Time distance of arrival based mobile device location detection with disturbance scrutiny

• US 9,967,854 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2016
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Puthenpura, Sarat, Chen, Jie, Parker, Sam Houston, Wang, Huahui, Zhao, Wenjie
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Thai
• Application Number:
  US15/359,843
• Publication Number:
  US 20170079005A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Techniques for locating a mobile device using a time distance of arrival (TDOA) method with disturbance scrutiny are provided. In an aspect, for respective combinations of three base station devices of a number of base station devices greater than or equal to three, intersections in hyperbolic curves, generated using a closed form function with input values based on differences of distances from the device to pairs of base station devices of the respective combinations of three base station devices, are determined. The intersection points are then tested for robustness against measurement errors associated with the input values and a subset of the intersection points that are associated with a degree of resistance to the measurement errors are selected to estimate a location of the device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining a first intersection point between first hyperbolic curves generated using a hyperbola function with first input values, wherein the first input values are determined based on signal information indicating arrival times of signals received by a device from respective base station devices included in a group of three base station devices and location information identifying respective locations of the three base station devices;

determining a second intersection point between second hyperbolic curves generated using the hyperbola function with second input values, wherein the second input values are based on the first input values as modified by deliberate measurement errors;

determining a degree of accuracy associated with the first intersection point based on a degree of deviation between the first intersection point and the second intersection point; and

determining a location of the device based on the first intersection point in response to a determination that the degree of accuracy is greater than a threshold degree of accuracy.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise classifying the first intersection point as a valid intersection point based on the determination that the degree of accuracy is greater than the threshold degree of accuracy.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving the signal information from the device; and

determining the first input values based on the signal information and the location information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

associating the first intersection point with a group of valid intersection points based on the determination that the first intersection point is the threshold degree of accuracy, and wherein respective intersection points of the group of valid intersection points were determined based on hyperbolic curves generated using the hyperbola function with third input values determined based on the signal information and the location information.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting one of the intersection points of the group of valid intersection points that satisfies a root mean squared error function; and

determining the location of the device based on the one of the intersection points.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal information comprises first signal information, the arrival times comprise first arrival times, the signals comprise first signals, and the group of base station devices comprises a first group of base station devices, and wherein the operations further comprise:

associating the first intersection point with a group of valid intersection points based on the determination that the first intersection point is the threshold degree of accuracy, wherein respective intersection points of the group of valid intersection points were determined based on hyperbolic curves generated using the hyperbola function with third input values determined based on the first signal information and second signal information, and wherein the second signal information indicates second arrival times of second signals received by the device from respective base station devices included in a second group of three base station devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the hyperbola function comprises a closed form solution function.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first hyperbolic curves and the second hyperbolic curves were further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of base station devices of the group of three base station devices.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, signal information indicating arrival time of signals that were received by a device from base station devices;

for respective combinations of three base station devices of the base station devices,

determining, by the system, first intersection points between first hyperbolic curves generated using a hyperbola function with first input values determined based on the signal information and location information identifying respective locations of the base station devices,

determining, by the system, second intersection points between second hyperbolic curves generated using the hyperbola function with second input values determined based on the first input values as modified by deliberate error adjustments, and

determining, by the system, a degree of accuracy associated with the first intersection points based on a degree of deviation between the first intersection points and the second intersection points; and

determining, by the system, a location of the device using a group of the first intersection points based on a determination that the degree of accuracy associated with the group of intersection points is greater than a threshold degree of accuracy.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

classifying, by the system, the group of the first intersection points as valid intersection points based on the determination that the degree of accuracy is greater than the threshold degree of accuracy.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of base station devices is greater than three.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting one of the valid intersection points that satisfies a root mean squared error function; and

determining the location of the device based on the one of the valid intersection points.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the hyperbola function comprises a closed form solution function.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first hyperbolic curves and the second hyperbolic curves were further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of the base station devices.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving signal information indicating arrival time of signals that were received by a device from base station devices; and

for respective combinations of three base station devices of the base station devices,

determining first intersection points between first hyperbolic curves generated using a hyperbola function with first input values determined based on the signal information and location information identifying respective locations of the base station devices,

determining second intersection points between second hyperbolic curves generated using the hyperbola function with second input values determined based on the first input values as modified by deliberate error measurements, and

determining a degree of accuracy associated with the first intersection points based on a degree of deviation between the first intersection points and the second intersection points; and

determining a location of the device based on an intersection point of the first intersection points based on a first determination that the degree of accuracy associated with the intersection points is greater than a threshold degree of accuracy.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

classifying a group of the first intersection points as valid intersection points based on a second determination that the degree of accuracy associated with the group of the first intersection points is greater than the threshold degree of accuracy.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the number of base station devices is greater than three.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting one of the valid intersection points that satisfies a root mean squared error criterion; and

determining the location of the device based on the one of the valid intersection points.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the hyperbola function comprises a closed form solution function.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first hyperbolic curves and the second hyperbolic curves were further generated based on calibrated clock differences between pairs of the base station devices.