System for automatically determining the position and velocity of objects

Abstract

A ground based wireless system named the Autonomous Transceivers Positioning System (“ATPS”), performs complete autonomous tracking of multiple moving objects and determines position and velocity components (speed and direction) of a moving object, or the stationary position of an object. For a moving object, the ATPS provides position determination, with accuracy of several centimeters, and velocity determination with an accuracy of centimeters per second. The ATPS tracks the position of multiple objects simultaneously and continuously for as long as the object(s) reside within the workspace of the ATPS wireless system. The ATPS is expandable in its workspace continuously by allowing for tracking information to be autonomously handed over to new added sections of the ATPS. The ATPS contains RFID inspired components including advanced multiple fixed location Autonomous Wireless Interrogators (“AWIs”) within the defined workspace of the system and multiple Autonomous Wireless Responders (“AWRs”) affixed to the moving and/or stationary objects.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An arrangement where four ground base transmitters (GBT) in a given cluster have six modes of wireless communications that can be performed simultaneously for the velocity and position determination of up to 738 mobile devices with active RFID, the four GBT in a cluster exchange timing data with mobile devices with active RFID, the four GBT in a cluster exchange timing, control, and other types of data with each other, the four GBT in a cluster exchange timing, control, and other types of data with GBTs of another cluster, the four GBT in a cluster provide raw radio frequency (RF) digital data to external interfaces, the four GBT in a cluster provide an external interface via WI-FI for troubleshooting and diagnostic purposes, the four GBT in a cluster provide an external interface for 5G. 
     
     
         2 . The arrangement of  claim 1  wherein each active RFID of up to 738 mobiles devices provide continuous timing information, via wireless communications, to each of the four GBT in a cluster, whereas each GBT manages such continuous timing information through a built-in RF subsystem in each GBT, whereas the built-in RF subsystem in each GBT transfers such continuous timing information to a digital signal processing system managed by a main processor system in the GBT. 
     
     
         3 . The arrangement of  claim 1  wherein each of the four GBT in a cluster, via wireless communications, exchange information (timing, control, and other types of data), with each other, whereas such exchanged of information is done via the built-in RF system of each GBT, whereas in addition, each GBT uses its own digital signal processing system and its own main processor system to manage the exchange of information received by the built-in RF system in each GBT. 
     
     
         4 . The arrangement of  claim 1  wherein a designated (D) GBT (i.e. D_GBT) in a cluster of four GBT, via wireless communications, manages the transfer of information (timing, control, and other types of data) from the existing cluster, where the mobile device with its own RFID finds itself, to the next consecutive cluster of 4 GBT where the mobile device is traveling to, whereas the transfer of information is managed by a process known as managed transmission (MT) between the D_GBT and each of the four GBT in the next consecutive cluster, whereas the transfer of information is done via the built-in RF system of the D_GBT and the built-in RF systems of the four GBT in the next consecutive cluster, wherein each of the four GBT in a cluster, via wireless communications, exchange raw information concerning timing, control, and other types of signals, with an external WIFI interface for continuous diagnostic analyses of the raw information received by the built-in RF system of each GBT, and whereas such raw information is processed by the digital signal processing system and the main processor system of each GBT, wherein each of the four GBT in a cluster, via wireless communications, exchange information concerning command, control, and other types of signals, with an external WIFI interface for the purpose of troubleshooting a GBT on as needed basis, whereas the information concerning command, control and other types of signals are first received by a GBT via a dedicated section of the built-in RF system of each GBT, and whereas the information concerning command, control and other type of signals are first stored in memory by a controller, and whereas the information concerning command, control and other types of signal is sent to the main processor of each GBT via the system bus from which such command, control, and other types of signals are processed. 
     
     
         5 . The arrangement of  claim 1  wherein each of the four GBT in a cluster, via wireless communications, exchange information in the form of data and other types of signals, with the radio access network (RAN) of a cellular network which connects to the mobile core control plane in the 5G system, whereas such connection to the RAN by the GBT is through a dedicated built-in cellular unit within the built-in RF system of each GBT. 
     
     
         6 . An arrangement including four identical ground base transceivers (GBT) in a cluster, in a series of consecutive clusters of four GBT each for the tracking of a mobile with an active RFID;
 whereas the GBT is composed of six major electronic subsystems for determining, on an autonomous and continuous basis, the position, velocity, and relative velocities of a mobile as the mobile travels within a cluster and as the mobile travels through consecutive clusters of four GBT each, wherein the electronic subsystems are: (1) a radio frequency (RF) subsystem, (2) a digital signal processing (DSP) block, (3) a main processor and system bus, (4) a position and velocity determination hybrid subsystem (PVD-HS), (5) an interface subsystem, and (6) a memory subsystem, wherein timing information acquired from the mobile and processed by the GBT is used for determining the position, velocity, and relative velocity of a mobile.   
     
     
         7 . The arrangement of  claim 6  wherein the active RFID for a mobile is capable of providing continuous and independent timing information to each of four ground base transceivers (GBT) in a cluster, when the active RFID is being requested for such timing information by each of the GBT, whereas the active RFID can also store timing information independently and continuously from each of the four GBT in a cluster. 
     
     
         8 . The arrangement of  claim 7  wherein the active RFID is designed with global positioning system (GPS) capabilities so as to share the same capability of the RF subsystem of the ground base transceivers (GBT), whereas the active RFID of a mobile can transmit its GPS location to each of its four GBT in a cluster, and whereas such information can be used to corroborate the mobile's position determined by the timing analysis of signals from the active RFID at any of the four GBT in the cluster. 
     
     
         9 . The arrangement of  claim 6  wherein the RF subsystem is identical for each of the GBT in a cluster, whereas the RF subsystem in each GBT has the additional capability of having its own global positioning system (GPS) to assert exact location of the GBT with respect to the mobile, whereas the GPS location of the GBT is transmitted, along with all the acquired timing data from the active RFID and the GBT, to be digitized via digital signal processing algorithms. 
     
     
         10 . The arrangement of  claim 6  the DSP block (containing its building components: application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), random access memory (RAM)/read only memory (ROM), DSP-Core for performing signal processing, signal processing direct memory access (SP-DMA), and digital controller) processes all the digitized timing data (via A/D converter) from the analog data of the RF subsystem into useful information, whereas the ASIC in the DSP block processes timing information from the active RFID, whereas there is a capability of the DSP block to send to send all digitized timing data raw data to external wireless/non-wireless devices or services for secondary analyses and diagnostic services. 
     
     
         11 . The arrangement of  claim 6  wherein a position and velocity determination hybrid subsystem (PVD-HS) for each of the four ground base transceivers (GBT) processes all the timing information received by each GBT, a total of nine digitized timing parameter, and whereas the PVD-HS creates an additional two digitized parameters, all of which, a total of eleven digitized parameters, are used for calculating the mobile's coordinates (i.e. mobile's position), the mobile's velocity, and the mobile's relative velocity with respect to its nearest neighbor, whereas the PVD-HS performs its functions via the control of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) master controller, whereas the digitized data is formatted by the main processor before being sent to the PVD-HS via the system bus, whereas the PVD-HS memory bank, for storage of PVD-HS processed data, is under the control of the FPGA master controller, and whereas the FPGA master controller controls its own memory bank. 
     
     
         12 . The arrangement of  claim 6  wherein the interface subsystem for each of the four ground base transceivers (GBT) is composed of three interface components: interface subsystem field programmable gate array (FPGA) controller, interface circuits component, and the memory subsystem, whereas the FPGA controller manages the data flow between the interface circuits components and data paths (e.g. interface memory, the system bus, external ports), whereas the interface circuits components provide the interface between FPGA architectures (e.g. via a UART—universal asynchronous receiver transmitter) and industry standard serial interfaces (e.g. RS422, LVDS), and whereas the memory system component serve as temporary storage of the data flowing through the interface subsystem, whereas the interface subsystem manages external data flow from Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, serial interfaces (RS422, LVDS), and other external inputs for commanding and other data input services, wherein such services are managed by the external input controller FPGA. 
     
     
         13 . The arrangement of  claim 6  whereas the memory subsystem of each of the four ground base transceivers (GBT) has five components: (1) the SRAM memory for the interface subsystem whereas data flows into the system bus, (2) the SRAM external memory for the position and velocity determination hybrid subsystem (PVD-HS) whereas data flows into the system bus via the interface subsystem, (3) the SRAM memory for the master controller FPGA, (4) the SRAM memory for FPGA-application processor, an internal memory within the PVD-HS, and (5) the SRAM memory for timing data generated internally within the PVD-HS. 
     
     
         14 . A position and velocity determination hybrid subsystem (PVD-HS) arrangement for the designated (D) ground base transceiver (D_GBT), whereas the timing data from the other three non-designated GBT (i.e. non-D_GBT) in the cluster and the timing data from the D_GBT in the same cluster are managed to flow through a multiplexer (MUX) architecture, whereas the timing data consists of nine words from each of the three non-D_GBT in a cluster: (1) response time of transmission from RFID, (2) response time of arrival of signal from RFID at a ground based transceiver (GBT), (3) GBT's recorded time to launch ping to RFID, (4) signal strength of response signal from the active RFID, (5) time of arrival of ping from a GBT to RFID, (6) RFID identification number, (7) GBT identification number, (8) GPS coordinates of GBT, and (9) angle of arrival of RFID signal to the GBT and two words generated within the D_GBT, whereas all timing data is managed and processed via field programmable gate arrays (FPGA); whereas all timing data is channeled through a processor design for the generation of the mobile's coordinates (i.e. the mobile's position), the generation of the mobile's velocity, and the generation of the mobile's relative velocity, whereas the processor design consists of an application processor, an FPGA application (FPGA-App) processor interconnect, an FPGA-App processor SRAM memory and an SRAM memory controller, whereas mobile's position, velocity, and relative velocity determination are sent to the system bus, whereas such data returns to the main processor, transformed to analog data via a digital/analog converters (D/A) and sent to the RF Sub-system for broadcasting services, whereas the PVD-HS has an input/output (I/O) peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus to exchange data with any PCI compatible external interface for transmission of mobile's position, velocity, and relative velocity data generated within the PVD-HS. 
     
     
         15 . The arrangement of  claim 14  wherein the position and velocity determination hybrid (PVD-HS) subsystem for the other three non-designated (non-D) ground base transceivers (non-D_GBTs) do not use the capabilities of their processor, but rather timing data from each non-D_GBT (words 1 through word 9, and word 11) is bypassed directly to the FPGA-App processor SRAM memory from which it is sent directly to system bus, whereas such data returns to the main processor, transformed to analog data via a digital/analog converters (D/A) and sent to the RF Sub-system from which it is sent to the D_GBT. 
     
     
         16 . The arrangement of  claim 14  wherein the D_GBT acquires timing information from the three non-D_GBT to calculate the position, velocity, and relative velocity of the mobile with its RFID, whereas the D_GBT receives nine words from each of the three non-D_GBT and an additional nine words from itself, each word being a timing parameter, whereas the nine timing parameters are used to develop additional timing parameters as calculated by field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). 
     
     
         17 . The arrangement of  claim 16  wherein the additional timing parameters are used to calculate the distance, a developed parameter, between the mobile with its RFID and each of the three non-GBT, whereas such distances between the mobile and each of the three non-GBT constitute word 10 and are computed by the D_GBT, whereas the angle of arrival (AOA) between the mobile and the D_GBT constitute word 11 for the D_GBT, whereas such timing parameters, distance calculations, and angle of arrival measurements are updated constantly, every predetermined amount of seconds, as the mobile travels through the cluster of GBT, whereas all such acquired timing parameters and developed parameters are first conditioned by a FPGA-App processor interconnect in the D_GBT, whereas the conditioned parameters are further processed by an application processor unit in the D_GBT to calculate the mobile's coordinates (i.e. mobile's position), mobile's velocity, and mobiles' relative velocity with its nearest neighbor. 
     
     
         18 . The arrangement of  claim 14  wherein several field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) within the position and velocity determination hybrid (PVD-HS) subsystem are configured to process timing information, whereas each PVD-HS subsystem has three FPGAs. 
     
     
         19 . The arrangement of  claim 18  whereas one FPGA is configured to receive and process timing information from each of the four ground-based transceivers (GBT), whereas a second FPGA is configured to perform the master controller functions for the PVD-HS subsystem, whereas a third FPGA is configured to perform interconnect functions between the first FPGA and the application processor unit in the PVD-HS subsystem. 
     
     
         20 . The arrangement of  claim 14  wherein each of the eleven timing and other parameters words used by the ground base transceivers (GBT) are 64 bits in length, of which 32 bits are used for timing data, numerical data, and identification (ID) data, whereas each memory word indicates the type of operation to be performed, the type of word, a source address (e.g. RFID, GBT#, where # is 1,2,3, or 4), a destination address (a SRAM memory allocation), the length of the frame (for error correcting purposes), the operating sequence (in what step, of a sequence of steps to be used in a calculation, the timing parameter will be used), and parity (for error correcting purposes).