Location awareness system

A method of position location of a plurality of tags in a system, comprising:

• providing a first network with a network operating element coupled to the first network;
• providing at least one anchor network gateway coupled to the first network, the at least one anchor network gateway providing an anchor network;
• forming a network of a plurality of fixed position anchors configured to communicate via ranging with the plurality of tags and via the at least one anchor network to the at least one anchor network gateway;
• and
• operating the system using accurate timing within networked wireless communication protocols to provide a global location network schedule for the system.

A method of ranging a plurality of tags in a system, comprising:

• using accurate timing of an existing industrial time division multiple access wireless communication protocol to provide a global location network schedule for the system;
• providing a plurality of anchor networks via a plurality of network anchor gateways;
• and
• providing a plurality of fixed location anchors coupled to at least one of the plurality of anchor networks, the plurality of anchors providing a plurality of tag to anchor networks;
• wherein the plurality of tags, plurality of anchors, the anchor networks, and the tag to anchor networks having a shared sense of time.

A location awareness system, comprising:

• a plurality of tags, a plurality of anchors, and a plurality of anchor network gateways for communication between tags and anchors, the plurality of network anchor gateways providing a plurality of anchor networks, and the plurality of anchors providing a plurality of anchor to tag networks;
• and
• a network operating element coupled to the plurality of anchor network gateways, the network operating element configured to range the plurality of tags by:
• using accurate timing of an existing industrial time division multiple access wireless communication protocol to provide a global location network schedule for the system;
• wherein the plurality of tags, plurality of anchors, the anchor networks, and the anchor to tag networks have a shared sense of time.