Spread spectrum localizers
US6002708A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 23, 1997 |
| Grant date | Dec 14, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 23, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04B1/709
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A network of localizers determines relative locations in three-dimensional space to within 1 cm by cooperatively measuring propagation times of pseudorandom sequences of electromagnetic impulses. Ranging transmissions may include encoded digital information to increase accuracy. The propagation time is determined from a correlator circuit which provides an analog pseudo-autocorrelation function sampled at discrete time bins. The correlator has a number of integrators, each integrator providing a signal proportional to the time integral of the product of the expected pulse sequence delayed by one of the discrete time bins, and the non-delayed received antenna signal. With the impulses organized as doublets the sampled correlator output can vary considerably in shape depending on where the autocorrelation function peak falls in relation to the nearest bin. Using pattern recognition the time of arrival of the received signal can be determined to within a time much smaller than the separation between bins. Because operation of standard CMOS circuitry generates noise over a large frequency range, only low-noise circuitry operates during transmission and reception. To provide the time ac…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.