Cable tracking by electromagnetic emission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10382094-B2
Application number	US-201715823879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2017
Priority date	Nov 28, 2017
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a course of a cable using electromagnetic waves. A first transceiver sends to a second transceiver a first signal wirelessly in a linear line. The second transceiver sends back to the first transceiver the first signal in the linear line. A first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver is determined by determining a total transmission time for a first wireless signal travelling from the first transceiver to the second transceiver and back to the first transceiver. A second signal, aligned with the first signal, is transmitted from the first transceiver into the cable. The second transceiver receives the second signal wirelessly from the cable. A second distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver is determined by comparing a phase difference between the first signal received by the second transmitter and the second signal received by the second transmitter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for tracking a course of a cable using electromagnetic waves, said method comprising:
sending, by a first transceiver to a second transceiver, a first signal wirelessly in a linear line, said first transceiver and said second transceiver each comprising a receiver and a transmitter,
sending, by the second transceiver back to the first transceiver, the first signal in the linear line;
determining a first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by determining a total transmission time for a first wireless signal travelling from the first transceiver to the second transceiver and back to the first transceiver,
transmitting, from the first transceiver into the cable, a second signal, said first signal and said second signal being phase aligned,
receiving, by the second transceiver wirelessly from the cable, the second signal; and
determining a second distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by comparing a phase difference between the first signal received by the second transmitter and the second signal received by the second transmitter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the first distance comprises comparing a phase shift between the sent first signal and the received first signal by the first transceiver.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the first distance comprises using a time delay caused by the second transceiver.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second distance equals the cable length from the first transceiver to the second transceiver.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a distance between the second transceiver and the cable is at least 100 times smaller than the first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are equal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are each unequal to a desired signal on the cable.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are each in a range of 10 kHz to 100 Mhz.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver is transmitted wirelessly from the first transceiver to the second transceiver.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first signal passes through a solid barrier.

11. A system for tracking a course of a cable using electromagnetic waves, said system comprising:
a first transceiver configured for sending a first signal to a second transceiver wirelessly in a linear line, said first transceiver and said second transceiver each comprising a receiver and a transmitter, said second transceiver configured for sending the first signal back to the first transceiver in the linear line;
a first determination unit configured for determining a first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by determining a total transmission time for a first wireless signal travelling from the first transceiver to the second transceiver and back to the first transceiver, said first transceiver configured for transmitting a second signal into the cable, said first signal and said second signal being phase aligned, said second transceiver configured for receiving the second signal wirelessly from the cable; and
a second determination unit configured for determining a second distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by comparing a phase difference between the first signal received by the second transmitter and the second signal received by the second transmitter.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first determining unit is configured for determining the first distance by comparing a phase shift between the sent first signal and the received first signal by the first transceiver.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first determining unit is configured for using a time delay caused by the second transceiver.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second distance equals the cable length from the first transceiver to the second transceiver.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein a distance between the second transceiver and the cable is at least 100 times smaller than the first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are equal.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are each unequal to a desired signal on said cable.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein a frequency of the first signal and a frequency of the second signal are each in a range of 10 kHz to 100 Mhz.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second determining unit is configured for receiving wirelessly the linear distance value between the first transceiver and the second transceiver from the first transceiver.

20. A computer program product, comprising one or more computer readable hardware storage devices having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions executable by one or more processors of a computer system to implement a method for tracking a course of a cable using electromagnetic waves, said method comprising
sending, by a first transceiver to a second transceiver, a first signal wirelessly in a linear line, said first transceiver and said second transceiver each comprising a receiver and a transmitter,
sending, by the second transceiver back to the first transceiver, the first signal in the linear line;
determining a first distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by determining a total transmission time for a first wireless signal travelling from the first transceiver to the second transceiver and back to the first transceiver,
transmitting, from the first transceiver into the cable, a second signal, said first signal and said second signal being phase aligned,
receiving, by the second transceiver wirelessly from the cable, the second signal; and
determining a second distance between the first transceiver and the second transceiver by comparing a phase difference between the first signal received by the second transmitter and the second signal received by the second transmitter.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Buehrer Petra Sabine
• Graf Florian
• Muehge Thorsten
• Scheideler Tim U
• Waltert Raphael

Classifications

• G01S11/00

  Systems for determining distance or velocity not using reflection or reradiation (position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations G01S5/00) · CPC title

• H04W4/00

  Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor · CPC title

• G01S13/74

  Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems · CPC title

• H04B3/462 Primary

  Testing group delay or phase shift, e.g. timing jitter · CPC title

• H04W40/00

  Communication routing or communication path finding · CPC title