One way time of flight distance measurement

摘要

Determination of distance and/or position relative to one or more points by transmission of a wideband signal by a first antenna, reception of the transmitted wideband signal by a second antenna and comparison of the time delay between the transmitted and received signals. The first and second antennas are connected to a timer/processor unit. One or more of the first or second antennas is movable to an unknown position to be measured, but maintains connection to the timer/processor through a fixed or known delay communication link. The timer/processor contains a time base for generating the transmitted signal and an offset timer for measuring the time delay of the received signal. The received signal may be processed to determine a start time or leading edge that may resolve RF cycle and modulation bandwidth ambiguities and may allow positive determination of distance much shorter than a wavelength at the operation center frequency.

主权项

1. A range monitoring system, the system comprising:
a first antenna configured to be located at a first location; a second antenna configured to be located at a second location, the first antenna to be spaced from the second antenna; and a transceiver, said transceiver comprising a co-located transmitter and receiver, said transceiver coupled to said first antenna through a first communication link and said transceiver coupled to said second antenna through a second communication link; said first communication link adapted for maintaining a known or fixed time delay in the presence of relative motion of said first location relative to said second location; said first communication link adapted for maintaining a known or fixed time delay in the presence of operative relative motion of said first antenna relative to said transceiver; said transceiver configured for transmitting a transmitted wide band signal using said first antenna and receiving a received wide band signal responsive to said transmitted wide band signal using said second antenna, said transceiver configured to measure a first time difference between said transmitted wide band signal and said received wide band signal, said first time difference indicative of said range wherein the first communication link is a flexible transmission line sufficiently flexible to allow said operative relative motion of said first antenna relative to said transceiver.