RADIO TERMINAL DEVICE, RADIO BASE STATION DEVICE, RADIO RANGING SYSTEM, AND RADIO RANGING METHOD

• US 20120044974A1
• Filed: 04/20/2010
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mukai, Hirohito, Fukagawa, Takashi, Nakagawa, Yoichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,948,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/141
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/767 Responders; Transponders teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying using reflecting targets or active targets F41G3/26

Abstract

Disclosed are a radio terminal device and the like, which achieve an improvement in the accuracy of ranging between a UWB reader and a UWB tag regardless of whether an active method or a semi-passive method. In a terminal (300), a timing control unit (340) outputs, to a transmission amplifier (350), a control signal for performing on-off control such that on the basis of the reception timing of a pulse signal transmitted from a base station (200) and a representative value of a circuit delay time required from when a reception pulse signal is received until a transmission pulse signal generated in response to a detection signal of the reception pulse signal is transmitted, the transmission amplifier (350) amplifies a reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the base station (200); and a re-reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the reradiation pulse.

Claims

1. A radio terminal apparatus in a radio distance measurement system that measures a distance between a radio base station apparatus and the radio terminal apparatus using a pulse signal, the radio terminal apparatus comprising:

a reception antenna;

a detection section that detects a reception pulse signal and outputs a detection signal;

a generation section that generates a transmission pulse signal according to the detection signal;

an amplification section that amplifies the transmission pulse signal;

a transmission antenna that transmits the amplified transmission pulse signal; and

a timing control section that outputs a control signal that controls the amplification section on and off, so as to amplify a re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of a pulse signal transmitted from the radio base station apparatus and a re-re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of the re-radiation pulse signal, to the amplification section, based on a representative value of circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus required while the reception pulse signal is received and then the transmission pulse signal that is generated according to the detection signal of that reception pulse signal is transmitted.

2. The radio terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control signal becomes a high level during the period in which the re-radiation pulse signal and the re-re-radiation pulse signal are output to the amplification section; and

the amplification section amplifies the transmission pulse signal while the control signal is a high level.

3. The radio terminal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a control section that switches a mode to a calibration mode for measuring the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus or a distance measurement mode for measuring the distance;

a memory section that memorizes a code sequence for a re-radiation and a code sequence for re-re-radiation that is different from the code sequence for re-radiation; and

a switch section that outputs the code sequence for re-radiation to the amplification section during a period in which the re-radiation pulse signal is output to the amplification section, and outputs the code sequence for re-re-radiation to the amplification section during a period in which the re-re-radiation pulse signal is output to the amplification section, in the calibration mode, based on the control signal;

wherein the amplification section amplifies the transmission pulse signal according to the code sequence output from the switch section.

4. The radio terminal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mode identification section that identifies between a calibration mode for measuring the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus or a distance measurement mode for measuring the distance, based on a transmission mode switch signal;

wherein the timing control section outputs the control signal with which the amplification section amplifies the re-radiation pulse signal and the re-re-radiation pulse signal, to the amplification section, in a calibration mode, and outputs the control signal with which the amplification section amplifies only the re-radiation pulse signal, to the amplification section, in a distance measurement mode.

5. The radio terminal apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the transmission mode switch signal is reported by on or off of a ultra wide band pulse signal.

6. The radio terminal apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a memory section that memorizes a code sequence for re-radiation and a code sequence for re-re-radiation that is different from the code sequence for re-radiation; and

a switch section that outputs the code sequence for re-radiation to the amplification section during a period in which the re-radiation pulse signal is output to the amplification section, and outputs the code sequence for re-re-radiation to the amplification section during a period in which the re-re-radiation pulse signal is output to the amplification section, based on the control signal;

wherein the amplification section amplifies the transmission pulse signal according to the code sequence output from the switch section.

7. A radio base station apparatus in a radio distance measurement system that measures a distance between the radio base station apparatus and a radio terminal apparatus using a pulse signal, the radio base station apparatus comprising:

a transmission section that transmits a pulse signal;

a reception section that receives a re-radiation pulse signal that is generated by re-radiating the transmitted pulse signal, in the radio terminal apparatus, and a re-re-radiation pulse signal that is generated by re-re-radiating the re-radiation pulse signal in the radio terminal apparatus; and

a measurement section that measures circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus based on a time difference between a reception timing of the re-radiation pulse signal and a reception timing of the re-re-radiation signal.

8. The radio base station apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the measurement section measures round trip time of a wave including the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus based on a time difference between a transmission timing of the transmitted pulse signal and the reception timing of the re-radiation pulse signal, and calculates the distance based on the round trip time and the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus.

9. The radio base station apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a radio wave arrival direction estimation section,

wherein the measurement section identifies a pulse signal arriving in the shortest time as the re-radiation pulse signal, and identifies a pulse signal arriving from the same direction as the re-radiation pulse signal as the re-re-radiation pulse signal, and measures the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus.

10. A radio distance measurement system that measures a distance between a radio base station apparatus and a radio terminal apparatus using a pulse signal, wherein:

the radio base station apparatus comprises;

a transmission section that transmits a pulse signal;

a reception section that receives a re-radiation pulse signal that is generated by re-radiating the transmitted reception signal, in the radio terminal apparatus, and a re-re-radiation pulse signal that is generated by re-re-radiating the re-radiation pulse signal in the radio terminal apparatus; and

a measurement section that measures circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus based on a time difference of reception timings between the re-radiation pulse signal and the re-re-radiation signal; and

the radio terminal apparatus comprises;

a reception antenna;

a detection section that detects a reception pulse signal and outputs a detection signal;

a generation section that generates a transmission pulse signal according to the detection signal;

an amplification section that amplifies the transmission pulse signal;

a transmission antenna that transmits the amplified transmission pulse signal; and

a timing control section that outputs a control signal that control the amplification section on and off so as to amplify a re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the radio base station apparatus and a re-re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of the re-radiation pulse signal, to the amplification section, based on a representative value of the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus required while the reception pulse signal is received and then the transmission pulse signal that is generated according to the detection signal of that reception pulse signal is transmitted.

11. A radio distance measurement method of measuring a distance between a radio base station apparatus and a radio terminal apparatus using a pulse signal;

the method comprising;

at the radio base station apparatus;

transmitting a pulse signal;

at the radio terminal apparatus;

detecting a reception pulse signal and outputting a detection signal;

amplifying a re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the radio base station apparatus and a re-re-radiation pulse signal generated according to the detection signal of the re-radiation pulse signal; and

transmitting the amplified transmission pulse signal; and

at the radio base station apparatus;

receiving the re-radiation pulse signal and the re-re-radiation pulse signal;

measuring circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus based on a time difference between a reception timing of the re-radiation pulse signal and a reception timing of the re-re-radiation signal; and

measuring round trip time of a radio wave including the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus based on a time difference between a transmission timing of the transmitted pulse signal and the reception timing of the re-radiation pulse signal, and calculating the distance based on the round trip time and the circuit delay time of the radio terminal apparatus.