Indoor position location using delayed scanned directional reflectors

• US 9,383,441 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lonprox Corporation
• Original Assignee: Younis Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Younis, Saed G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US14/835,554
• Publication Number:
  US 20160054440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 315 Days
• Field of Search: 342/146, 342/172, 342/357.64
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/426 Scanning radar, e.g. 3D radar G01S13/66 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/753 using frequency selective elements, e.g. resonator
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/755 using delay lines, e.g. acoustic delay lines
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/756 using a signal generator for modifying the reflectivity of the reflector G01S13/758 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/758 using a signal generator powered by the interrogation signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/876 Combination of several spaced transponders or reflectors of known location for determining the position of a receiver G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/14 Reflecting surfaces; Equivalent structures electromagnetic shields H01Q1/526
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/18 comprising plurality of mutually inclined plane surfaces, e.g. corner reflector H01Q15/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A mobile device determines its location accurately by measuring the range to a position reflector as well as azimuth and elevation angles of arrival (AOA) at the reflector. The mobile can transmit a coded radar signal and process reflections to determine its location. The reflectors may include internal delays that can identify the reflector and provide transmit/receive separation for the mobile. The reflection can include a primary and further delayed secondary reflection. The mobile can determine the internal delay of the reflector based on the delay between primary and secondary reflections. The range and AOA information can be combined with information about the position, orientation, and characteristics of the reflectors to determine location. In some systems, the mobile device can determine its location in a three-dimensional space using reflections from only one reflector. The reflectors, which can be economically produced, can be unpowered and low profile for easy installation.

Claims

1. A positioning system, comprising:

one or more position reflectors, each of the one or more position reflectors configured to reflect radar signals, each reflected radar signal including a primary reflection delayed by an internal delay of the position reflector and a secondary reflection delayed from the primary reflection;

a server storing reflector data associated with the one or more position reflectors; and

a mobile device configured to receive the reflector data from the server and to transmit a radar signal and process reflections of the transmitted radar signal to determine a location of the mobile device.

2. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the secondary reflection is delayed from the primary reflection by an integer multiple of the internal delay of the position reflector.

3. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the reflector data stored by the server includes:

locations of the one or more position reflectors;

orientations of the one or more position reflectors;

internal delays of the one or more position reflectors;

delays from primary to secondary reflections of the one or more position reflectors;

power levels of the primary and secondary reflections of the one or more position reflectors; and

frequency characteristics of the one or more position reflectors.

4. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to control radiation power, bandwidth, duration, and center frequency of the radar signal transmitted by the mobile device.

5. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more position reflectors comprises:

an antenna;

a delay element; and

a matching network coupling the antenna to the delay element, the matching network transforming an impedance of the antenna to an impedance of the delay element.

6. The positioning system of claim 5, wherein the matching network mismatches the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the delay element thereby causing the secondary reflection from the position reflector.

7. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more position reflectors comprises:

an antenna;

a delay element;

a circulator having a first terminal for coupling to the antenna, a second terminal coupled to a first terminal of the delay element, and a third terminal coupled to a second terminal of the delay element; and

a matching network coupling the antenna to the circulator, the matching network transforming an impedance of the antenna to an impedance of the delay element.

8. The positioning system of claim 7, wherein the matching network mismatches the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the delay element thereby causing a secondary reflection from the position reflector.

9. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more position reflectors comprises:

an array of antennas;

a plurality of transmission paths sequentially coupling the array of the antennas;

a delay element; and

a matching network coupling a first one of the plurality of transmission paths to the delay element, the matching network transforming an impedance of the array of antennas to an impedance of the delay element.

10. The positioning system of claim 9, wherein the matching network mismatches the impedance of the array of antennas to the impedance of the delay element thereby causing the secondary reflection from the position reflector.

11. The positioning system of claim 9, further comprising a spreading lens disposed to diffract reflections from the position reflector.

12. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more position reflectors comprises:

a local oscillator producing a radio-frequency signal; and

an array of reflector elements, each of the reflector elements including

an antenna,

a delay element,

a matching network coupling the antenna to a first port of the delay element, the matching network transforming an impedance of the antenna to an impedance of the delay element, and

a reflector mixer coupled to a second port of the delay element and configured to mix a signal from the delay element with the radio-frequency signal from the local oscillator.

13. The positioning system of claim 12, wherein the reflector mixer comprises:

a mixer configured to produce a mixed signal from a first input and a second input, the second input coupled to the radio-frequency signal from the local oscillator; and

a circulator having a first terminal coupled to the second port of the delay element, a second terminal coupled to the first input of the mixer, and a third terminal coupled to the mixed signal from the mixer.

14. The positioning system of claim 12, further comprising a phase shifter configured to modulate the radio-frequency signal with a data sequence that identifies the position reflector before the radio-frequency signal is mixed at the reflector mixers.

15. The positioning system of claim 12, wherein the matching networks mismatch the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the delay element thereby causing the secondary reflection from the position reflector.

16. The positioning system of claim 12, wherein the delay elements include digital delay lines.

17. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more position reflectors comprises:

a first reflector arranged to reflect radar signal sensitive to a first angle; and

a second reflector arranged to reflect radar signal sensitive to a second angle orthogonal to the first angle.

18. A device for location positioning, the device comprising:

a radio-frequency front end coupled one or more antennas; and

a processor coupled to the radio-frequency front end and configured to

supply a radar signal to the radio-frequency front end for transmission,

receive, from the radio-frequency front end, signals reflected from one or more position reflectors, and

process the received signals to determine a location of the device, the processing including determining a delay from a primary reflection to a secondary reflection.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the radio-frequency front end comprises:

a transmit chain including

digital-to-analog converters to convert in-phase and quadrature transmit signals from digital to analog form,

up-conversion mixers to convert the analog in-phase and quadrature transmit signals to radio frequency,

a summer to combine the radio-frequency in-phase and quadrature transmit signals to form a transmit signal, and

an amplifier and a transmit band-pass filter to supply the transmit signal to the one or more antennas; and

a receive chain including

an amplifier and a receive band-pass filter to process received signals from the one or more antennas;

down-conversion mixers to convert the processed received signals to in-phase and quadrature receive signals, and

analog-to-digital converters to convert the in-phase and quadrature receive signals from analog to digital form.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the radar signal supplied for transmission is modulated with direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) modulation.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to generate the radar signal using a pseudo-noise generator, a frequency shift ramp generator, and a direct digital synthesizer, and a transmit sample rotator and to process the received signals using a receive sample rotator and a bank of correlators.

22. The device of claim 18, wherein a center frequency of the radar signal is shifted, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine angle-of-arrival information based on processing of the received signals corresponding to different center frequencies.

23. The device of claim 18, wherein a center frequency of the radar signal is swept between two frequencies, and wherein the processor is further configured to count cycle slips for both the primary reflection and the secondary reflection.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the counted cycle slips to determine an internal delay of the associated position reflector.

25. The device of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the counted cycle slips to determine a range to the associated position reflector, wherein the range is determined to a fraction of a wavelength of the radar signal.

26. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to supply the radar signal having an on duration based on an expected internal delay of a position reflector and an off duration based on the delay of the secondary reflection.

27. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to utilize the delay from the primary reflection to the secondary reflection to identify the associated reflector.

28. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to decode a data sequence phase modulated on the received reflection and utilize the decode data sequence to identify the associated reflector.

29. A method for location positioning of an electronic device, the method comprising:

transmitting a direct sequence spread spectrum coded radar signal, the radar signal having a center frequency swept between two frequencies;

receiving radar signals that include reflections from a plurality of position reflectors, each of the reflections including a primary reflection delayed by an internal delay of the corresponding position reflector and a secondary reflection further delayed by the internal delay of the corresponding position reflector;

correlating information detected in the received radar signals with corresponding information used to form the transmitted radar signal to determine maxima in the reflections;

detecting frequency information and delay information about the reflection using the determined maxima in the reflections;

determining information about the internal delays of the position reflectors from the delay information;

identifying the plurality of position reflectors using the determined internal delay information;

determining a range to at least one of the plurality of position reflectors using the detected delay information and the determined internal delay information;

determining an angle of arrival for the reflections from at least one of the plurality of position reflectors using the frequency information; and

determining the position of the electronic device using the range and the angle of arrival.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

affixing the plurality of position reflectors in an interior of a room;

taking a plurality of digital images of the interior of the room while receiving reflections from the plurality of position reflectors;

processing the received reflections to produce reflector measurements;

combining the plurality of digital images and the reflector measurements to build a model of the interior of the room, the model including reflector data, the reflector data including locations of the plurality of position reflectors; and

storing the reflector data at a server for using in subsequent location positioning.