-direct path signal component from the plurality of received signal components sent by a transmitter to the communications device;
determine the distance between the communications device and the transmitter; and
recover data modulated into at least one of the received channels;
provide requested data bandwidth instructions to the receiver. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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47. A method of providing variable bandwidth data communication comprising:
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generating a base band channel including a plurality of carriers having known relative initial phases and having known frequencies which are orthogonal to one another within a frequency range;
modulating the base band channel to a plurality of base frequencies to generate a set of transmission channels;
selecting a subset of the transmission channels for encoding data to form data transmission channels;
combining and broadcasting the selected and unselected transmission channels, wherein the unselected transmission channels can be analyzed by a receiver to determine the location of the source of the broadcast. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification