Positioning system

• US 7,170,445 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2005
• Issued: 01/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: U-Blox AG (u-blox Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: U-Blox AG (u-blox Holding AG)
• Inventors: Mathis, Heinz, Thiel, Andreas, Favey, Etienne
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan; Dao
• Application Number:
  US11/128,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20060250303A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.01, 342/357.02, 342/357.06, 342/357.09, 701/213, 701/215
• US Class Current: 342/357.48
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308

Abstract

For allowing positioning of a GPS receiver within a building, GPS primary positioning signals received by an outdoor receive antenna are up-converted to different carrier frequencies in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and the converted signals are transmitted each by a transmit antenna inside the building, the transmit antennas serving at the same time as access points of a WLAN which is used for transmitting additional positioning data like the positions of the transmit antennas and the signal delay times associated with them. By cycling through the secondary positioning signals received from the transmit antennas, i.e., down-converting each of them during an assigned time slot, and determining clock bias differences in the receiver, the position of the latter is determined using TDOA algorithms.

Claims

1. Positioning system using primary positioning signals emitted by at least one of satellites, pseudolites or another signal emitting device, comprising:

a receive antenna for receiving an input signal containing the primary positioning signals;

a repeater operatively connected to the receive antenna for processing the input signal in order to produce a plurality of secondary positioning signals, each of the plurality of secondary positioning signals distinguished from the remaining secondary positioning signals by a specific carrier frequency different from carrier frequencies of the primary positioning signals;

a plurality of transmit antennas with fixed positions relative to the receive antenna and operatively connected to the repeater, each of the transmit antennas transmitting one of the secondary positioning signals; and

at least one receiver capable of receiving and processing the primary positioning signals in order to determine a position of the receiver from the primary positioning signals and further adapted for receiving and processing the secondary positioning signals in order to determine the position of the receiver from the secondary positioning signals.

2. System according to claim 1, where a frequency spectrum of each of the secondary positioning signals is contained in an ISM band.

3. System according to claim 1, where each of the secondary positioning signals conforms, apart from its carrier frequency, to the input signal received by the receive antenna.

4. System according to claim 3, where the repeater comprises a plurality of conversion circuits, each with at least one oscillator for producing a sine-shaped conversion signal and at least one mixer for mixing a signal derived from the input signal with the conversion signal in order to produce one of the secondary positioning signals.

5. System according to claim 4, where the at least one receiver comprises at least one back-conversion circuit, with a synthesizer for producing a sine-shaped back-conversion signal and at least one mixer for mixing a signal containing one of the secondary positioning signals with the back-conversion signal in order to shift its carrier frequency back to the carrier frequency of the input signal.

6. System according to claim 1, where the secondary positioning signals are each processed during a fixed time slot, following each other cyclically.

7. System according to claim 1, where the at least one receiver determines clock bias differences between several secondary positioning signals and calculates its position from the said clock bias differences and known positions of the respective transmit antennas.

8. System according to claim 1, where at least one of the transmit antennas also transmits positioning data, in particular transmit antenna positions, and the at least one receiver processes the said positioning data, using them for determining its position.

9. System according to claim 8, where the transmit antennas also serve as access points of a WLAN and that positioning data transmittal conforms to the 802.11 protocol.

10. System according to claim 1, where the transmit antennas are positioned inside a large object, in particular at least one of a building, train, ship or other vehicle, and the receive antenna is positioned outdoors, in particular on a roof of the said object.

11. System according to claim 2, where each of the secondary positioning signals conforms, apart from its carrier frequency, to the input signal received by the receive antenna.

12. System according to claim 2, where the secondary positioning signals are each processed during a fixed time slot, following each other cyclically.

13. System according to claim 2, where the at least one receiver determines clock bias differences between several secondary positioning signals and calculates its position from the said clock bias differences and known positions of the respective transmit antennas.

14. System according to claim 2, where at least one of the transmit antennas also transmits positioning data, in particular transmit antenna positions, and the at least one receiver processes the said positioning data, using them for determining its position.

15. System according to claim 2, where the transmit antennas are positioned inside a large object, in particular at least one of a building, train, ship or other vehicle, and the receive antenna is positioned outdoors, in particular on a roof of the said object.

16. System according to claim 2, where the frequency spectrum of each of the secondary positioning signals is in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.