Method and apparatus for positioning a mobile station

• US 6,853,847 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Issued: 02/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Shioda, Takehiko, Nohara, Manabu
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Torres, Marcos L.
• Application Number:
  US10/105,938
• Publication Number:
  US 20020183071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,050 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 4554561-457, 455/550.1, 455/561, 455/357.11, 4555094- 6, 342/457, 342/450, 342/463, 342/126, 342/146, 342/148
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0218 Multipath in signal reception
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0273 using multipath or indirect path propagation signals in position determination
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0278 involving statistical or probabilistic considerations G01S5/0252, G01S5/0294 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/145 Using a supplementary range measurement, e.g. based on pseudo-range measurements

Abstract

A positioning apparatus and method for accurately determining a current position of a mobile station. The current position of the mobile station is determined utilizing radio waves arriving from a plurality of base stations installed in a communication area. For calculating a propagation range of a radio wave arriving from each base station, error correction processing is performed using a predetermined error correction coefficient previously calculated by measuring a radio wave propagation situation around each base station to estimate a propagation range of a direct wave within incoming radio waves. The current position of the mobile station is determined using the estimated propagation range and the positions of the respective base station.

Claims

1. A positioning apparatus for determining a current position of a mobile station located in a communication area utilizing radio waves arriving from a plurality of base stations installed in said communication area, said positioning apparatus disposed in said mobile station, comprising:

a received signal generating part which receives radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a direct wave candidate extracting part which extracts at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from the respective radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations based on said received signals;

a direct wave candidate estimating part which performs predetermined error correction processing on a direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate;

a direct wave deriving part which derives a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within the direct wave candidates and corrected direct wave candidate extracted and estimated in said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part; and

a positioning calculating part which determines the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal corresponding to the true direct wave derived by said direct wave deriving part.

3. A positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mobile station performs a position registration with said plurality of base stations, wherein said mobile station acquires installation environment information related to each base station from said base station to determine an environment in which said base station is installed based on said information, and conducts a predetermined control on the estimation of direct wave candidate by said direct wave candidate estimating part in accordance with the result of determination on said installation environment.

4. A positioning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said mobile station forces said direct wave candidate estimating part to perform said error correction processing to estimate a direct wave when said installation environment is bad as a radio wave propagation environment, and said mobile station controls said direct wave candidate estimating part to stop said error correction processing to estimate a direct wave when said installation environment is good as a radio wave propagation environment.

5. A positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mobile station previously stores a predetermined error correction coefficient, and said direct wave candidate estimating part, when estimating a direct wave by said error correction processing, performs predetermined error correction calculation related to a radio wave propagation on the direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part based on said error correction coefficient to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate.

6. A positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

each of said plurality of base stations stores at least one or more error correction coefficient related to a radio wave propagation, previously calculated from the installation environment of each base station;

said mobile station acquires said error correction coefficient related to each base station from said base station when said mobile station performs a position registration with said plurality of base stations, or communicates with said plurality of base stations; and

said direct wave candidate estimating part performs predetermined error correction calculation related to the radio wave propagation on the direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part based on the acquired error correction coefficients, when said error correction processing is performed, to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate.

8. A positioning apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said error correction coefficient is calculated by a predetermined statistical calculation processing based on a measurement result of the radio wave propagation situation in a communication area of each base station.

9. A positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part extract and estimate one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at said mobile station from at least three different base stations;

said direct wave deriving part performs first direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes two of said direct wave candidates selected one by one for each base station from said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates corresponding to a first and a second base station of said three different base stations and uses the remaining one of said direct wave candidates corresponding to a third base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position for each said combination, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated for each said combination as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said third base station;

said direct wave deriving part performs second direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said third base station and said one direct wave candidate selected from said direct wave candidates corresponding to said first base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and uses said direct wave candidate corresponding to said second base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a second rough position of said mobile station for each said combination and a positioning error of each second rough position, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated second time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said second base station;

said direct wave deriving part performs third direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes said direct wave candidate derived as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving from said third base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said second base station in the second direct wave derivation processing, and uses said direct wave candidate corresponding to said first base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a third rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each third rough position, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of said positioning errors calculated the third time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said first base station; and

said position calculating part determines the current position of said mobile station using the three received signals corresponding to the respective direct waves from said three different base stations, and the positions of said three different base stations derived by said first through third direct wave derivation processing.

10. A positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part extract and estimate one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at said mobile station from at least three different base stations;

said direct wave deriving part selects one of said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates for each base station and combines the selected direct wave candidates to create a plurality of combinations each comprised of said direct wave candidates for each base station, calculates a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position using said plurality of combinations, and derives said direct wave candidate included in said combination which exhibits the smallest positioning error, as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from each base station; and

said positioning calculating part determines the current position of said mobile station using the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said each base station derived by said direct wave deriving part, and the position of said each base station.

2. A positioning apparatus for determining a current position of a mobile station utilizing a radio wave emitted from said mobile station located in a communication area and arriving at a plurality of base stations installed in said communication area, said positioning apparatus disposed in each of said base stations, comprising:

a received signal generating part provided in each of said plurality of base stations which receives a radio wave arriving from said mobile station to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a direct wave candidate extracting part which extracts at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from each radio wave arriving at each of said plurality of base stations based on said received signal;

a direct wave candidate estimating part which performs predetermined error correction processing on the direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part to estimate at least one ore more corrected direct wave candidate;

a direct wave deriving part which derives a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within the direct wave candidates and corrected direct wave candidate extracted and estimated in said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part; and

a positioning calculating part which determines the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal corresponding to the true direct wave derived by said direct wave deriving part.

7. A positioning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

each of said plurality of base stations stores at least one or more error correction coefficient related to a radio wave propagation situation previously calculated from an installation environment of each base station; and

said direct wave candidate estimating part performs a predetermined error correction calculation related to a radio wave propagation for the direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part based on said error correction coefficient, when said error correction processing is performed, to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate.

11. A positioning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part extract and estimate one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at at least three different base stations from said mobile station;

said direct wave deriving part performs first direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes two of said direct wave candidates selected one by one for each base station from said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates corresponding to a first and a second base station of said three different base stations and uses the remaining one of said direct wave candidates corresponding to a third base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position for each said combination, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated for each said combination as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said third base station from said mobile station;

said direct wave deriving part performs second direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving at said third base station and said one direct wave candidate selected from said direct wave candidates corresponding to said first base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and uses said direct wave candidate corresponding to said second base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a second rough position of said mobile station for each said combination and a positioning error of each second rough position, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated second time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said second base station from said mobile station;

said direct wave deriving part performs third direct wave derivation processing, wherein said direct wave deriving part fixes said direct wave candidate derived as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said third base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving at said second base station in the second direct wave derivation processing, and uses said direct wave candidate corresponding to said first base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct wave candidates, and performs a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a third rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each third rough position, and derives said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of said positioning errors calculated the third time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving fat said first base station from said mobile station; and

said position calculating part determines the current position of said mobile station using the three received signals corresponding to the respective direct waves from said mobile station to said three different base stations, and the positions of said three different base stations derived by said first through third direct wave derivation processing.

12. A positioning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part extract and estimate one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at at least three different base stations from said mobile station;

said direct wave deriving part selects one of said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates for each base station and combines the selected direct wave candidates to create a plurality of combinations each comprised of said direct wave candidates for each base station, calculates a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position using said plurality of combinations, and derives said direct wave candidate included in said combination which exhibits the smallest positioning error, as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at each base station from said mobile station; and

said positioning calculating part determines the current position of said mobile station using the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving at said each base station derived by said direct wave deriving part, and the position of said each base station.

27. A positioning apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said error correction coefficient is calculated by a predetermined statistical calculation processing based on a measurement result of the radio wave propagation situation in a communication area of each base station.

13. A positioning method for determining a current position of a mobile station located in a communication area utilizing radio waves arriving from a plurality of base stations installed in said communication area, method comprising:

a first step of receiving radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a second step of extracting at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from the respective radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations based on said received signals;

a third step of performing predetermined error correction processing on a direct wave candidate extracted in said second step to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate;

a fourth step of deriving a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within the direct wave candidates and corrected direct wave candidate extracted and estimated in said second step and said third step; and

a fifth step of determining the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal corresponding to the true direct wave derived in said fourth step.

15. A positioning method according to claim 13, wherein said mobile station performs a position registration with said plurality of base stations, wherein said mobile station acquires installation environment information related to each base station from said base station to determine an environment in which said base station is installed based on said information, and conducts a predetermined control on the estimation of direct wave candidate for said third step in accordance with the result of determination on said installation environment.

16. A positioning method according to claim 15, wherein said mobile station performs said error correction processing in said third step to estimate a direct wave when said installation environment is bad as a radio wave propagation environment, and said mobile station controls to stop said third step when said installation environment is good as a radio wave propagation environment.

17. A positioning method according to claim 13, wherein said mobile station previously stores a predetermined error correction coefficient, and said third step includes, for estimating a direct wave, performing predetermined error correction calculation related to a radio wave propagation on the direct wave candidate extracted in said second step based on said error correction coefficient to estimate at least one corrected direct wave candidate.

18. A positioning method according to claim 13, wherein:

each of said plurality of base stations stores at least one or more error correction coefficient related to a radio wave propagation, previously calculated from the installation environment of each base station;

said mobile station acquires said error correction coefficient related to each base station from said base station when said mobile station performs a position registration with said plurality of base stations, or communicates with said plurality of base stations; and

said third step includes performing predetermined error correction calculation related to the radio wave propagation on the direct wave candidate extracted in said second based on the acquired error correction coefficients, when said error correction processing is performed, to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate.

20. A positioning method according to claim 18, wherein said error correction coefficient is calculated by a predetermined statistical calculation processing based on a measurement result of the radio wave propagation situation in a communication area of each base station.

21. A positioning method according to claim 13, wherein:

said second and third steps include extracting and estimating one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at said mobile station from at least three different base stations;

said fourth step includes;

first direct wave derivation processing including fixing two of said direct wave candidates selected one by one for each base station from said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates corresponding to a first and a second base station of said three different base stations and using the remaining one of said direct wave candidates corresponding to a third base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position for each said combination, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated for each said combination as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said third base station;

second direct wave derivation processing including fixing said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said third base station and said one direct wave candidate selected from said direct wave candidates corresponding to said first base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and using said direct wave candidate corresponding to said second base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a second rough position of said mobile station for each said combination and a positioning error of each second rough position, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated second time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said second base station; and

third direct wave derivation processing including fixing said direct wave candidate derived as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving from said third base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said second base station in the second direct wave derivation processing, and using said direct wave candidate corresponding to said first base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a third rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each third rough position, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of said positioning errors calculated the third time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from said first base station; and

said fifth step includes determining the current position of said mobile station using the three received signals corresponding to the respective direct waves from said three different base stations, and the positions of said three different base stations derived by said first through third direct wave derivation processing.

22. A positioning method according to claim 13, wherein:

said second step and said third step includes extracting and estimating one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at said mobile station from at least three different base stations;

said fourth step includes selecting one of said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates for each base station and combines the selected direct wave candidates to create a plurality of combinations each comprised of said direct wave candidates for each base station, calculating a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position using said plurality of combinations, and deriving said direct wave candidate included in said combination which exhibits the smallest positioning error, as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said mobile station from each base station; and

said fifth step includes determining the current position of said mobile station using the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said each base station derived in said fourth step, and the position of said each base station.

14. A positioning method for determining a current position of a mobile station utilizing a radio wave emitted from said mobile station located in a communication area and arriving at a plurality of base stations installed in said communication area, said positioning method, comprising:

a first step of receiving a radio wave arriving from said mobile station to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a second step of extracting at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from each radio wave arriving at each of said plurality of base stations based on said received signal;

a third step of performing predetermined error correction processing on the direct wave candidate extracted in said second step to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate;

a fourth step of deriving a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within the direct wave candidates and corrected direct wave candidate extracted and estimated in said second step and said third step; and

a fifth step of determining the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal corresponding to the true direct wave derived in said fourth step.

19. A positioning method according to claim 14, wherein:

each of said plurality of base stations stores at least one or more error correction coefficient related to a radio wave propagation situation previously calculated from an installation environment of each base station; and

said third step includes performing a predetermined error correction calculation related to a radio wave propagation for the direct wave candidate extracted in said second step based on said error correction coefficient, when said error correction processing is performed, to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate.

23. A positioning method according to claim 14, wherein:

said second and third steps include extracting and estimating one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at at least three different base stations from said mobile station;

said fourth step includes;

first direct wave derivation processing including fixing two of said direct wave candidates selected one by one for each base station from said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates corresponding to a first and a second base station of said three different base stations and using the remaining one of said direct wave candidates corresponding to a third base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position for each said combination, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated for each said combination as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said third base station from said mobile station;

second direct wave derivation processing including fixing said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving at said third base station and said one direct wave candidate selected from said direct wave candidates corresponding to said first base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and using said direct wave candidate corresponding to said second base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct radio wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a second rough position of said mobile station for each said combination and a positioning error of each second rough position, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of the positioning errors calculated second time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said second base station from said mobile station;

third direct wave derivation processing including fixing said direct wave candidate derived as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said third base station in the first direct wave derivation processing, and said direct wave candidate derived as the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving at said second base station in the second direct wave derivation processing, and using said direct wave candidate corresponding to said first base station as a variable to create a combination of said direct wave candidates, and performing a positioning calculation using said combination to derive a third rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each third rough position, and deriving said direct wave candidate corresponding to a minimal positioning error of said positioning errors calculated the third time as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at said first base station from said mobile station; and

said fifth step includes determining the current position of said mobile station using the three received signals corresponding to the respective direct waves from said mobile station to said three different base stations, and the positions of said three different base stations derived by said first through third direct wave derivation processing.

24. A positioning method according to claim 14, wherein:

said second and third steps include extracting and estimating one or more each of direct wave candidate and modified direct wave candidate for each of radio waves arriving at at least three different base stations from said mobile station;

said fourth step includes selecting one of said extracted and estimated direct wave candidates for each base station and combines the selected direct wave candidates to create a plurality of combinations each comprised of said direct wave candidates for each base station, calculating a rough position of said mobile station and a positioning error of each rough position using said plurality of combinations, and deriving said direct wave candidate included in said combination which exhibits the smallest positioning error, as a received signal corresponding to a direct wave arriving at each base station from said mobile station; and

said fifth step includes determining the current position of said mobile station using the received signal corresponding to the direct wave arriving from said each base station derived in said fourth step, and the position of said each base station.

28. A positioning method according to claim 19, wherein said error correction coefficient is calculated by a predetermined statistical calculation processing based on a measurement result of the radio wave propagation situation in a communication area of each base station.

25. A positioning system for determining a current position of a mobile station located in a communication area in which a plurality of base stations are installed, wherein:

said mobile station comprises;

a received signal generating part which receives radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a direct wave candidate extracting part which extracts at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from the respective radio waves arriving from said plurality of base stations based on said received signals;

a direct wave candidate estimating part which performs predetermined error correction processing on a direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate;

a direct wave deriving part which derives a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within a plurality of direct wave candidates extracted and estimated in said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part; and

a positioning calculating part which determines the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal derived by said direct wave deriving part,

wherein the current position of said mobile station is determined in said mobile station utilizing radio waves arriving at said mobile station from a plurality of base stations installed in said communication area.

26. A positioning system for determining a current position of a mobile station located in a communication area in which a plurality of base stations are installed, said system comprising:

a received signal generating part provided in each of said plurality of base stations which receives a radio wave arriving from said mobile station to generate a received signal in accordance with each received radio wave;

a direct wave candidate extracting part which extracts at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station from each radio wave arriving at each of said plurality of base stations based on said received signal;

a direct wave candidate estimating part which performs predetermined error correction processing on the direct wave candidate extracted by said direct wave candidate extracting part to estimate at least one or more corrected direct wave candidate;

a direct wave deriving part which derives a received signal corresponding to a true direct wave using at least one or more direct wave candidate for each base station within a plurality of direct wave candidates extracted and estimated in said direct wave candidate extracting part and said direct wave candidate estimating part; and

a positioning calculating part which determines the current position of said mobile station based on the received signal derived by said direct wave deriving part,

wherein the current position of said mobile station is determined in a base station, utilizing a radio wave emitted from said mobile station and arriving at said plurality of base stations.