Distance measurement for building automation devices with wireless data communications
AssigneeSiemens Industry, Inc.
InventorNorman R. McFarland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a building environment, a distance associated with a building automation device is determined as a function of an interval or an inserted time delay between a wireless transmission of a signal and wireless reception of another signal. For example, a two-way communication is provided with an automatic interval or a desired time delay inserted before responding to a received transmission. By using two-way transmissions, the building automation devices may be free of clock synchronization. Acoustic signals may be used in a building environment to determine a distance. The building automation device may also use radio frequency information for communicating with other devices.
Claims11
A system for determining a distance for building automation components, the system comprising:
- a first building automation device having a first wireless transmitter, a first wireless receiver and a first processor;
- a second building automation device having a second wireless transmitter, a second wireless receiver and a second processor;
- wherein the first wireless transmitter is operable to transmit a first signal, the second wireless receiver is operable to receive the first signal, the second wireless transmitter is operable to transmit a second signal in response to detection of a first zero point crossing within the first signal and after an interval, the first wireless receiver operable to receive the second signal and detect a second zero point crossing within the second signal, and the first processor, second processor or a third processor operable to determine a distance between the first and second building automation devices as a function of the time between the detection of the first zero point crossing within the first signal and the detection of the second zero point crossing within the second signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.