STEERABLE PHASE ARRAY ANTENNA RFID TAG LOCATER AND TRACKING SYSTEM AND METHODS
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An RFID tag locater and tracking system, comprising:
- a phase array steerable antenna provided with a plurality of antenna elements;
an RFID reader in operative communication with the phase array steerable antenna;
a beam steering unit in operative communication with the plurality of antenna elements;
a beam steering unit controller in operative communication with the beam steering unit; and
a control computer in operative communication with the beam steering unit controller.
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Abstract
A system for and method of tracking and locating RFID tags, including where at least one steerable phase array antenna may locate the tags associated with items in three dimensions in real time, through the use of a beam steering unit and controller therewith to control the direction of a beam launched by the at least one steerable phase array antenna.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An RFID tag locater and tracking system, comprising:
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a phase array steerable antenna provided with a plurality of antenna elements; an RFID reader in operative communication with the phase array steerable antenna; a beam steering unit in operative communication with the plurality of antenna elements; a beam steering unit controller in operative communication with the beam steering unit; and a control computer in operative communication with the beam steering unit controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An method of locating and tracking an RFID tag, the steps comprising:
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providing a phase array steerable antenna; providing an RFID reader in operative communication with the phase array steerable antenna; providing a beam steering unit in operative communication with the phase array steerable antenna; providing a beam steering unit controller in operative communication with the beam steering unit; providing a control computer in operative communication with the beam steering unit controller; generating a protocol specific RFID RF waveform and launching it via the phase array steerable antenna; and interrogating the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of locating and tracking an RFID tag in an environment in which Electronic Price Codes are used, the steps comprising:
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calibrating at least two phase array steerable antennas to optimally align the antennas with known global coordinates; configuring an RFID reader for a working environment;
performing a two-dimensional raster scan of a visible area of the working environment with a first antenna;
calculating a minimal covering of the visible area with one or more beam areas;defining a set of steering directions for raster scans; using the first antenna to determine if one or more RFID tags are present in the beam areas; saving a list of electronic price codes; estimating an expected location for at least one RFID tag in the beam area; projecting the expected location of the RFID tag into global coordinates; estimating the most probable conjugate pairing (“
PGPt1”
);calculating a most likely location of the RFID tag'"'"'s projection in global coordinates relative to a second antenna (“
PGPt2”
) using an estimated random distribution of RFID tag heights and PGPt1;calculating a projection in global coordinates inverse of PGPt2 so as to yield a most probable steering direction for the second antenna; reading with the other antenna in the direction indicated by a plane point projection of PGPt2; triangulating any RFID tag seen by the other antenna using PGPt 1. and PGPt2; triangulating using PGPt1 and PGPt2 if the RFID tag is not seen by the other antenna, as this location is still highly probable as a location for the RFID tag; and repeating these steps for each beam area.
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18. A method of locating and tracking an RFID tag, comprising the steps of:
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scanning an operating environment with a first steerable signal beam interrogation signal from a first phase array steerable antenna; storing RFID tag response signals in a data matrix including a direction vector of the first steerable signal beam when each response signal is received and an identification of the RFID tag providing the response signal; scanning a subset area of an operating environment of a second steerable signal beam interrogation signal from a second phase array steerable antenna; storing RFID tag response signals in a data matrix including a direction vector of the second steerable signal beam when each response signal is received and an identification of the RFID tag providing the response signal; and triangulating a response signal origin location for each response signal where the identification is the same. - View Dependent Claims (17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification