Geolocation leveraging spot beam overlap

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9625573-B2
Application number	US-75696110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2010
Priority date	Apr 8, 2010
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device. The method and system involve emitting from at least one vehicle at least one spot beam on Earth, and receiving with the user receiver device a signal from at least one spot beam. In one or more embodiments, at least one vehicle may be a satellite and/or a pseudolite. The method and system further involve calculating with the user receiver device the estimate of the location of the user receiver device according to the user receiver device's location within at least one spot beam. In some embodiments, when the user receiver device receives signals from at least two spot beams, the user receiver device calculates the estimate of the location of the user receiver device to be located in the center of the intersection of at least two spot beams.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device, the method comprising:
emitting, from at least one vehicle with at least one of a known orbit or a known path, at least one spot beam on Earth;
receiving, with the user receiver device, a signal from the at least one spot beam as the at least one spot beam sweeps over the user receiver device as time progresses to obtain an amplitude of the signal from the at least one spot beam; and
calculating, with the user receiver device, the estimate of the location of the user receiver device by using: a known position of the at least one vehicle, a known direction and pattern of the at least one spot beam, and multiple amplitudes of the signal measured over time from within the at least one spot beam, as the at least one spot beam sweeps over the user receiver device over time.

2. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises calculating a range from the at least one vehicle to a surface of the Earth.

3. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises calculating a range from the at least one vehicle to the user receiver device.

4. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 3 , wherein the calculating of the range from the at least one vehicle to the user receiver device comprises:
measuring a Doppler frequency offset of the at least one vehicle;
calculating a Doppler range estimate and pseudorange measurements using a Kalman filter; and
calculating a running estimate of the range from the at least one vehicle to the user receiver device.

5. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device is located within a jammed environment.

6. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device is located within an occluded environment.

7. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 6 , wherein the occluded environment is indoors.

8. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises using signal to noise (SNR) measurements from the at least one vehicle in order to further refine the estimate of the location of the user receiver device.

9. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is a satellite.

10. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is a pseudolite.

11. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is a space shuttle.

12. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is an aircraft.

13. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 12 , wherein the aircraft is an airplane.

14. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 12 , wherein the aircraft is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

15. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is a balloon.

16. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle is a helicopter.

17. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 9 , wherein the satellite is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite.

18. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 9 , wherein the satellite is a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite.

19. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 9 , wherein the satellite is a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite.

20. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle has a known orbit.

21. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle has a known path.

22. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device is mobile.

23. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device is stationary.

24. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vehicle emits the at least one spot beam with at least one radio frequency (RF) antenna.

25. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 24 , wherein the at least one spot beam is radiated from the at least one RF antenna as a fixed position beam.

26. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 24 , wherein the at least one spot beam is radiated from the at least one RF antenna as a scanning beam.

27. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device receives the signal from the at least one spot beam with at least one radio frequency (RF) antenna.

28. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the user receiver device uses a processor to calculate the estimate of the location of the user receiver device.

29. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein when the user receiver device receives a signal from only one spot beam, the user receiver device calculates the estimate of the location of the user receiver device to be located in a center of the one spot beam.

30. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein when the user receiver device receives signals from at least two spot beams, the user receiver device calculates the estimate of the location of the user receiver device to be located in a center of an intersection of the at least two spot beams.

31. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein when the user receiver device receives signals from at least two spot beams, the user receiver device calculates the estimate of the location of the user receiver device to be located at a centroid of centers of the at least two spot beams.

32. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises determining a time the at least one spot beam rises (t RISE ) to a time the at least one spot beam sets (t SET ).

33. The method of providing an estimate of a location of a user receiver device of claim 32 , wherein the method further comprises determining, when mask angles are uniform in all directions with respect to the user receiver device, that the user receiver device is located at a center of the at least one spot beam in an in-track direc

Assignees

• Whelan David A
• Gutt Gregory M
• Brumley Robert W
• Eglington Michael L
• Martens Christopher J
• Haddad Anne T
• Schmalzried Rachel Rané
• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Whelan David A
• Gutt Gregory M
• Brumley Robert W
• Eglington Michael L
• Martens Christopher J
• Haddad Anne T
• Schmalzried Rachel Rané

Classifications

• G01S19/26

  involving a sensor measurement for aiding acquisition or tracking · CPC title

• G01S11/06 Primary

  using intensity measurements · CPC title

• G01S19/38

  Determining a navigation solution using signals transmitted by a satellite radio beacon positioning system · CPC title

• G01S5/02 Primary

  using radio waves (using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00) · CPC title