Wireless Position Location And Tracking System

Abstract

Techniques for accurate position location and tracking suitable for a wide range of facilities in variable environments are disclosed. In one aspect, a system for position location comprises a plurality of sensors (e.g. a network monitor, an environment sensor) for generating measurements of a plurality of sources, a plurality of objects or tags, each object generating measurements of the plurality of sources, and a processor for receiving the measurements and generating a position location for one or more objects in accordance with the received measurements. In another aspect, a position engine comprises a mapped space of a physical environment, and a processor for updating the mapped space in response to received measurements. The position engine may receive second measurements from an object within the physical environment, and generate a position location estimate for the object from the received second measurements and the mapped space.

1 . A system real-time position location of a mobile_object within an indoor multiple-floor facility, the system comprising:
 a plurality of sensors, each sensor of the plurality of sensors generating a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements including data from a plurality of sources, each source of the plurality of sources generating a radiofrequency signal, the plurality of sources comprising a plurality of beacon emitters;   a plurality of mobile objects, each mobile object of the plurality of mobile objects comprising a tag for generating a second plurality of measurements, the second plurality of measurements comprising data from the plurality of sources, the tag of each mobile object of the plurality of mobile objects receiving and measuring the characteristics of the radiofrequency signal of each source of the plurality of sources to generate the data of the second plurality of measurements; and   a location positioning engine for receiving from each of the plurality of sensors at least one of the first plurality of measurements and from each of the plurality of mobile objects at least one of the second plurality of measurements, and generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the indoor multiple-floor facility based on the data from the first plurality of measurements utilizing a radial basis function and generating a real-time position location for at least one of the plurality of mobile objects in accordance with the received first plurality of measurements and the respective, received second plurality of measurements.   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising at least one access point for receiving measurements form one or more of the plurality of mobile objects and the plurality of sensors, and for transmitting the received measurements to the location positioning engine. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 2  wherein the at least one the access point includes a beacon emitter, the beacon emitter generating radiofrequency signal. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 2  wherein the at least one access point receives measurements via a wireless interface. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 2  wherein the at least one access point receives measurements via a wired interface. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1  wherein the plurality of sources further comprises at least one of the group including noise sources, jammers and network monitors, each of which generates a radiofrequency signal. 
     
     
         7 . A method for real-time position location of a mobile object within an indoor multiple floor facility, the method comprising:
 generating at each of a plurality of network monitors a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements comprising signal strength from each of the plurality of emitters received by the plurality of network monitors, each of the plurality of network monitors attached to a wall outlet of the indoor multiple floor facility;   wirelessly transmitting data of a second plurality of measurements from a tag of at least one mobile object of a plurality of mobile objects to at least one of the plurality of network monitors;   receiving at a location positioning engine through a plurality of access points data of at least one of the first plurality of measurements from the plurality of network monitors and data of at least one of the second plurality of measurements from the tag of at least one of the mobile objects of the plurality of mobile objects;   generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility based on the data of the first plurality of measurement utilizing a radial basis function; and   generating a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of mobile objects in accordance with the received data of the second plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the multiple-floor indoor facility.   
     
     
         8 . A system real-time position location of a mobile object within an indoor multiple-floor facility, the system comprising:
 a plurality of beacon emitters, each of the plurality of beacon emitters having means for generating a radiofrequency signal;   a plurality of sensors, each sensor of the plurality of sensors generating a first plurality of measurements, the first plurality of measurements comprising data form a plurality of sources, each source of the plurality of sources generating a radiofrequency signal, the plurality of sources comprising the plurality of beacon emitters, each sensor of the plurality of sensors wirelessly transmitting the data of the first plurality of measurements;   a plurality of access points positioned in the indoor multiple-floor facility, each of the plurality of access points having means for receiving and transmitting data received from each of the plurality of sensors;   a plurality of mobile objects, each mobile object of the plurality of mobile objects comprising a tag for generating a second plurality of measurements and transmitting the second plurality of measurements, the second plurality of measurements comprising data from the plurality of sources, the tag of each mobile object of the plurality of mobile objects receiving and measuring the characteristics of the radiofrequency signal of each source of the plurality of sources to generate the data of the second plurality of measurements; and   a location positioning engine for generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the indoor multiple-floor facility based on the data from the first plurality of measurements utilizing a radial basis function, and for generating a position location for at least one of the plurality of mobile objects in accordance with the received first plurality of measurements and the respective, received second plurality of measurements.   
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 8  wherein the tag of each of the plurality of mobile objects comprises a processor, a transceiver, a motion detector and a power supply, wherein the tag operates in a low power state and a high power state