Cable tracking by electromagnetic emission

US10644749B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Petra Sabine Buehrer · St. Leon-Rot, DE
• Florian Graf · Mülheim an der Ruhr, DE
• Thorsten Muehge · Mainz, DE
• Tim U. Scheideler · Thalheim, CH
• Raphael Waltert · Zürich, CH

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 11, 2019
• Grant date: May 5, 2020
• Expiry date: Jun 11, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04W40/38
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a course of a cable using electromagnetic waves. A first distance between a first transceiver and a second transceiver is determined by determining a total transmission time for a first wireless signal traveling in a linear line from the first transceiver to the second transceiver and back to the first transceiver in the linear line, wherein the first transceiver and the second transceiver each include a receiver and a transmitter. A second distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver is determined by comparing a phase difference between the first signal received by the second transmitter and a second signal received by the second transmitter, wherein the second signal was transmitted from the first transceiver into the cable and received by the second transceiver wirelessly from the cable, and wherein the first signal and the second signal are phase aligned.