Rapid transfer of GNSS information from advantaged platform

• US 10,267,891 B1
• Filed: 04/20/2018
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: US Department of The Air Force (U.S. Department Of Defense)
• Original Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air Force
• Inventors: Webber, Frederick, Vinande, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Mahendra
• Application Number:
  US15/958,371
• Time in Patent Office: 368 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554562, 705 44, 705 39, 34235725
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/68 Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

A system and method for transferring data includes an information platform to identify a navigational position of the information platform; a first near field communication (NFC) device attached to the information platform to transmit navigational position data; and a second NFC device to receive the navigational position data from the first NFC device through a NFC data transfer process to establish a navigational position of the second NFC device relative to the first NFC device and without further communication from the first NFC device. The information platform may be stationary. The information platform may be moving. The information platform may include any of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) platform, an inertial navigation system, and a cell phone. The NFC data transfer process may occur within one second.

Claims

1. A system for transferring data, the system comprising:

an information platform to identify a navigational position of the information platform;

a first near field communication (NFC) device attached to the information platform to transmit navigational position data; and

a second NFC device to receive the navigational position data from the first NFC device through a NFC data transfer process to establish a navigational position of the second NFC device relative to the first NFC device and without further communication from the first NFC device wherein the transferring comprises encoding the position estimate to a tag device;

the communication device initiating a transfer of the position estimate from the information platform through the tag device to the communication device; and

wherein additional communication devices each initiate a subsequent transfer of the position estimate from the information platform through the tag device to each additional communication device.

2. A system for providing portable and relative navigation data, the system comprising:

a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) communication device to identify a position estimate of the GNSS communication device, wherein the GNSS communication device comprises a first short-range transceiver device to store and transmit the position estimate; and

a second short-range transceiver device, wherein the second short-range transceiver device is to;

receive a near field communication (NFC) encoded data transmission of the position estimate from the first short-range transceiver device;

become positionally aware of a location of the first short-range transceiver device; and

initialize a starting navigational position of the second short-range transceiver device based on the position estimate wherein the second short-range transceiver device is to receive any of (i) a time estimate from the first short-range transceiver device, and (ii) an estimate of position accuracy from the first short-range transceiver device and wherein the second short-range transceiver device is to initialize the starting navigational position based only on the position estimate provided by the first short-range transceiver device; and

wherein additional communication devices each initiate a subsequent transfer of the position estimate from the information platform through the tag device to each additional communication device.

3. A method of transferring navigational data, the method comprising:

identifying a position estimate of an information platform;

transferring the position estimate from the information platform to a communication device that does not have self-position acquisition ability using a near field communication (NFC) data transfer;

the communication device becoming positionally aware of a location of the communication device upon receiving the position estimate; and

updating a navigational position of the communication device based on the position estimate wherein the transferring comprises encoding the position estimate to a tag device;

the communication device initiating a transfer of the position estimate from the information platform through the tag device to the communication device; and

wherein additional communication devices each initiate a subsequent transfer of the position estimate from the information platform through the tag device to each additional communication device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transferring comprises storing a predetermined number of historical position estimates on the tag device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the tag device comprises a memory component that does not require electrical power to store the position estimate.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the tag device comprises a NFC component to transceive the position estimate.

7. The method of claim 3, comprising:

positioning the communication device within 10 cm from the information platform to the NFC data transfer; and

transferring the position estimate from the information platform to the communication device within one second.