Method for localizing the position of a wireless device

A system for localizing the position of a wireless device comprising:

• a plurality of directional antennas capable of receiving signals from the wireless device, wherein each antenna produces a scan beam using an adaptive beamformer;
• and
• a control system electronically linked to each of the antennas, wherein the control system is adapted to:
• control the scan beam of each of the antennas to scan a volume;
• electronically steer the scan beams to converge at a specified location in the volume;
• determine a time of arrival at each antenna of a signal from the wireless device;
• determine the position of the wireless device based on the time of arrival at each antenna;
• and
• apply robust inversion techniques to the position determination to minimize error in the position determination, wherein the control system is further adapted to control the adaptive beamformer of each antenna to ignore or substantially attenuate off-angle delayed multipath signals that fall outside of the scan beams.

A method of localizing the position of a wireless device within a volume comprising:

• providing a control system;
• providing a plurality of directional antennas, wherein each antenna is capable of creating a scan beam and is linked electronically to the control system, wherein the scan beam of each antenna is produced using an adaptive beamformer;
• arranging the plurality of directional antennas near the volume in which the wireless device is located;
• determining the position and orientation of each of the directional antennas;
• using the control system to electronically steer the scan beams to converge at a specified location in the volume;
• scanning the volume with the coordinated beams;
• receiving a signal from the wireless device;
• determining a time of arrival of the signal at each directional antenna;
• and
• controlling the adaptive beamformer of each antenna to ignore or substantially attenuate off-angle delayed multipath signals that fall outside of the scan beams.