Wireless Position Location And Tracking System

• US 20080055158A1
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Centrak Incorporated (Halma PLC)
• Original Assignee: Awarepoint Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Derek, Adams, James, Nierenberg, Nicolas, Baker, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,626,545 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/464
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02525 Gathering the radio frequency fingerprints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques for accurate position location and tracking suitable for a wide range of facilities in variable environments are disclosed. In one aspect, a system for position location comprises a plurality of sensors (e.g. a network monitor, an environment sensor) for generating measurements of a plurality of sources, a plurality of objects or tags, each object generating measurements of the plurality of sources, and a processor for receiving the measurements and generating a position location for one or more objects in accordance with the received measurements. In another aspect, a position engine comprises a mapped space of a physical environment, and a processor for updating the mapped space in response to received measurements. The position engine may receive second measurements from an object within the physical environment, and generate a position location estimate for the object from the received second measurements and the mapped space.

Claims

1. A system for real-time position location of an object within an indoor, multi-floor facility, the system comprising:

a plurality of beacon emitters positioned within the indoor multi-floor facility, each beacon emitter generating a radiofrequency signal;

a plurality of network monitors, each network monitor attached to a wall outlet of the indoor, multi-floor facility and generating a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements comprising data, the data comprising signal strength from each of the plurality of beacon emitters received by the network monitor;

a plurality of objects located within the indoor, multi-floor facility, each object having a respective tag associated therewith, each tag generating a second plurality of measurements, the second plurality of measurements comprising data, the data comprising signal strength from each of the plurality of beacon emitters received by the tag;

a plurality of access points located within the indoor, multi-floor facility, at least one of the plurality of access points wirelessly receiving data of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors utilizing a 802.11 communication link,

wherein at least one of the plurality of network monitors wirelessly receives data of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of each object using a 802.15.4 communication link and wirelessly transmits the data of the second plurality of measurements to at least one of the plurality of access points utilizing the 802.11 communication link; and

a location positioning engine for receiving through the plurality of access points (1) data of at least one of the first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors and (2) data of at least one of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of at least one of the objects of the plurality of objects.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the location positioning engine utilizes a radial basis function and the data of the first plurality of measurements to generate and continuously update a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the multi-floor indoor facility.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein the location positioning engine utilizes the data of the second plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the multi-floor indoor facility to generate a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of objects.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein each tag associated with a respective object sends information according to a pre-determined criteria.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the pre-determined criteria is programmable.

6. The system according to claim 4 wherein the pre-determined criteria includes sending information in response to detected motion.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein each tag is programmable via an access point.

8. A method for real-time position location of an object within an indoor facility, the method comprising:

wirelessly transmitting data of a first plurality of measurements from a tag of an object of a plurality of objects to at least one of a plurality of network monitors using a 802.15.4 communication link;

wirelessly transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from at least one of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points utilizing a 802.11 communication link;

transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from the at least one of the plurality of access points to a location positioning engine;

generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the indoor facility based on the data of the first plurality of measurement utilizing a radial basis function; and

generating a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of objects in accordance with the received data of the first plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the indoor facility.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein each of the plurality of network monitors comprises an antenna, a WLAN interface connected to the antenna and a microprocessor connected to the WLAN interface.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein each of tag of each object of the plurality of objects comprises a transceiver, a power supply and a processor.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein each of tag of each object of the plurality of objects is programmable via an access point of the plurality of access points.

12. A system comprising:

a plurality of access points for transmitting a plurality of beacons;

a plurality of known locations;

a plurality of network monitors for measuring one or more of the plurality of beacons to form a first plurality of measurements and transmitting the first plurality of measurements to at least one access point; and

a positioning engine for receiving each first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors over a network and storing the plurality of measurements for each network monitor.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a tag for measuring one or more of the plurality of beacons to form a second plurality of measurements and transmitting the second plurality of measurements to the positioning engine;

and wherein the positioning engine further generates a location estimate for the tag in response to the second plurality of measurements, the stored first plurality of measurements for one or more network monitors, and the respective known locations of the one or more network monitors.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the tag sends information according to a pre-determined criteria.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the criteria includes sending information in response to detected motion.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the criteria includes sending information once per time period.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the tag is programmable via an access point.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the pre-determined criteria is programmable.