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 method for real-time position location of an object within an indoor facility, the method comprising:
 wirelessly transmitting data of a first plurality of measurements from a tag of an object of a plurality of objects to at least one of a plurality of network monitors;   wirelessly transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from at least one of the plurality of network monitors to at least one of a plurality of access points;   transmitting data of the first plurality of measurements from the at least one of the plurality of access points to a location positioning engine;   generating and continuously updating a real-time mapped space of a radiofrequency environment of the indoor facility based on the data of the first plurality of measurement; and   generating a real-time position location in an X-Y-Z coordinate for at least one of the plurality of objects in accordance with the received data of the first plurality of measurements and the real-time mapped space of the radiofrequency environment of the indoor facility.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of network monitors comprises an antenna, a WLAN interface connected to the antenna and a microprocessor connected to the WLAN interface. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein each of tag of each object of the plurality of objects comprises a transceiver, a power supply and a processor. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein each of tag of each object of the plurality of objects is programmable via an access point of the plurality of access points. 
     
     
         5 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of access points for transmitting a plurality of beacons;   a plurality of known locations;   a plurality of network monitors for measuring one or more of the plurality of beacons to form a first plurality of measurements and transmitting the first plurality of measurements to at least one access point; and   a positioning engine for receiving each first plurality of measurements from each of the plurality of network monitors over a network and storing the plurality of measurements for each network monitor.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  further comprising a tag for measuring one or more of the plurality of beacons to form a second plurality of measurements and transmitting the second plurality of measurements to the positioning engine; and wherein the positioning engine further generates a location estimate for the tag in response to the second plurality of measurements, the stored first plurality of measurements for one or more network monitors, and the respective known locations of the one or more network monitors. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the tag sends information according to a pre-determined criteria. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the pre-determined criteria includes sending information in response to detected motion. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the pre-determined criteria includes sending information once per time period. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the tag is programmable via an access point. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the pre-determined criteria is programmable.