Locator and method for a wireless communication system

A method for determining the position and trajectory of a wireless terminal in a wireless communication system, said method comprising the steps of:

• measuring the power of a signal transmitted from the wireless terminal to a directional antenna;
• adjusting the orientation of the directional antenna until the directional antenna is oriented so as to receive a relative maximum power of the signal from the wireless terminal;
• demodulating the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals with a down conversion circuit;
• and
• generating two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from the down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station using first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively.

A wireless infrastructure comprising:

• at least one mobile switching center coupled to a public switched telephone network;
• and
• at least one base station responsive to said mobile switching center, said base station including a passive locator circuit, said passive locator circuit comprising:
• a directional antenna that receives a signal from a wireless terminal;
• a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of a signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the location of said wireless terminal;
• and
• said processing circuit further operable to convert the signal from the wireless terminal into data so as to determine a trajectory of the wireless terminal, said processing circuitry including a down conversion circuit responsive to said directional antenna that demodulates the signal received from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals and first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively, that each generate two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs of the signals from said down conversion circuit integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station.

A method for determining the position and trajectory of a wireless terminal in a wireless communication system, said method comprising the steps of:

• measuring the power of a signal transmitted from the wireless terminal to a directional antenna;
• adjusting the orientation of the directional antenna until the directional antenna is oriented so as to receive a relative maximum power of the signal from the wireless terminal;
• converting the signal from the wireless terminal into in-phase and quadrature signals;
• generating two or more sets of corresponding phase tapped outputs from said in-phase and quadrature signals integrated over a symbol period such that each set corresponds to a selected trajectory with respect to said base station using first and second phase discriminator circuits responsive to said in-phase and quadrature signals, respectively;
• calculating the phase and magnitude of the corresponding phase tapped outputs of the first and second phase discriminators;
• and
• comparing the phase and magnitudes to select a phase tapped output corresponding to the trajectory of the wireless terminal.

A base station comprising:

• a passive locator, comprising:
• a directional antenna that receives a signal from the wireless terminal;
• a processing circuit responsive to said directional antenna that measures the power of the signal received from the wireless terminal so as to adjust the orientation of said directional antenna by detecting a relative maximum power in the signal from the wireless terminal so as to determine the position of said wireless terminal;
• and said processing circuit further including a data generator that converts the signal from the wireless terminal into two or more sets of data for a component signal of the signal from the wireless terminal such that each set corresponds to a trajectory for the wireless terminal, and a computer responsive to the data generator that manipulates the sets of data to determine the trajectory of the wireless terminal from the Doppler effect.