Range Localization System

• US 20120280865A1
• Filed: 05/01/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EIDO Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: EIDO Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Gardner, Barry L., Koralek, Richard W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,046,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/463
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4091 during normal radar operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52004 Means for monitoring or calibrating short-range imaging G01S7/5205

Abstract

The location of a transmitter can be determined by accurately measuring the elapsed time that it takes for a signal to propagate from a transmission source to a plurality of disparate receivers of a known location. By comparing the received transmitted signal to reference signal a range between each receiver and the transmitter can be determined. By intersecting the spheres defined by each range an accurate location of the transmitter can be obtained.

Claims

1. A range localization system, comprising:

a plurality of receivers wherein a location of each receiver is known;

one or more transmitters; and

a master station in communication with the plurality of receivers, wherein the master station generates a reference signal and a transmission signal and whereby a transmitter location can be determined from a comparison of the transmission signal received at each receiver from the transmitter and the reference signal.

2. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal include a digital pulse sequence.

3. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal is a modulated sequence of digital pulses.

4. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal include a plurality of sinusoidal signals.

5. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal are analog signals.

6. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein a range from the one or more transmitters to each receiver can be determined from comparison of the transmission signal received at each receiver and the reference signal.

7. The range localization system of claim 6 wherein location of the one or more transmitters can be determined from an intersection of spheres originating at each receiver having a radius equal to the range between each transmitter and said receiver.

8. The range localization system of claim 6 wherein the range from each transmitter to each receiver can be determined by detecting phase differences between the transmission signal received at each receiver and the reference signal.

9. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal is stored at the transmitter and transmitted at a determinable time.

10. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein the master station is in communication with the transmitter.

11. The range localization system of claim 10, wherein the master station generates the transmission signal.

12. The range localization system of claim 11, wherein the one or more transmitters, the plurality of receivers and master station are hardwired coupled.

13. The range localization system of claim 1, further comprising a reference location of a known position wherein responsive to the one or more transmitters being placed at the reference location errors in the determined transmitter location can be identified.

14. The range localization system of claim 1, further comprising a reference datum wherein location of the one or more transmitters can identified relative to the reference datum.

15. The range localization system of claim 1, wherein there is one transmitter.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal comprise a plurality of sinusoidal signals.

16. A method for determining the location of an object, the method comprising:

transmitting at a transmitter a transmission signal;

receiving at a plurality of receivers a received transmission signal wherein each receiver is communicatively coupled to a master station;

comparing the received transmission signal received at each receiver to a reference signal thereby determining a range between the transmitter and each receiver; and

determining a location of the transmitter based on intersecting spheres, each sphere defined by the range between the transmitter and receiver.

17. The method of claim 16, generating at the master station the transmission signal and the reference signal.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal are generated at the same time.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein a distance from the master station to each receiver and to the transmitter is precisely known.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmission signal and the reference signal are comprised of a sequence of digital pulses.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising calibrating the location of the transmitter using a predefined position.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the reference signal and the transmission signal are digital signals.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the reference signal and the transmission signal are analog signals.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the reference signal and the transmission signal are substantially identical.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating at the master station the transmission signal and the reference signal.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmitter and the master station are communicatively coupled.

28. The method of claim 16, further comprising storing at the transmitter the transmission signal, wherein the transmission signal is transmitted at a determinable time.