Device ranging using UWB

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11722171-B2
Application number	US-202117455437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2021
Priority date	Dec 18, 2020
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

UWB ranging methods and apparatus are disclosed. The method comprises a ranging communication with a plurality of responder devices, the ranging communication comprising: transmitting, by an initiator device, a polling signal in a time slot; receiving a respective response from each of the plurality of responder devices, overlapping and in a next time slot, each response comprising: synchronization bits, and a frame comprising Start of Frame Delimiter, and a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence; wherein the STS comprises a sequence of segments each preceded by a respective guard interval, wherein a specific one of the segments comprises data derived from a ranging key and a responder-identifier each unique to the respective responder among the plurality of responders, wherein a sequence-number of the specific segment is unique to the respective response, and wherein a remainder of the segments each comprise the same data derived from a predetermined common key and predetermined common data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An Ultra Wide Band (UWB) ranging method comprising a ranging communication with a plurality of responder devices, the ranging communication comprising:
transmitting, by an initiator device, a polling signal in a time slot;
receiving a respective response from each of the plurality of responder devices,
overlapping and in a next time slot, each response comprising:
a preamble comprising synchronization bits,
a start of frame delimiter (SFD),
and a scrambled time-stamp sequence (STS);
wherein the STS comprises a sequence of segments each preceded by a respective guard interval,
wherein a specific segment of the sequence of segments comprises data derived from a ranging key and a responder-identifier unique to each responder of the plurality of responder devices,
wherein a sequence-number of the specific segment is unique to the respective response, and
wherein a remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise identical data.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data derived from a predetermined common key and predetermined common data.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data corresponding to all ones or all zeros.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ranging communication complies with a Ultra Wide Band, UWB, communication protocol for authenticated secure ranging.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising, prior to transmitting the polling signal, transmitting to each responder a respective ranging key and sequence-number, and at least one of a common key and common data.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein transmitting the common key, and the respective ranging key and sequence-number to each responder is by means of a communication protocol which is different from UWB communication protocol.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
using the synchronisation bits in a correlator to identify each response,
and, for each response, fully decoding only the specific segment corresponding to its sequence-number.

8. A method of operating a responder device among a plurality of responder devices to facilitate Ultra Wide Band (UWB) ranging and comprising a ranging communication with an initiator device, the ranging communication comprising:
receiving, by a responder device of the plurality of responder devices, a polling signal in a time slot;
transmitting a response in a next time slot, the response comprising:
a preamble comprising synchronization bits,
a start of frame delimiter (SFD),
and a scrambled time-stamp sequence (STS);
wherein the STS comprises a sequence of segments each preceded by a respective guard interval,
wherein a specific segment of the sequence of segments comprises data derived from a ranging key and responder-identifier unique to the responder among the plurality of responders,
wherein a sequence-number of the specific segment is unique to the response, and
wherein a remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise identical data.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data derived from a predetermined common key and predetermined common data.

10. A method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data corresponding to all ones or all zeros.

11. A method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the ranging communication complies with a UWB communication protocol for authenticated ranging.

12. A method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising, prior to transmitting the polling signal, receiving at least one of a common key and common data, the ranging key and the sequence-number.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the common key, the common data, the respective ranging key and sequence-number is received by means of a communication protocol different to UWB communication protocol.

14. An initiator device configured to perform ranging with a plurality of responder devices, and comprising:
a transmitter configured to transmit a polling signal in a time slot;
a receiver configured to receive a respective response from each of the plurality of responder devices, overlapping and in a next time slot, each response comprising:
a preamble comprising synchronization bits,
a start of frame delimiter (SFD),
and a scrambled time-stamp sequence (STS);
wherein the STS comprises a sequence of segments each preceded by a respective guard interval,
wherein a specific segment of the sequence of segments comprises data derived from a ranging key and responder-identifier unique to a responder among the plurality of responders,
wherein a sequence-number of the specific segment is unique to the response, and
wherein a remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise identical data.

15. The initiator device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data derived from a predetermined common key and predetermined common data.

16. The initiator device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the remainder of the sequence of segments each comprise the same data corresponding to all ones or all zeros.

17. The initiator device as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising:
a correlator, configured to use the synchronisation bits in a correlator to identify each response.

18. The initiator device as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising:
a decoder, configured to, for each response, fully decode only the specific segment of the sequence of segments corresponding to its sequence-number.

19. The initiator device as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising:
a decoder, configured to, for each response, fully decode only the specific segment of the sequence of segments corresponding to its sequence-number.

Assignees

• Nxp Bv

Inventors

• Subraveti Diwakar
• Abdul Kareem Abdul Wahid
• Xu Shengyang
• Rajaram Atmaram Kota
• Jampale Ajay A

Classifications

• H04B1/7176 Primary

  Data mapping, e.g. modulation · CPC title

• H04B1/7183

  Synchronisation · CPC title

• G01S13/765

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title

• H04B2201/71634

  Applied to ranging · CPC title

• G01S13/0209

  Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband · CPC title