Methods and systems for locating a user equipment device based on signal travel time and bias suppression

A system comprising:

• a memory storing instructions;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to:
• determine a time measurement indicative of a signal travel time between a UE device and an access point device, the signal travel time corresponding to an apparent distance, presuming a line-of-sight (LoS) signal travel path, between a location of the UE device and a location of the access point device;
• access, from a bias suppression datastore, bias suppression data configured for use in suppressing an influence of a bias between the apparent distance and a true distance between the location of the UE device and the location of the access point device, the bias suppression data representing, for a calibration location in a vicinity of the location of the UE device, one or more features of a statistical distribution of measurements of an apparent distance of the calibration location from the location of the access point device;
• and
• estimate the location of the UE device based on the time measurement and on the calibration location and the one or more features of the statistical distribution represented by the bias suppression data.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, direct a processor of a computing device to:

• determine a time measurement indicative of a signal travel time between a UE device and an access point device, the signal travel time corresponding to an apparent distance, presuming a line-of-sight (LoS) signal travel path, between a location of the UE device and a location of the access point device;
• access, from a bias suppression datastore, bias suppression data configured for use in suppressing an influence of a bias between the apparent distance and a true distance between the location of the UE device and the location of the access point device, the bias associated with a non-line-of-sight (NLoS) signal travel path between the UE device and the access point device, the bias suppression data representing, for a calibration location in a vicinity of the location of the UE device, one or more features of a statistical distribution of measurements of an apparent distance of the calibration location from the location of the access point device;
• and
• estimate the location of the UE device based on the time measurement and on the calibration location and the one or more features of the statistical distribution represented by the bias suppression data, without accounting for the location of the access point device.