POSITIONING SYSTEM

• US 20170135063A1
• Filed: 01/26/2017
• Published: 05/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rosemount Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Rosemount Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Bartov, Avishai, Zlotnick, Yossi
• Granted Patent: US 11,102,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/765 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

A positioning system, includes a plurality of anchor stations each configured to transmit a radio frequency signal. A mobile station includes a radio frequency transceiver configured to transmit and receive a radio frequency signal from at least one of the plurality of anchor stations. A processing unit is configured to determine position information of the mobile unit based upon the transmitted and received radio frequency signal. Another positioning system uses a number of beacons ranging a number of mobile tags with ultra-wide band ranging, and communicating wirelessly with an application server.

Claims

1. A positioning system, comprising:

a plurality of anchor stations, each configured to transmit and receive a radio frequency signal;

a mobile station including;

a radio frequency transceiver configured to transmit and receive a radio frequency signal from at least one of the plurality of anchor stations; and

a processing unit configured to determine position information of the mobile unit based upon transmitted and received radio frequency signals.

2. A positioning system, comprising:

a plurality of beacons, each of which are at least partially battery powered and are configured for wireless communication; and

an application server configured to communicate wirelessly with the beacons based on a communication standard.

3. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of beacons comprises a plurality of fixed location beacons and at least one mobile beacon.

4. The positioning system of claim 3, wherein the at least one mobile beacon is configured to communicate with beacons of the plurality of fixed location beacons, wherein ranging between the at least one mobile beacon and the beacons of the plurality of beacons is based on ultra-wide band (UWB) technology.

5. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the communication standard comprises an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant protocol network.

6. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the communication standard comprises WirelessHART®

.

7. The positioning system of claim 2, and further comprising:

a tag configured to communicate with the plurality of beacons, wherein ranging between the tag and the plurality of beacons is based on ultra-wide band (UWB) technology.

8. The positioning system of claim 7, wherein the UWB technology is compliant with a communication standard.

9. The positioning system of claim 8, wherein the communication standard is an IEEE 802.15.4a-2011 compliant standard.

10. The positioning system of claim 2, and further comprising:

a tag configured to perform time synchronization with the plurality of beacons, wherein time synchronization between the plurality of beacons and the tag is configured for two way ranging (TWR) between a beacon of the plurality of beacons and the tag.

11. The positioning system of claim 10, wherein coordination of TWR measurements between a beacon of the plurality of beacons and the tag is based on an inherent time synchronization mechanism of an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

12. The positioning system of claim 10, wherein the application server is configured to assign time slots for TWR measurements

13. The positioning system of claim 10, wherein the application server is further configured assign time slots for TWR measurements between a beacon of the plurality of beacons and the tag, in which information that defines time slots for TWR between beacons and tags is transferred from the application server to the beacons via an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

14. The positioning system of claim 13, wherein the time slots for TWR measurements are assigned to prevent cross talk between multiple TWR measurements.

15. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the application server is further configured to transfer information to the beacons to prepare for a TWR measurement just prior to an initiation of the TWR measurement.

16. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of beacons are configured to transmit information related to raw TWR measurements the application server through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

17. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein information related to a position of the tag is transferred from at least three of the plurality beacons to the application server through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

18. The positioning system of claim 2, wherein the application server is further configured to transfer setup and configuration information for the plurality of beacons, including beacon positions, to the plurality of beacons through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

19. A method of determining a position of a mobile tag in a system comprising an application server and a plurality of fixed location beacons, comprising:

connecting the plurality of beacons and the application server with a wireless communication network;

assigning, at the application server, a plurality of time slots for two way ranging operations between a beacon of the plurality of beacons and the mobile tag;

ranging the mobile tag with respect to at least three beacons of the plurality of beacons; and

transferring mobile tag information from the plurality of beacons to the application server.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein ranging comprises:

transmitting from a beacon of the plurality of beacons a packet with a known transmit time; and

receiving at the beacon a return signal in response to receipt of the packet from the mobile tag.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the wireless communication between the beacons to the application server is performed based on a communication standard.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the communication is performed on an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant protocol network.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the communication is performed on a WirelessHART®

network.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the ranging between the tag and a beacon of the plurality of beacons is based on ultra-wide band (UWB) technology compliant with a communication standard.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the ranging is performed over an IEEE 802.15.4a-2011 standard compliant network.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein time synchronization for the plurality of beacons and the tag for the coordination of ranging measurements is based on an inherent time synchronization mechanism of an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein information that defines the plurality of time slots for ranging between the plurality of beacons and the tag prevents cross talks between multiple measurements.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the information that defines the plurality of time slots is transferred from the application server to the plurality of beacons via an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

29. The method of claim 20, and further comprising:

instructing the plurality of beacons to initiate a sensing operation just prior to a poll being transferred to the plurality of beacons from the application server.

30. The method of claim 21, and further comprising transferring information that allows the plurality of beacons to begin listening just prior to a poll being transferred from the application server to the plurality of beacons.

31. The method of claim 21, and further comprising transferring information related to ranging measurements from the plurality of beacons to the application server through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

32. The method of claim 21, and further comprising transferring information related to tag positions from the plurality of beacons to the application server through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.

33. The method of claim 21, and further comprising transferring remote setup and configuration information for the plurality of beacons including positions for the plurality of beacons from the application server to the plurality of beacons through an IEEE 802.15.4-2003 compliant network.