System and method for locating an object
AssigneeBlinksight
InventorsMatthieu Mutz, Stéphane Mutz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a system for locating a mobile element, characterized in that it comprises: at least one beacon emitting radio messages; at least one relay capable of emitting a second message with a known lag following the receipt of a first message originating from said at least one beacon; at least one sensor capable of measuring in a local time base the instants of arrival of the messages originating from said at least one beacon and at least one relay; at least one position computer, that can be central or onboard each sensor, capable of determining the position of a mobile element on the basis of the arrival time information; the mobile element being able to be a beacon, a relay or a sensor.
Claims19
A system for locating a mobile element inside an enclosure, comprising:
- a beacon configured to transmit a first radio message inside the enclosure;
- a relay configured to transmit a second radio message inside the enclosure with a known time lag following receiving the first radio message coming from the beacon, wherein the known time lag is greater than a maximum flight time of the first radio message from the beacon to the relay;
- a sensor configured to measure, in a local time base, times of arrival of the first and the second radio messages inside the enclosure coming from the beacon and the relay;
- a position computer configured to determine a position of the mobile element, which is the sensor, based at least on positions and time of arrival information known by the position computer, the beacon and the relay;
- wherein the beacon comprises at least one radio transmitter configured to provide first Ultra-WideBand pulses to transmit the first radio message,
- wherein the relay comprises at least one radio receiver configured to process the first Ultra-WideBand pulses to receive the first radio message and a radio transmitter configured to provide second Ultra-WideBand pulses to transmit the second radio message, and
- wherein the sensor comprises at least one radio receiver configured to process the first and the second Ultra-WideBand pulses to receive the first radio message and the second radio message.
A method for locating a mobile element inside an enclosure, comprising:
- transmitting, by a beacon, at least one first message inside the enclosure;
- receiving the first message by a relay and transmitting a second message with a known time lag relative to receiving the first message by the relay, wherein the known time lag is greater than a maximum flight time of the first message from the beacon to a sensor;
- receiving the first and the second messages by the sensor;
- measuring by the sensor, in a local time base, times of arrival of the first and the second messages from the beacon and the relay;
- determining by a position computer, a position of the mobile element carrying the the relay, from at least positions and time of arrival information, known by the position computer, of the beacon and the sensor,
- wherein the beacon comprises at least one radio transmitter configured to provide first Ultra-WideBand pulses to transmit the first message,
- wherein the relay comprises at least one radio receiver configured to process the first Ultra-WideBand pulses to receive the first message and a radio transmitter configured to provide second Ultra-WideBand pulses to transmit the second message, and
- wherein the sensor comprises at least one radio receiver configured to process the first and the second Ultra-WideBand pulses to receive the first message and the second message.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.