AUTONOMOUS DIRECTION FINDING USING DIFFERENTIAL ANGLE OF ARRIVAL

摘要

A system (10) and a method (150) track a tracking device (14). A radio frequency (RF) receiver (52) is configured to receive a periodic beacon signal originating at the tracking device (14). The periodic beacon signal is received with a directional antenna (36) at multiple bearings over time. An estimator (70) is configured to estimate a bearing to the tracking device (14) as the bearing of the multiple bearings in which a time of flight (ToF) of the periodic beacon signal is lowest. The RF receiver (52) can further be configured to simultaneously receive multiple instances of the periodic beacon signal with the directional antenna (36) at a bearing of the multiple bearings. In such instances, the RF receiver (52) is further configured to correlate the instances to identify which of the instances has a lowest ToF.

主权项

1. A system for tracking a tracking device, said system comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) receiver configured to receive a periodic beacon signal originating at the tracking device, the periodic beacon signal received with a directional antenna at multiple bearings over time; and an estimator configured to estimate a bearing to the tracking device as the bearing of the multiple bearings in which a time of flight (ToF) of the periodic beacon signal is lowest.