Mobile position determination with error correction utilizing cellular networks
First Claim
1. Position-determining apparatus comprising:
- a position determination unit including a cellular mobile station coupled to a local satellite receiver,a cellular radio system including at least one immobile base station having a base station satellite receiver, the base station having a position determined relative to an eternal reference, the base station being arranged to transmit base station satellite data including data representing a carrier phase measurement derived from a satellite signal received by the base station satellite receiver to the mobile station via a cellular radio link and, the position determination unit being arranged to determine its position relative to the base station using local satellite data received by the local satellite receiver and to correct errors in this position determination using the base station satellite data, andan adjacent cell database associated with the base station for storing at least one of (a) the base station coordinate data of at least one immobile adjacent cell base station, and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station, the adjacent cell database being accessible to the base station to provide measurement correction data for the position of the base station itself.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A position determining system takes the form of a cellular radio system including at least one base station having a base station satellite receiver (6) and a mobile unit including a cellular mobile station (50) coupled to a local satellite receiver (58). The base station transmits base station satellite data via a cellular radio link to the mobile unit, the data including data representing a carrier phase measurement derived from a satellite signal (70) received by the base station satellite receiver (6). The mobile unit determines its position relative to the base station using local satellite data received by the local satellite receiver (58) and corrects errors in this position determination using base station satellite data. The relative positions of the base stations are determined automatically with reference to an external positional reference which may be a satellite-based position determining system.
80 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. Position-determining apparatus comprising:
-
a position determination unit including a cellular mobile station coupled to a local satellite receiver, a cellular radio system including at least one immobile base station having a base station satellite receiver, the base station having a position determined relative to an eternal reference, the base station being arranged to transmit base station satellite data including data representing a carrier phase measurement derived from a satellite signal received by the base station satellite receiver to the mobile station via a cellular radio link and, the position determination unit being arranged to determine its position relative to the base station using local satellite data received by the local satellite receiver and to correct errors in this position determination using the base station satellite data, and an adjacent cell database associated with the base station for storing at least one of (a) the base station coordinate data of at least one immobile adjacent cell base station, and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station, the adjacent cell database being accessible to the base station to provide measurement correction data for the position of the base station itself. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A cellular radio system including at least one immobile base station having a base station satellite receiver, the base station having a position determined relative to an external reference, the base station being operable to transmit base station satellite data including data representative of a carrier phase measurement derived from a satellite signal received by the base station satellite receiver, for reception by a remote position determination unit comprising a mobile station coupled to a remote satellite receiver, for use in computing the position of the remote position determination unit relative to the base station based on the base station satellite data received by the remote satellite receiver, the system further including an adjacent cell database associated with said immobile base station for storing at least one of (a) the base station coordinate data of at least one immobile adjacent cell base station, and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station, the adjacent cell database being accessible to the base station to provide measurement correction data for the position of the base station itself.
-
6. A method of position determination using a cellular radio infrastructure having a plurality of immobile base stations which are of known position and include respective satellite, receivers, wherein the method comprises transmitting from at least one of the base stations having a position determined relative to an external reference, base station satellite data derived from a satellite signal received by the base station satellite receiver of the at least one base station, via a cellular radio link, wherein the base station satellite data includes data representative of a carrier phase measurement and is transmitted to a cellular mobile station coupled to a local satellite receiver, and wherein the method further comprises;
-
storing in an adjacent cell database associated with said at least one immobile base station adjacent base station satellite data comprising at least one of (a) the base station co-ordinate data of at least one adjacent immobile cell base station, and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station; and determining the position of the mobile station relative to the at least one base station based on local satellite data received by the local satellite receiver, the base station satellite data received via the cellular radio link, and the adjacent base station satellite data also received via the cellular radio link. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of operating a cellular radio infrastructure having at least one immobile base station having a position determined relative to an external reference, that at least one base station including a base station satellite receiver, wherein the method comprises transmitting at least a carrier phase measurement derived from satellite signals received by the base station satellite receiver for reception by a cellular mobile station and for computation of the position of the mobile station relative to the at least one base station, the method further comprising storing in an adjacent cell database associated with the said at least one immobile base station at least one of (a) the base station coordinate data of at least one immobile adjacent cell base station and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station the adjacent cell database being accessible to the base station to provide measurement correction data for the position of the base station itself.
-
14. A method of operating a mobile position-determining unit which includes a cellular mobile station coupled to a local satellite receiver, wherein the method comprises receiving local satellite data from the local satellite receiver, receiving from an immobile first cellular base station forming part of a cellular radio infrastructure remote satellite data which data comprising at least one of (a) base station co-ordinate data of at least one immobile adjacent cell base station of known position and forming part of said infrastructure and (b) base station satellite data generated by said at least one adjacent cell base station, and computing the position of the mobile unit relative to said infrastructure based on the local satellite data and on the adjacent base station satellite data.
-
15. A method of determining the position of a plurality of cellular and immobile base stations forming part of a cellular radio system, each base station having a base station satellite position fixing system, wherein the method comprises:
-
determining the position of at least one of the base stations relative to the position of an external reference satellite position fixing system which is located at a known position; passing reference satellite data derived from the external reference position fixing system to said at least one base station; correcting the base station position determined by the respective base station position fixing system using said reference satellite data thereby to determine an accurate position of said base station; and using the accurate position of said base station to permit said base station to replace the reference satellite position fixing system as a reference for the more accurate determination of the position of another of the base stations.
-
-
16. A method of determining the position of a plurality of cellular base stations forming part of a cellular radio system, each base station having a base station satellite position fixing system, wherein the method comprises determining the position of at least one of the base stations relative to the position of an external reference satellite position fixing system located at a known position by passing reference satellite data derived from the external reference position fixing system to said at least one base station to permit correction of the base station position determined by the respective base station position fixing system thereby to determine an accurate position of said base station, and using the accurate position of said base station to permit said base station to replace the reference satellite position fixing system as a reference for the more accurate determination of the position of another of the base stations;
- and
monitoring the performance of a first base station by comparing relative position measurements of the same position performed using different combinations of base stations including the first base station and determining which base station is in error if relative measurement results falling outside expected parameters are produced.
- and
Specification