SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING THE MOVEMENT OF A SWAYING STRUCTURE

• US 20110304499A1
• Filed: 10/14/2009
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forsching E.V.
• Original Assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forsching E.V.
• Inventors: Eidloth, Andreas, Franke, Norbert
• Granted Patent: US 8,604,964 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/174
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

A system for determining the movement of a swaying structure, on which a receiver is fixedly mounted, is proposed, wherein at least three reference transmitters having known and fixed positions are provided and transmit the transmission signals received by the receiver at defined carrier frequencies. In addition, an evaluation unit is provided, which determines measured phase values from the received signals, taking into account the defined carrier frequency, wherein the distance from the reference transmitters and the changes in position of the receiver and therefore of the swaying structure can be calculated from said phase values.

Claims

1. A system for determining the movement of a swaying structure to which a receiver is fixedly attached, comprising:

at least three reference transmitters having a respective known and fixed position whose transmitted signals are formed as signals modulated onto a carrier with a defined carrier frequency, by an evaluation device which is configured to determine measured phase values from the transmitted signals of the individual reference transmitters received by the receiver while taking account of the defined carrier frequency, from which measured phase values the distance respectively from the reference transmitters and the position change of the receiver, and thus of the swaying structure, can be calculated.

2. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein characterized in that a common defined carrier frequency is associated with all reference transmitters.

3. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the distance between the receiver and the respective reference transmitter calculated from

4. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the respective offset can initially be determined by a position of the structure which is measured by a measuring device, by the position of the fixed reference transmitters and by a first phase measurement.

5. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the arrangement of at least three fixed reference transmitters having a known position and the one receiver are synchronized in time or are connected in a phase-locked manner to one another via a common clock source.

6. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein a fourth fixed reference transmitter is provided, wherein the four reference transmitters are synchronized in time or are connected in a phase-locked manner to one another via a common clock source.

7. The system in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in addition to the receiver, at least one fixed receiver of a known position is provided at the swaying structure, wherein the reference transmitters are not synchronized or connected in a phase-locked manner to one another and the swaying receiver and the fixed receiver are synchronized or coupled in a phase-locked manner to one another and the transmission times of the respective reference transmitters of a known position can be calculated via the respective received signals of the fixed transmitter.

8. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the evaluation device is configured to adapt the respective value of the offset on a change of the temperature in the system, wherein the measured value change due to the temperature change can be detected via filtering processes.

9. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the evaluation device is configured to compensate a possible deviation of the position of the swaying structure from the measured position at the start of the determination by changing the values of the respective offset via mean value evaluation of the measured position values.

10. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the evaluation device is configured to adapt the respective offset values for the compensation of 2π

phase jumps of the measured phase values, wherein an abrupt distance change can be evaluated.

11. An arrangement for calibrating a radio system for determining the position of at least one mobile transmitter in a three-dimensional space using a plurality of receivers of which at least one is fastened to a structure swaying due to environmental influences and comprising a system, including at least three reference transmitters having a respective known and fixed position whose transmitted signals are formed as signals modulated onto a carrier with a defined carrier frequency, by an evaluation device which is configured to determine measured phase values from the transmitted signals of the individual reference transmitters received by the receiver while taking account of the defined carrier frequency, from which measured phase values the distance respectively from the reference transmitters and the position change of the receiver, and thus of the swaying structure, can be calculated, wherein an evaluation apparatus is provided which takes account of the position change of the receiver fastened to the structure in the determination of the position of the mobile transmitter.