Method and system for performing trilateration for fixed infrastructure nodes (FIN) based on enhanced location based information

• US 9,877,299 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2017
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rivada Networks, LLC
• Original Assignee: Rivada Research, Llc (Rivada Networks, LLC)
• Inventors: Smith, Clint
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US15/434,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20170164318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 342 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041, 4554042, 4554561-4566, 370328
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 21/02 of speedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0264 at least one of the systems being a non-radio wave positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Method, systems and devices for performing trilateration for a fixed infrastructure node (FIN) using enhanced location based information may include receiving a plurality of inputs (e.g., waypoints) from a plurality of devices, using the received plurality of inputs to generate an initial positional fix, and setting a current waypoint of the FIN based the initial positional fix. The FIN may receive additional inputs, and use the plurality of inputs to generate updated (more accurate) location information for the FIN. The FIN may update its current waypoint based on the generated updated location information. The FIN trilateration operation may also include applying three or four of the received inputs (e.g., waypoints) kalman filter, and reporting/using the output of the kalman filter as the device'"'"'s current waypoint or location.

Claims

1. A method of performing trilateration for a fixed infrastructure node (FIN) using enhanced location based information, comprising:

receiving, via a processor of a FIN device, a plurality of inputs from a plurality of devices, the received plurality of inputs including two or more of;

a global position system (GPS) data input, a network provided location based service (LBS) data input, a mobile device LBS data input, a dead reckoning data input collected during an initial positioning of the FIN, and an external device data input;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate an initial positional fix;

setting a current waypoint of the FIN based the initial positional fix;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN; and

updating the current waypoint based on the generated updated location information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of inputs from the plurality of devices comprises receiving location information from one or more external devices, the received location information including a waypoint from each of the one or more external devices, each waypoint including a coordinate value, an altitude value and a range value, the range value identifying a distance from an external device to the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining the validity of each of the received waypoints;

performing normalization operations to normalize the received valid waypoints;

assigning an overall ranking to each of the normalized waypoints;

assigning a ranking to each of the normalized waypoints; and

storing the normalized waypoints in memory.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN comprises:

selecting at least three waypoints from memory based on the ranking associated with each waypoint; and

applying the selected waypoints to a kalman filter to generate a final location waypoint.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the current waypoint to provide a location based service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein using the received plurality of inputs to generate the initial positional fix for the FIN comprises determining an initial latitude value (X), an initial longitude value (Y), and an initial altitude value (Z).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of inputs from the plurality of devices comprises receiving external device data from at least one passive device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of inputs from the plurality of devices comprises receiving external device data from at least one active device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining:

an initial latitude value (X);

an initial longitude value (Y);

an initial altitude value (Z);

a change in latitude value (Δ

X);

a change in longitude value (Δ

Y);

a change in altitude value (Δ

Z);

at least three confidence values (C_x, C_y, C_z); and

a time value (Δ

t).

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating a Q matrix information structure based on a Kalman filter;

generating an R matrix information structure based on the Kalman filter;

predicting an updated coordinate value;

determining a covariance value;

computing Kalman gain with the Kalman filter; and

updating the current waypoint based on the Kalman gain.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a confidence value for each waypoint included in the received plurality of inputs;

comparing each determined confidence value to a threshold value; and

discarding each input that is associated with a confidence value that does not exceed the threshold value prior to using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN comprises applying waypoints included in the received plurality of inputs to a kalman filter to generate a final location waypoint; and

updating the current waypoint based on the generated updated location information comprises setting the current waypoint equal to the final location waypoint.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein applying waypoints included in the received plurality of inputs to the kalman filter to generate the final location waypoint comprises:

applying at least three waypoints to the kalman filter to generate the final location waypoint.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of inputs from the plurality of devices comprises receiving at least one waypoint from a mobile device that includes time and range information, the method further comprising:

sending a request for position information from the FIN device to the mobile device;

receiving, via the processor, the requested position information and a time value identifying an amount of time between a first time that the mobile device received the request and a second time that the mobile device began transmission of the position information;

determining a total elapse time value; and

subtracting the identified amount of time from the total elapse time.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether new location information is available;

estimating a variance value base on an accuracy of the generated updated location information in response to determining that new location information is available; and

extrapolating a last known location value and increasing the variance value based on an age of the generated updated location information in response to determining that new location information is not available.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one input in the received plurality of inputs include:

information for determining an angle of arrival (AOA) value, time of arrival (TOA) value, or observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) value;

or

network provided LBS data that includes multiple input multiple output (MIMO) configuration information.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether information obtained via a geospatial system of the FIN is accurate;

collecting location information from a plurality of fixed wireless devices in a communication group in response to determining that the information obtained via the geospatial system is not accurate;

computing more precise location information for the FIN based on the location information collected from the plurality of fixed wireless devices, the more precise location information including three-dimensional location information; and

using the generated location information to provide a location based service.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising:

determining a new position based on initial latitude value (X), longitude value (Y), altitude value (Z), changes in latitude value (Δ

X), longitude value (Δ

Y), altitude value (Δ

Z), confidence values (C_x, C_y, C_z) and a time value Δ

t;

initializing latitude value, longitude value, altitude value and an initial covariance value;

determining whether the latitude value, longitude value, altitude value and an initial covariance value are available for trilateration;

computing a Q matrix information structure and an R matrix information structure;

predicting latitude values, longitude values and altitude values and covariance values at time equal to k−

1;

computing Kalman gain with a Kalman filter; and

updating the latitude value, longitude value, altitude value and covariance value at time equal to k,

wherein the Q and R matrix information structures are associated with the Kalman filter.

19. A fixed infrastructure node (FIN), comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a plurality of inputs from a plurality of devices, the received plurality of inputs including two or more of;

a global position system (GPS) data input, a network provided location based service (LBS) data input, a mobile device LBS data input, a dead reckoning data input collected during an initial positioning of the FIN, and an external device data input;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate an initial positional fix;

setting a current waypoint of the FIN based the initial positional fix;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN; and

updating the current waypoint based on the generated updated location information.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor in a fixed infrastructure node (FIN) to perform operations for comprising:

receiving a plurality of inputs from a plurality of devices, the received plurality of inputs including two or more of;

a global position system (GPS) data input, a network provided location based service (LBS) data input, a mobile device LBS data input, a dead reckoning data input collected during an initial positioning of the FIN, and an external device data input;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate an initial positional fix;

setting a current waypoint of the FIN based the initial positional fix;

using the received plurality of inputs to generate updated location information for the FIN; and

updating the current waypoint based on the generated updated location information.