Method and apparatus for determining the location of an object which may have an obstructed view of the sky
First Claim
1. A method of determining the location of a remote object, comprising the steps of:
- transporting a positioning sensor to a remote object;
repositioning said positioning sensor to a fix position such that said positioning sensor is capable of receiving positioning signals, said fix position being in a known position relative to the position of said remote sensor;
storing a predetermined amount of data in said positioning sensor while said positioning sensor is located at said fix position, said data comprising said positioning signals;
processing said data to determine the location of said fix position; and
computing the location of said remote object using the location of said fix position.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A positioning sensor receives and stores a predetermined record length of positioning signals while in a fix position located such that the positioning sensor can receive positioning signals. Thereafter, the stored positioning signals are processed to determine the geographic location of the fix position. The fix position may correspond to a location of an object of interest or it may be in a known location relative to the position of the object, in which case once the geographic location of the fix position has been computed, the geographic location of the object can be derived. The positioning sensor includes a Snapshot GPS receiver which may collect and process GPS signals transmitted by GPS satellites using fast convolution operations to compute pseudoranges from the GPS satellites to the fix position. Alternatively, these computations may be performed at a basestation. The computed pseudoranges may then used to determine the geographic location of the fix position. The positioning sensor may be equipped with depth sensing means, such as a pressure sensor, which allows a determination of the depth of submerged object to be made. The positioning sensor may further be equipped with signal detecting means for determining when the positioning sensor is in the fix position.
362 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of determining the location of a remote object, comprising the steps of:
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transporting a positioning sensor to a remote object; repositioning said positioning sensor to a fix position such that said positioning sensor is capable of receiving positioning signals, said fix position being in a known position relative to the position of said remote sensor; storing a predetermined amount of data in said positioning sensor while said positioning sensor is located at said fix position, said data comprising said positioning signals; processing said data to determine the location of said fix position; and computing the location of said remote object using the location of said fix position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of tracking a remote object comprising the steps of:
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fitting a remote object with a positioning sensor configured to receive and store positioning information when said remote object is in a fix position; positioning said remote object in a fix position such that said positioning sensor is capable of detecting an activation signal; receiving and storing a predetermined amount of data in said positioning sensor, said data comprising positioning information; and processing said data to determine the location of said fix position. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification