Method and system for determining a location of a plurality of units using sub-divided unit groupings
First Claim
1. A method of determining a location of a plurality of units, each unit being communicatively coupled to at least some of the other plurality of units, wherein at least some of the plurality of units are in communication range with one or more reference units, whose location is at least one of determined and known, said method comprising:
- sub-dividing the plurality of units into a plurality of sub-nets, wherein each sub-net includes two or more units;
measuring, in each of the sub-nets, range information between each of the units in the sub-net and the other units in the sub-net, which are in communication range with the unit, and range information between any reference units and at least one of the units in the sub-net within communication range of the corresponding reference unit;
gathering the measured range information in at least a selected one of the units associated with each of the sub-nets;
estimating, in the at least selected one of the units associated with each of the sub-nets in which the measured range information was gathered, a location for each of the units in each of the sub-nets, which minimizes any error in the measured ranges between the units within communication range in each of the sub-nets and the measured range between any of the reference units and the corresponding units in the sub-net within communication range of at least one of the reference units.
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Abstract
A method and system is provided for determining a location for each of a plurality of units, which are sub-divided into more than one sub-net groupings, that each include two or more units. Within each sub-net grouping, measured range information between units within the sub-nets and one or more reference units is gathered in at least a selected one of the units. The selected one of the units then estimates a location for each of the units, which minimizes any error in the measured ranges between the units in each of the corresponding sub-nets.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of determining a location of a plurality of units, each unit being communicatively coupled to at least some of the other plurality of units, wherein at least some of the plurality of units are in communication range with one or more reference units, whose location is at least one of determined and known, said method comprising:
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sub-dividing the plurality of units into a plurality of sub-nets, wherein each sub-net includes two or more units; measuring, in each of the sub-nets, range information between each of the units in the sub-net and the other units in the sub-net, which are in communication range with the unit, and range information between any reference units and at least one of the units in the sub-net within communication range of the corresponding reference unit; gathering the measured range information in at least a selected one of the units associated with each of the sub-nets; estimating, in the at least selected one of the units associated with each of the sub-nets in which the measured range information was gathered, a location for each of the units in each of the sub-nets, which minimizes any error in the measured ranges between the units within communication range in each of the sub-nets and the measured range between any of the reference units and the corresponding units in the sub-net within communication range of at least one of the reference units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for determining the location of a plurality of units in a multi-hop network, each unit being communicatively coupled to at least some of the other plurality of units, wherein at least some of the plurality of units are in communication range with one or more reference units, whose location is at least one of determined and known, said system comprising:
a plurality of sub-nets, which have been formed by subdividing the plurality of units in the multi-hop network, each sub-net including a plurality of units having a transceiver for sharing information including location information with other units, wherein at least one of said units associated with each of said sub-nets includes a centralized processor, which receives range information from each of the units within the corresponding sub-net in one or more hops, and estimates the location of each of the units in the corresponding sub-net, based upon only the range information received from each of the units within the corresponding sub-net, that has been measured by each of the units within the corresponding subnet, which minimizes any error in the measured ranges between the units within communication range in each of the sub-nets and the measured range between any of the reference units and the corresponding units in the sub-net within communication range of at least one of the reference units. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
Specification