Method and apparatus for calibrating base station locations and perceived time bias offsets in an assisted GPS transceiver

• US 6,445,927 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2000
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gutowski, Gerald J., King, Thomas M., Geier, George J.
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, NGUYEN THANH
• Application Number:
  US09/666,498
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.06, 342/357.01, 342/357.08, 342/357.1, 342/357.13, 455/456, 455/457, 701/214, 701/213
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/008 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0226 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0242 Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning G01S5/0289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308

Abstract

A flowchart (400) includes the step (402) of collecting a predetermined number of TOA measurements arriving at the assisted satellite positioning mobile station from a base station, the step of (406) simultaneously collecting a corresponding number of GPS position measurements of a position of the GPS receiver, and the step (410) of computing the base station location and/or the step (414) of computing a perceived time bias offset required for a message to travel between the base station and the mobile station using the predetermined number of TOA measurements and the predetermined number of GPS position measurements.

Claims

1. A method for calibrating a base station location using a satellite positioning receiver in a mobile station, comprising the steps of:

collecting a number of time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements arriving at the mobile station from a base station;

simultaneously collecting a corresponding number of satellite position measurements of the satellite positioning receiver;

determining that the number of TOA measurements and the corresponding number of satellite position measurements is sufficient for calibrating the base station location; and

computing the base station location using the number of TOA measurements and the corresponding number of satellite position measurements.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

computing a perceived time bias offset b′

using the number of TOA measurements and the corresponding number of satellite position measurements.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

associating the perceived time bias offset b′

with a satellite positioning receiver position; and

creating at least a portion of a map of perceived time bias offset as a function of satellite positioning receiver position.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the map to another mobile station.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of creating comprised:

updating the map within a cellular infrastructure.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

using the perceived time bias offset in the map to determine whether to use a multipath reduction technique.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

using the perceived time bias offset in the map to compute a position of the mobile station.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of computing comprises the steps of:

subtracting a first TOA measurement from subsequent TOA measurements to create two TOA differences TOA₃₁, TOA₂₁;

substituting a distance variable d₁ for base station coordinates x, y in the two TOA differences TOA₃₁, TOA₂₁ to produce a quadratic equation for the distance variable d₁, where the distance variable d₁=[(x−

x_t)²+(y−

y_t)²];

solving the quadratic equation for the distance variable d₁ to obtain an estimated range d_e; and

solving for the base station coordinates x, y using the estimated range d_e.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

computing a perceived time bias offset b′

using the number of TOA measurements and the corresponding number of satellite position measurements.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of computing a perceived time bias offset b′

comprises;

subtracting the estimated range d_e from a TOA measurement.

11. A method for calibrating a base station location in a mobile station having a satellite positioning receiver, comprising the steps of:

collecting at least three TOA measurements TOA₁, TOA₂, TOA₃ arriving at the mobile station from a base station at different times t, wherein a TOA measurement is capable of being expressed as TOA_t=b′

+[(x−

x_t)²+(y−

y_t)²], with variable b′

being a perceived time bias offset of the base station and (x, y) being base station coordinates;

simultaneously collecting at least three satellite position measurements of a position of the satellite positioning receiver, wherein a position measurement is denoted as x_t and y_t as a function of time;

determining through a geometry matrix that the at least three TOA measurements and the at least three satellite position measurements are sufficient for determining the base station location;

subtracting a first TOA measurement TOA₁ from at least two subsequent TOA measurements TOA₂, TOA₃ to create at least two TOA differences TOA₃₁, TOA₂₁;

substituting a distance variable d₁ for the base station coordinates x, y in the at least two TOA differences TOA₃₁, TOA₂₁ to produce a quadratic equation for the distance variable d₁, where the distance variable d₁=[(x−

x_t)²+(y−

y_t)²];

solving the quadratic equation for the distance variable d₁ to obtain an estimated range d_e;

solving for the base station coordinates x, y using the estimated range d_e; and

obtaining the perceived time bias offset b′

by subtracting the estimated range de from a TOA measurement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of solving the quadratic equation comprises the steps of:

solving the quadratic equation to produce two solutions; and

discarding a solution that is out of a geographical region of interest to leave an accepted solution.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of solving the quadratic equation comprises the steps of:

obtaining at least a fourth TOA measurement and at least a third TOA difference; and

using the at least a third TOA difference in conjunction with the quad ratic equation to determine a solution for the distance variable d₁ and for the base station coordinates x, y.

14. The method of claim 11, further including the steps of:

linearizing the at least three TOA measurements TOA₁, TOA₂, TOA₃ by subtracting estimated ranges from them, with the estimated ranges determined from the base station coordinates x, y, to produce linearized TOA equations;

generating a vector of measurement residuals TOA_res;

computing a weighted least squares solution x_sol of the linearized TOA equations;

correcting the base station coordinates x, y using the weighted least squares solution x_sol;

repeating the steps of generating, computing, and correcting until a magnitude of the weighted least squares solution x_sol becomes less than a solution error variance threshold;

using a covariance matrix of the weighted least squares solution x_sol to assess an accuracy of the base station coordinates x, y; and

using the accuracy to determine that the base station location calibration is complete.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of using the covariance matrix additionally makes use of measurement residual information from the weighted least squares solution x_sol.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of using the accuracy additionally makes use of residual information from the weighted least squares solution x_sol.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the vector of measurement residuals TOA_res is given by TOA_res=H x_sol, where H is a measurement gradient vector and the weighted least squares solution x_sol is a three dimensional weighted least squares solution vector, and where a row of the measurement gradient vector H has a form of h_i^T=[u_x u_y 1] with u_x and u_y being components of a line of sight unit vector to the base station.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the weighted least squares solution x_sol is given as x_sol=(H^TR⁻

1H)<sup>−

1</sup>H^TR<sup>−

1</sup>TOA_res, where R is the covariance matrix.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein if the base station coordinates x, y are known but the perceived time bias offset b′

is not known, then a TOA residual vector TOA_res is given by TOA_res=H b_e, where each row of H is unity and an estimated time bias offset b_e collapses to a weighted average of measurement residuals, and an accuracy of the estimated time bias offset b_e can be determined from the covariance matrix.

20. An apparatus for calibrating a base station location in a mobile station, comprising:

a satellite positioning receiver;

a radio transceiver;

a time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement storage for storing a plurality of TOA measurements;

a satellite positioning receiver position fix storage for storing a plurality of position fixes;

a base station coordinates storage;

a time bias offset storage; and

a processor, for communicating with the radio transceiver and satellite positioning receiver to receive signals from satellite positioning satellites and from a base station, and further communicating with the TOA measurement storage, the satellite positioning receiver position fix storage, the base station coordinates storage, and the time bias offset storage, with the processor capable of collecting and storing TOA measurements, collecting and storing a corresponding number of satellite position measurements, subtracting a first TOA measurement from subsequent TOA measurements to create TOA differences, substituting a distance variable d₁ for base station coordinates x, y in the TOA differences to produce a quadratic equation, solving the quadratic equation for the distance variable d₁ to obtain an estimated range d_e, solving for the base station coordinates x, y, obtaining a perceived time bias offset b′

by subtracting an estimated range d_e from the TOA measurements, linearizing the TOA measurements to produce linearized TOA equations, generating a vector of measurement residuals TOA_res, computing a weighted least squares solution x_sol of the linearized TOA equations, using the weighted least squares solution x_sol to assess an accuracy of the linearized TOA equations, and repeating the generating, computing, and using until a solution error variance of the weighted least squares solution x_sol becomes less than a solution error variance threshold.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further including an approximate geographical location storage, communicating with the processor, for storing an approximate geographical location for use in obtaining an estimated range d_e.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further including a TOA residual vector storage, communicating with the processor, for holding the vector of measurement residuals TOA_res.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, further including a solution error variance threshold storage, communicating with the processor, for holding the solution error variance threshold.