Method for localizing an object

• US 9,182,474 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2013
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: STMicroelectronics Grenoble 2 SAS (STMicroelectronics NV), STMicroelectronics SA (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Original Assignee: STMicroelectronics Grenoble 2 SAS (STMicroelectronics NV), STMicroelectronics SA (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Inventors: Michel, Thierry, Paille, Bruno
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Harry
• Application Number:
  US13/768,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20130214976A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 342/387, 342/386
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02216 Timing or synchronisation of the receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/707 using direct sequence modulation

Abstract

A method for localizing an object, including the acts of: transmission of a first signal by a first transmitter assigned to the object and of a second signal by at least one second transmitter; reception of the first and of the second signal by at least three receivers; in each receiver and for the first and the second signal: a) generation of a first and of a second reference signal; b) correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal and between the second signal and the second reference signal; c) interpolation of samples resulting from the correlation; d) deduction of the propagation time of the first and of the second signal; e) calculation of the difference between the propagation times of the first and of the second signal; and, by triangulation, deduction of the position of the object.

Claims

1. A method to localize an object, comprising:

transmitting by a first transmitter assigned to the object a first signal from a first frame;

transmitting by at least one second transmitter a second signal from a second frame, wherein said first and second frames include a common portion;

receiving the first signal and the second signal by at least three receivers, each receiver performing, for the first signal and the second signal, acts of;

generating a first reference signal from a third frame and a second reference signal from a fourth frame, the third and fourth frames including said common portion;

performing a first correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal;

performing a second correlation between the second signal and the second reference signal;

interpolating samples resulting from the first and second correlations;

deducing propagation time of the first signal and propagation time of the second signal; and

calculating a difference between the propagation times of the first signal and of the second signal; and

deducing a position of the object by triangulation based on the differences between the propagation times of the first signal and the second signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of interpolating includes comparing samples resulting from the first correlation with other samples resulting from an auto-correlation of the first reference signal or the act of interpolating includes comparing samples resulting from the second correlation with other samples resulting from an auto-correlation of the second reference signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the third frame is selected according to the first frame and the fourth frame is selected according to the second frame.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the third frame is identical to the first frame and the fourth frame is identical to the second frame.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the triangulation is performed in a calculation unit associated with the second transmitter.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the common portion of each frame corresponds to a data sequence represented in each frame.

7. A system to localize an object, comprising:

a first transmitter assigned to the object and configured to transmit a first signal from a first frame;

at least one second transmitter capable of transmitting a second signal from a second frame, wherein said first and second frames include a common portion;

at least three receivers, each receiver configured to receive the first and the second signal, each receiver comprising;

a first element configured to generate a first reference signal from a third frame and a second reference signal from a fourth frame, the third and fourth frames including said common portion;

a second element configured to calculate a first correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal, the second element configured to calculate a second correlation between the second signal and the second reference signal;

a third element configured to calculate an interpolation of samples resulting from the first correlation and an interpolation of samples resulting from the second correlation, the third element configured to deduce propagation time of the first signal and propagation time of the second signal; and

a fourth element configured to calculate a difference between the propagation times of the first signal and of the second signal; and

a calculation unit configured to receive from each receiver the difference between the propagation times of the first signal and of the second signal, the calculation unit configured to deduce a position of the object by triangulation based on the differences between the propagation times of the first signal and of the second signal calculated by each receiver.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein, for each receiver, the third element comprises:

a fifth element configured to calculate an auto-correlation of the first reference signal corresponding to the first signal, the fifth element configured to calculate an auto-correlation of the second reference signal corresponding to the second signal;

a sixth element configured to calculate an interpolation of samples resulting from the auto-correlation of the first reference signal and of samples resulting from the auto-correlation of the second reference signal; and

a seventh element configured to compare, for the first signal and the second signal respectively, samples resulting from the first correlation and the second correlation calculated in the second element and samples resulting from the interpolation calculated in the sixth element.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the calculation unit configured to deduce the position of the object is associated with the second transmitter.

10. A receiver to localize an object, comprising:

a demodulator arranged to pass a first signal from a first transmitter, the first transmitter associated with an object, the demodulator arranged to pass a second signal from a second transmitter, the first signal and the second signal having a common portion;

a first module configured to generate a first reference signal and a second reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having a common reference portion

a second module configured to calculate a first correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal, the second module configured to calculate a second correlation between the second signal and the second reference signal;

a third module configured to calculate an interpolation of first correlation samples and second correlation samples passed from the second module;

a fourth module configured to deduce propagation time of the first signal and propagation time of the second signal based on the interpolation from the third module;

a fifth module configured to calculate a difference between the propagation time of the first signal and the propagation time of the second signal; and

a calculation module configured to;

receive the difference between the propagation time of the first signal and the propagation time of the second signal;

receive a second difference between the propagation time of the first signal and the propagation time of the second signal generated by a second receiver;

receive a third difference between the propagation time of the first signal and the propagation time of the second signal generated by a third receiver; and

deduce a position of the object by triangulation based on the difference, the second difference, and the third difference.

11. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the receiver is configured to receive the first and second signals from the first and second transmitters, the first and second transmitters being remote from each other and remote from the receiver.

12. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the receiver is configured to receive the second and the third differences from the second and third receivers, the second and third receivers being remote from each other and remote from the receiver.

13. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the common portion and the common reference portion are not identical.

14. The receiver of claim 10, comprising:

an antenna configured to receive an analog signal having the first signal modulated thereon;

an amplifier configured to amplify the analog signal;

a carrier frequency input to the demodulator arranged to receive a carrier frequency, the demodulator configured to separate, using the carrier frequency, an envelope having the first signal from the analog signal; and

an analog to digital converter circuit arranged to retrieve the first signal from the envelope.

15. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the third module comprises:

a sixth module configured to calculate an auto-correlation of the first reference signal and an auto-correlation of the second reference signal;

a seventh module configured to calculate an interpolation of samples resulting from the auto-correlation of the first reference signal and of samples resulting from the auto-correlation of the second reference signal; and

an eighth module configured to compare, for the first signal, samples resulting from the first correlation calculated in the second module and samples resulting from the interpolation calculated in the seventh module, the eighth module configured to compare, for the second signal, samples resulting from the second correlation calculated in the second module and samples resulting from the interpolation calculated in the seventh module.

16. The receiver of claim 15 wherein the second module and the third module are configured to perform the first correlation and the auto-correlation of the first reference signal concurrently.

17. The receiver of claim 15 wherein the second module and the third module are configured are configured to perform their respective calculations with a same calculation unit.

18. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the second module comprises:

a ninth module configured to calculate an offset between a first carrier frequency and a second carrier frequency, the first carrier frequency arranged to modulate an analog signal having the first signal therein, the second carrier frequency arranged to demodulate the analog signal having the first signal therein.

19. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the second difference and the third difference are received by respective radio transmissions from the second receiver and the third receiver.

20. The receiver of claim 10 wherein the receiver conforms to a ZigBee wireless communication protocol.

21. A method to localize an object, comprising:

receiving a first signal and a second signal by at least three receivers, the first and second signals having a common portion, each receiver performing, for the first signal and the second signal, acts of;

generating a first reference signal from one frame and a second reference signal from another frame, the two frames including said common portion;

performing a first correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal;

performing a second correlation between the second signal and the second reference signal;

interpolating samples from the first and second correlations;

deducing propagation time of the first signal and propagation time of the second signal; and

calculating a difference between propagation times of the first signal and of the second signal; and

deducing a position of the object based on the differences between the propagation times of the first signal and the second signal.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the act of interpolating includes comparing samples resulting from the first correlation with other samples resulting from an auto-correlation of the first reference signal or the act of interpolating includes comparing samples resulting from the second correlation with other samples resulting from an auto-correlation of the second reference signal.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein deducing the position of the object includes at least one act of triangulation.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the common portion of each frame corresponds to a data sequence represented in each frame.

25. A receiver to localize an object, comprising:

a demodulator arranged to pass a first signal and a second signal, the first signal and the second signal having a common portion;

a first module configured to generate a first reference signal and a second reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having a common reference portion;

a second module configured to calculate a first correlation between the first signal and the first reference signal, the second module configured to calculate a second correlation between the second signal and the second reference signal;

a third module configured to calculate an interpolation of first correlation samples and second correlation samples passed from the second module;

a fourth module configured to deduce propagation time of the first signal and propagation time of the second signal based on the interpolation from the third module; and

a calculation module configured to deduce a position of the object based on a difference between propagation times of the first and second signals calculated by the receiver and by at least two other receivers.

26. The receiver of claim 25 wherein the receiver is configured to receive the first and second signals from first and second transmitters, the first and second transmitters being remote from each other and remote from the receiver.

27. The receiver of claim 25 wherein the receiver conforms to a ZigBee wireless communication protocol.