System and method for position determination using low earth orbit satellites

• US 9,784,848 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SkyBitz, Inc. (Ametek Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SkyBitz, Inc. (Ametek Incorporated)
• Inventors: Harvey, Michael, Malone, Craig, Shankar, Uday, Walgren, Mike, Young, Corwin Walker
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chuong P
• Application Number:
  US13/078,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20160109581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,384 Days
• Field of Search: 34235764, 34235731, 34235725, 701517, 701518, 701468, 701469
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/25 involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/252 Employing an initial estimate of location in generating assistance data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station

Abstract

A system and method for position determination using low earth orbit satellites. A mobile terminal affixed to an asset initiates a collection of global positioning system satellite measurements (e.g., code phase) based on a hardware trigger generated by a low earth orbit satellite modem. Timing information reflective of the time of the hardware trigger pulse is transmitted to an operations center along with the global positioning system satellite measurements to enable the operations center to determine a position of the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile terminal affixed to an asset, comprising:

generating, by a low earth orbit satellite modem incorporated into the mobile terminal and in response to a global positioning system measurement collection request, a hardware trigger pulse;

initiating, in response to said generated hardware trigger pulse, a collection of global positioning system measurements; and

transmitting, by said low earth orbit satellite modem, a communication to an operations center that includes said global positioning system measurements and timing information indicative of a time of generation of said hardware trigger pulse, said communication enabling said operations center to determine a position of the asset to which the mobile terminal is affixed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said collection of global positioning system measurements are performed by said low earth orbit satellite modem.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication also includes a satellite identifier, a beam identifier, and a propagation time from said mobile terminal to said low earth orbit satellite.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication also includes a rough position estimate and a confidence estimate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said global positioning system measurements are code phase measurements.