US 2013/0016011 A1 · SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING A POINT IN SPACE

Abstract

A method for locating a point in a first region based on receipt of a rf signal from the point. An antenna array is in the first region at a first position rotatable about an axis. A series of phase-array patterns is provided for implementation with the antenna array to provide measures of rf signal strength. Each pattern provides a plurality of reference values as a function of angle. A plurality of the phase-array patterns are used to acquire, in the first region, a plurality of rf signal strength values based on reception of the rf signal. A set of correlation values is determined where each value is a correlation between signal strength reference values and rf signal strength values acquired based on reception of the rf signal from the point. The correlation values identify a direction relative to the first position along which the point is located.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method for locating a point in a first region based on receipt of a radio frequency (rf) signal that emanates from the point, comprising:

providing an antenna array in the first region at a first position and rotatable about a first axis;
providing a series of phase-array patterns for implementation with the antenna array to provide measures of rf signal strength;
using each phase-array pattern to provide a plurality of phase-array signal strength reference values as a function of angle of rotation about the first axis;
with the antenna array at the first position, further using a plurality of the phase-array patterns to acquire a plurality of rf signal strength values, each value based on reception of the rf signal that emanates from the point;
determining a set of correlation values where each value is a correlation between (i) signal strength reference values acquired with patterns in the series at one of the angles and (ii) the rf signal strength values acquired with the antenna array which are each based on reception of the rf signal that emanates from the point;
and
using the correlation values to identify a direction relative to the first position along which the point is located.

4 more elements

A method for defining a set of receive patterns for use in a phase array antenna system to determine the direction of an object, comprising:

providing an rf source at a first location;
providing an antenna comprising a plurality of elements each arranged to separately receive an rf signal;
providing a first series of antenna receive patterns, each pattern defined by a set of phase shift values;
sequentially positioning the antenna at each in a set of first angles of orientation with respect to the first position of the source;
while the antenna is positioned at each angle of orientation, sequentially applying the sets of phase shift values to individually modify each rf signal received by each element and acquiring a first set of signal strength data for each receive pattern at each angle;
using the signal strength data to determine for each angle the relative sensitivity of each receive pattern to the rf signal;
identifying for each angle one or more receive patterns exhibiting relatively low signal strengths;
and
defining a set of antenna receive patterns which is a first subset of the first series, which set (i) includes for each first angle of orientation at least one pattern having a relatively low signal strength and (ii) excludes other receive patterns present in the first series.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for locating a point in space

Life of this patent

System and method for locating a point in space

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24