System and method of locating a radio frequency (RF) tracking device using a calibration routine

A method for calibrating a position tracking system used to track a physical location of a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, the method comprising:

• receiving, by at least three RF receiver antennae disposed at undetermined locations, an RF signal transmitted from each of a plurality of locations in successive order by an RF transmitter;
• positioning a calibration template with a predetermined set of reference points at known locations relative to a given reference point such that each reference point of the predetermined set of reference points corresponds to one of the plurality of locations from which the RF transmitter transmits the RF signal;
• and
• calibrating a relative position of each of the at least three RF receiver antennae with respect to each other of the at least three RF receiver antennae based on the plurality of locations and information acquired in response to the RF signals received at the at least three RF receiver antennae.

A calibration system for calibrating a position tracking system used to track a physical location of a radio frequency (RF)-transmitting tracked device, the position tracking system having at least three RF receiver antennae, the calibration system comprising:

• a receiver station in communication with the at least three RF receiver antennae disposed at undetermined locations, the receiver station being configured to compute a set of timing measurements for each of at least three different transmissions of RF signals transmitted from at least three different locations in successive order by the RF-transmitting tracked device and received at each of the at least three RF receiver antennae, the receiver station being further configured to store in memory a position location for each of the at least three different locations, to associate each set of timing measurements with one of the at least three different locations, and to compute a relative position of each of the at least three RF receiver antennae with respect to each other of the at least three RF receiver antennae based on the at least three different locations and the sets of timing measurements;
• and
• a calibration apparatus configured to provide a calibration template with a predetermined set of reference points, the calibration apparatus being disposed relative to the receiver station such that each reference point is located at a different one of the at least three position locations stored in the memory and corresponds to one of the at least three different locations from which the RF-transmitting tracked device transmitted RF signals.