Systems and methods for TOA and DOA acquisition and tracking for signal of opportunity positioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11729583-B2
Application number	US-202117237290-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2021
Priority date	Apr 22, 2020
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

Processes and device configurations, including a receiver structure, are provided to jointly estimate the time-of-arrival (TOA) and azimuth and elevation angles of direction-of-arrival (DOA) from signals of opportunity, such as received cellular long-term evolution (LTE) signals. In one embodiment, a matrix pencil (MP) algorithm is used to obtain a coarse estimate of the TOA and DOA. Tracking loop configurations are provided to refine the estimates and jointly track the TOA and DOA changes. One or more solutions are provided for acquisition and tracking in the presence of noise and multipath signals. Processes and devices configurations are provided to use refined estimates to determine position and for use in navigation of a device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for positioning using signals of opportunity based on joint time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) acquisition and tracking, the method comprising:
receiving, by a device, at least one signal of opportunity;
performing, by the device, an estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) for the at least one signal of opportunity, wherein the estimation of TOA and DOA is jointly determined by the device;
performing, by the device, signal tracking of TOA and DOA estimates for the at least one signal of opportunity, wherein the TOA and DOA estimates are refined based on an azimuth, elevation and delay locked-loops; and
determining, by the device, a location for the device based on refined TOA and DOA estimates.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal of opportunity is a cellular long-term evolution (LTE) signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using three-dimensional (3D) matrix pencil (MP) operations to jointly estimate two-dimensional (2D) DOA and TOA of a received signal of opportunity.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the 3D MP operations jointly estimate TOA and DOA by constructing an estimated enhanced matrix, using pencil parameters to improve estimation and provide noise filtering, and wherein the enhanced matrix is decomposed using single value decomposition into signal and noise subspaces, and wherein the TOA is determined from the channel frequency response.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), and wherein a channel frequency response (CFR) is estimated using the CRS.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using a uniform planar array having a plurality of antenna elements, and wherein phase difference of a received signal of opportunity is determined at each antenna element of the uniform planar array.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein signal tracking includes an elevation locked-loop tracking loop structure, an azimuth locked-loop tracking loop structure, and a delay locked-loop tracking loop structure, each loop structure configured to refine and track changes in TOA and DOA.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein each tracking loop structure includes a correlator receiving input from a reference signal generator and locked-lop configuration, each correlator generating an down and up correlation functions of a CFR as input to a discriminator operation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining device location includes performing an extended Kalman filter (EFF) operation using determined TOA and DOA estimates.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising controlling navigation using the location determined for the device.

11. A device configured for using signals of opportunity based on joint time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) acquisition and tracking, the device comprising to
a communications module configured to receive at least one signal of opportunity; and
a controller, coupled to the communications module, wherein the controller is configured to
perform an estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) for the at least one signal of opportunity, wherein the estimation of TOA and DOA is jointly determined by the device;
perform signal tracking of TOA and DOA estimates for the at least one signal of opportunity, wherein the TOA and DOA estimates are refined based on an azimuth, elevation and delay locked-loops; and
determine a location for the device based on refined TOA and DOA estimates.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the signal of opportunity is a cellular long-term evolution (LTE) signal.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using three-dimensional (3D) matrix pencil (MP) operations to jointly estimate two-dimensional (2D) DOA and TOA of a received signal of opportunity.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the 3D MP operations jointly estimate TOA and DOA by constructing an estimated enhanced matrix, using pencil parameters to improve estimation and provide noise filtering, and wherein the enhanced matrix is decomposed using single value decomposition into signal and noise subspaces, and wherein the TOA is determined from the channel frequency response.

15. The device of claim 11 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), and wherein a channel frequency response (CFR) is estimated using the CRS.

16. The device of claim 11 , wherein the estimation of time of arrival (TOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) is performed using a uniform planar array having a plurality of antenna elements, and wherein phase difference of the received signal of opportunity is determined at each antenna element of the uniform planar array.

17. The device of claim 11 , wherein signal tracking includes an elevation locked-loop tracking loop structure, an azimuth locked-loop tracking loop structure, and a delay locked-loop tracking loop structure, each loop structure configured to refine and track changes in TOA and DOA.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein each tracking loop structure includes a correlator receiving input from a reference signal generator and locked-lop configuration, each correlator generating an down and up correlation functions of a CFR as input to a discriminator operation.

19. The device of claim 11 , wherein determining device location includes performing an extended Kalman filter (EFF) operation using determined TOA and DOA estimates.

20. The device of claim 11 , further comprising controlling navigation using the location determined for the device.

Assignees

• Univ California

Inventors

• Kassas Zak
• Shamaei Kimia

Classifications

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G01S5/0205

  Details · CPC title

• H04W4/024

  Guidance services · CPC title

• G01S5/12

  by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial · CPC title

• G01S5/0294

  Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering · CPC title