System and method for person or object position location utilizing impulse radio

• US 7,880,608 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Humatics Corporation
• Original Assignee: Time Domain Corporation (Humatics Corporation)
• Inventors: Payment, Timothy T., Richards, James L., Welch, William D. Jr., Tucker, William J., Kelly, Donald A., Finn, James S., Meigs, David C., Fullerton, Larry W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trieu; Van T.
• Application Number:
  US11/980,373
• Publication Number:
  US 20080101329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/539.13, 340/539.21, 370/336, 370/337, 370/498, 370/514, 375/130, 375/343, 342/465, 342/456.5, 342/450, 342/375
• US Class Current: 340/539.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/20 using a comparison of transit time of synchronised signals transmitted from non-directional antennas or antenna systems spaced apart, i.e. path-difference systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/76 wherein pulse-type signals are transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0226 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7163 using impulse radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7183 Synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/6908 using time hopping

Abstract

A System and Method for Person or Object Position Location Utilizing Impulse Radio, comprising a plurality of reference impulse radios; an object or person to be tracked having a mobile impulse radio associated therewith; an architecture with an associated positioning algorithm associated with said plurality of impulse radio reference radios and said mobile impulse radio; and display means for displaying the position of the person or object whose position is to be determined.

Claims

1. A Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network comprising:

a first ultra wideband radio, said first ultra wideband radio listening to a traffic of said TDMA network and transmitting a first ultra wideband signal during a first time slot of a plurality of available TDMA time slots, said first ultra wideband signal identifying said first ultra wideband radio as owning said first time slot; and

a second ultra wideband radio, said second ultra wideband radio receiving said first ultra wideband signal, said second ultra wideband radio transmitting a second ultra wideband signal during a second time slot of said plurality of available TDMA time slots, said second ultra wideband signal identifying said second ultra wideband radio as owning said second time slot.

2. The TDMA network of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one third wideband radio, said at least one third ultra wideband radio taking control of an available time slot of said plurality of available time slots and transmitting an third ultra wideband signal during said available time slot identifying said at least one third ultra wideband radio as owning said available time slot.

3. The TDMA network of claim 1, wherein said first ultra wideband radio transmits a synchronization signal during said first time slot, said synchronization signal requesting an acknowledgement signal from said second ultra wideband radio and permitting said second ultra wideband radio to respond during said first time slot.

4. The TDMA network of claim 3, wherein said first ultra wideband radio calculates a distance to said second ultra wideband radio based upon a acknowledgement signal transmitted by said second ultra wideband radio during said first time slot.

5. The TDMA network of claim 4, wherein said first ultra wideband radio adjusts a synchronization clock for said distance and sends a current time, adjusted for distance, to said second ultra wideband radio thereby synchronizing said synchronization clock of said first ultra wideband radio with a second synchronization clock of said second ultra wideband radio.

6. The TDMA network of claim 5, wherein after said synchronization clock of said first ultra wideband radio and said second synchronization clock of said second ultra wideband radio are synchronized, a transmission by either said first ultra wideband radio or said second ultra wideband radio can be used to calculate a distance between said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio.

7. The TDMA network of claim 2, wherein said first ultra wideband radio, said second ultra wideband radio, and said at least one other ultra wideband radio exchange said synchronization and acknowledgement signals to maintain synchronization of their respective synchronization clocks thereby enabling any ultra wideband radio participating in said TDMA network to calculate a distance to any other ultra wideband radio on said TDMA network whenever said any other ultra wideband radio transmits a packet at the immediate start of its time slot.

8. The TDMA network of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio comprise ultra wideband radar functionality.

9. The TDMA network of claim 1, further comprising:

At least one of a global position system, an inertial navigation system, an electro-optical navigation system, a Long-range Radio Navigation (LORAN) system, a Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER) system, a Light/Laser Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system, a radar system, a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system, a Very high frequency Omni-directional Range (VOR) system, a Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) system, or a magnetic compass associated with at last one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio.

10. The TDMA network of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio is mobile.

11. A method for managing time slots in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, said method comprising the steps of:

a. listening, by a first ultra wideband radio, to a traffic of said TDMA network;

b. transmitting, by said first ultra wideband radio, a first ultra wideband signal during a first time slot of a plurality of available TDMA time slots, said first ultra wideband signal identifying said first ultra wideband radio as owning said first time slot;

c. receiving, by a second ultra wideband radio, said first ultra wideband signal; and

d. transmitting, by said second ultra wideband radio, a second ultra wideband signal during a second time slot of said plurality of available TDMA time slots, said second ultra wideband signal identifying said second ultra wideband radio as owning said second time slot.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

e. taking control, by at least one third ultra wideband radio, of an available time slot of said plurality of available time slots; and

f. transmitting, by said at least one third ultra wideband radio, a third ultra wideband signal during said available time slot indicating said available time slot is owned by said at least one third ultra wideband radio.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

e. transmitting, by said first ultra wideband radio, a synchronization signal during said first time slot, said synchronization signal requesting an acknowledgement signal from said second ultra wideband radio and permitting said second ultra wideband radio to respond during said first time slot; and

f. transmitting, by said second ultra wideband radio, the acknowledgement signal.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

g. calculating, by said first ultra wideband radio, a distance to said second ultra wideband radio based upon said acknowledgment signal transmitted by said second ultra wideband radio.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

h. adjusting, by said first ultra wideband radio, a synchronization clock for said distance; and

i. sending, by said first ultra wideband radio, a current time, adjusted for said distance, to said second ultra wideband radio thereby synchronizing said synchronization clock of said first ultra wideband radio with a second synchronization clock of said second ultra wideband radio.

16. The method claim 15, further comprising:

j. transmitting, by one of said first ultra wideband radio or said second ultra wideband radio, a packet; and

k. calculating, by the other one of said first ultra wideband radio or said second ultra wideband radio, a distance between said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio based upon said transmitted packet.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

g. exchanging, by said first ultra wideband radio, said second ultra wideband radio, and said at least one third ultra wideband radio, synchronization and acknowledgement signal to maintain synchronization of their respective synchronization clocks thereby enabling any ultra wideband radio participating in said TDMA network to calculate a distance to any other ultra wideband radio on said TDMA network whenever said any other ultra wideband radio transmits a packet.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

employing ultra wideband radar functionality by at least one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

associating at least one of a global position system, an inertial navigation system, an electro-optical navigation system, a LORAN system, a LASER system, a LIDAR system, a radar system, a SAR system, a VOR system, a DME system, or a magnetic compass with at last one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of said first ultra wideband radio and said second ultra wideband radio is mobile.