# US 2019/0170845 A1 · System for indoor and outdoor position measurement

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- Number: US 2019/0170845 A1
- Document ID: US20190170845A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/092,675
- Filed: 2017-03-30
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-04-11
- Assignees: Statsports Group Limited
- Applicants: Statsports Group Limited
- Inventors: Florin STROIESCU; Alan CLARKE; Sean O'CONNOR; Valeriu Emanuel IONITA
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190170845A1

## CPC

- G01S 1/024: {of beacon transmitters}
- G01S 5/10: Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements {, e.g. omega or decca systems}(G01S5/12 takes precedence {; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308})
- G01S 5/14: Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES

## Abstract

A system and method for measuring the position of one or more object in an area of interest. The system has a primary beacon located at a first fixed position in or near the area of interest which generates a time referenced primary signal, two or more secondary beacons located at different fixed positions in or near the area of interest which generate time referenced secondary signals and one or more portable tag, the portable tag being attachable to the object. The portable tag has a portable tag circuit for calculating the distance of the portable tag to the primary and secondary beacons by means of a time of flight calculation which uses, the known position of the primary and secondary beacons, time referenced signals and delay information associated with the time referenced signals, such that the portable tag calculates its own position.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for measuring the position of one or more object in an area of interest, the system comprising:
a primary beacon located at a first fixed position in or near the area of interest, the primary beacon comprising:
a primary signal generator which generates a time referenced primary signal;
a primary transceiver for sending the primary signal to two or more secondary beacons and to one or more portable tag and for receiving an echo signal; and
a primary circuit for measuring the time at which the primary signal is sent and echo signal are received by the primary beacon,
two or more secondary beacons located at different fixed positions in or near the area of interest, the secondary beacon comprising:
a secondary signal generator which generates a time referenced echo signal in response to the receipt of the primary signal; and
a secondary transceiver for receiving the primary signal and transmitting the echo signal to one or more portable tag and to the primary beacon;
and a secondary circuit for measuring the time at which the primary signal is received and echo signal sent;
one or more portable tag, the portable tag being attachable to the object, the portable tag comprising:
a tag receiver for receiving and measuring the time referenced signal from the primary beacon, the time referenced echo from the secondary beacon and receiving time delay information comprising primary signal time delay information and echo signal delay information;
a portable tag circuit for calculating the distance of the portable tag to the primary and secondary beacons by means of a time of flight calculation which uses, the known position of the primary and secondary beacons, the time referenced signals and the delay information such that the portable tag calculates its own position.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the primary signal delay information associated with a first primary signal is transmitted as part of the time referenced primary signal of a subsequent pulse.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the echo signal delay information associated with a first echo signal is transmitted as part of the time referenced echo signal of a subsequent pulse.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the primary signal delay information is transmitted via a data channel

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the echo signal delay information is transmitted via a data channel.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the primary and secondary signal generators operate at the same frequency.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, primary beacon is controlled by a microcontroller.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

A system as claimed in claim 7 wherein, the microcontroller is located in the primary beacon.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, secondary beacon is controlled by a microcontroller.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

A system as claimed in claim 9 wherein, the microcontroller is located in the secondary beacon.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the portable tag is controlled by a microcontroller.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

A system as claimed in claim 11 wherein, the microcontroller is located in the portable tag.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the signals are pulsed radio waves.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the primary and secondary signal generators comprises a high frequency oscillator and a switch which cooperate to create a pulsed output from the signal generator.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the secondary signal generator comprises a high frequency oscillator and a switch which cooperate to create a pulsed output from the signal generator.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the secondary beacon signal generator comprises an index reference which uniquely identifies the secondary beacon in the system so as to distinguish between individual secondary beacons.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the secondary transceiver has a start input, triggered by an emerging signal, and a stop input triggered by the reception of the return signal.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the secondary transceiver measures the effective delay between
the time for incoming primary beacon signal to be received at the secondary beacon and the emerging echo to be transmitted from the secondary beacon.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the primary beacon measures the time delay between the emerging signal transmitted by the primary beacon and the echoed pulse received from the secondary beacon.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the first signal generator sends a second signal to the secondary beacon and the delay between the first and the second signals is measured on the primary beacon and measured on the secondary beacon to detect errors and drift in the clock frequency.

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the portable tag has a unique identifier for identifying the device.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the portable tag comprises an index reference which uniquely identifies the portable tag in the system so as to distinguish between individual portable tags.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

A system as claimed in claim 22 wherein, the index reference is provided by the microcontroller.

### Claim 24 (depends on 1)

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the position of the portable tag is calculated by creating a set of curves, each curve separately representing the locus of the points that have a common distance difference between the primary beacon A and a separate secondary beacon such that the intersection between a first curve of the set and a second curve of the set identifies the position of the tag with reference to the respective primary and secondary beacons.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

A system as claimed in claim 24 wherein, the position of the portable tag is calculated by:
dividing the area of interest into n sub-divided areas;
precalculating common distance differences for each of the sub-divided areas; and
comparing the precalculated common distance and time differences with the measured values of the time delays between the primary beacon signal, and the signal from each of the secondary beacons signals to calculate and to determine the relative position of the portable tag compared to the position of the primary and each of the secondary beacons.

### Claim 26 (depends on 25)

A system as claimed in claim 25 wherein, the calculation uses a fast converging halving algorithm.

### Claim 27 (depends on 25)

A system as claimed in claim 25 wherein, the pre-calculated table can be scaled independently on each of the axes corresponding to the distance measured between the primary and each of the secondary beacons.

### Claim at position 28

-52. (canceled)