Remote object position and orientation locater

Apparatus for determining the position and orientation of an object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:

• a plurality of radiating means having orthogonal components located at the origin of said reference coordinate frame for radiating an electromagnetic field, each of said radiating means being a magnetic-dipole source;
• transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which differ from one another thereby creating distinguishable electromagnetic fields associated with each of said radiating means;
• a plurality of receiving means having orthogonal components disposed on said remote object for detecting and measuring said electromagnetic fields, each of said receiving means comprising a loop antenna;
• one of said plurality of radiating means and said plurality of receiving means consisting of two orthogonal components and the other consisting of three orthogonal components;
• and
• means for converting the components of said electromagnetic fields received by said plurality of receiving means into remote object position and orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame in a non-iterative manner with at most two ambiguous combinations of position and orientation, said means for converting operating open loop with respect to said radiating means.

Apparatus for determining the orientation of an object relative to a reference coordinate frame comprising:

• a plurality of radiating means having orthogonal components located at the origin of said reference coordinate frame for radiating a plurality of electromagnetic fields;
• transmitter means for applying to said plurality of radiating means electrical signals which differ from one another thereby creating distinguishable electromagnetic fields associated with each of said radiating means;
• a plurality of receiving means having orthogonal components disposed on the object for detecting and measuring said electromagnetic fields;
• one of said plurality of radiating means and said plurality of receiving means consisting of only two orthogonal components and the other consisting of three orthogonal components;
• and
• means for converting the components of said electromagnetic fields received by said plurality of receiving means into object orientation in a non-iterative manner relative to said reference coordinate frame, said means for converting operating open loop with respect to said radiating means.

Apparatus for determining the position and orientation of an object with respect to a reference coordinate frame comprising:

• a plurality of mutually orthogonal, conductive loop radiating means located at the origin of said reference coordinate frame for radiating a plurality of electromagnetic fields;
• transmitter means for applying to each of said radiating means a sinusoidal, coherent, frequency multiplexed electrical signal, a different sinusoidal, coherent, frequency multiplexed electrical signal being applied to each radiating means, thereby creating distinguishable electromagnetic fields associated with each of said radiating means;
• a plurality of mutually orthogonal, conductive loop receiving means mounted to said object for detecting and measuring components of said electromagnetic fields, each of said plurality of receiving means having a characteristic signal associated with each of said radiating means;
• one of said plurality of radiating means and said plurality of receiving means consisting of only two orthogonal components and the other consisting of three orthogonal components;
• and
• means for converting these components of said electromagnetic fields received by said receiving means into object position and orientation relative to said reference coordinate frame, said orientation being determined in a non-iterative manner, said converting means operating open loop with respect to said radiating means and including means for determining the distance of said object from said radiating means by comparing the strength of transmitted and received electromagnetic fields, said distance being limited to a range within which said electromagnetic fields have near field components substantially greater than far field components.