System for position determination of mobile objects, in particular vehicles

• US 6,415,229 B1
• Filed: 06/23/1997
• Issued: 07/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CLAAS KGaA mbH
• Original Assignee: CLAAS KGaA mbH
• Inventors: Diekhans, Norbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Donnelly, Arthur D.
• Application Number:
  US08/880,968
• Time in Patent Office: 1,835 Days
• Field of Search: 701/214, 701/215, 701/224, 701/213, 342/463, 342/357
• US Class Current: 701/214
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/07 providing data for correcting measured positioning data, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS] or ionosphere corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/41 Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

A system of positioning mobile objects has a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object, a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by the satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates, a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that the satellite receiving unit of the mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from the stationary reference satellite receiving unit for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data, an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, the evaluating and processing unit determining from the correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to the satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction.

Claims

1. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said satellite receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction.

2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for evaluating evaluate the quality criteria for evaluating the quality of the correction signal which quality criteria is a number of the navigation satellites, from which the reference satellite receiving station receives satellite signals.

3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for evaluating evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation the quality of the correction signal which quality criteria is a geometrical satellite constellation of position dilution of precision, from which the reference satellite receiving station receives the satellite signal.

4. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for evaluating evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation the quality of the correction signal which is a field intensity of the correction signal received from the reference satellite receiving station by radio.

5. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for evaluating evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation of the quality of correction signal which is an age of the correction signal.

6. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for evaluating evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation the quality of the correction signal which is a local statistic availability of the correction signal transmitted by radio from the reference satellite receiving station.

7. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said evaluating means evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation of the quality of the correction signal which is a spacial distance between a corresponding reference satellite receiving station and the mobile satellite receiving unit.

8. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said evaluating means evaluate the quality criteria for evaluation of the quality of the correction signal which quality criteria is a selection of individual correction data, so that the selected correction data are assembled to a new correction data set and transmitted as an error correction signal to the satellite receiving unit of the mobile object.

9. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said evaluating and processing unit for the correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations is integrated in the satellite receiving unit of the mobile object.

10. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said at least one of said reference satellite receiving units sends its correction signals through a radio transmitter, and the correction signal is joined in a radio data signal.

11. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations emits its correction signals through a mobile radio transmission station.

12. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said mobile satellite receiving station and at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations receives L1 and/or L2 frequency of Navstar satellites.

13. A system as defined in claim 12, wherein said mobile of satellite receiving station and at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations additionally performs an evaluation of a phase displacement for the L1 and/or L2 frequency.

14. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations operates on the basis of Russian GLONASS.

15. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction; and

means for averaging the correction signals.

16. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, said evaluating and processing unit for the correction signals of different stationary reference satellite receiving stations being arranged on the mobile object, on which also the satellite receiving unit is arranged.

17. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, at least one of the reference satellite receiving stations sending its correction signals through a LW sending frequency.

18. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, at least one of the reference satellite receiving units sending its correction signals through a MW sending frequency.

19. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, said at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations sending its correction signals through a UKW sending frequency.

20. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, at least one of said reference satellite receiving stations emitting its correction signal through a geo stationary satellite.

21. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, at least one of said reference stations emitting its correction signals through a digital audio broadcast.

22. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction, at least one of said reference stations emitting its correction signals in a standardized data format RTCM-SC104.

23. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction; and

means for evaluating the correction signals obtained from the different reference satellite receiving stations in accordance with definite quality criteria as to their quality and comparing them with one another so as to obtain a best correction signal which is sent to the satellite receiving unit arranged on the mobile object for a position correction.

24. A system of positioning mobile objects, comprising a satellite receiving unit arrangeable on a mobile object;

a plurality of navigation satellites rotating on earth'"'"'s orbits so that their positions continuously change relative to a stationary point, and so that satellite signals are received by said satellite receiving unit for determination of their position coordinates;

a stationary reference satellite receiving station arranged so that said receiving unit of said mobile object receives a correction signal with correction data from said stationary reference satellite receiving station for exactly known position coordinates and for a computation of corrected position data;

an electronic evaluating and processing unit through which the correction signals received from at least two reference satellite receiving stations are supplied, said evaluating and processing unit determining from said correction signals of the different stationary reference satellite receiving stations an optimal error correction signal, so as to transmit the determined error correction signal as a correction signal to said satellite receiving unit arranged on the object for a position correction; and

an integrated multi-channel correction data receiver which is capable of receiving correction data simultaneously on at least two different channels.