Systems, methods, and apparatus to determine physical location and routing within a field of low power beacons

摘要

A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system for accurate determination of a user's location in an enclosed, indoor, or covered environment can include a number of beacons mounted in an arrangement within the environment. Each of the beacons is mounted in a known location and transmits a broadcast signal containing a unique identifier that identifies the originating beacon. A handheld electronic device including a receiver and a communicably coupled processor can receive broadcast signals from at least some of the number of beacons, iteratively determine a vector quantity corresponding to each of the received signals, and sum the resultant vector quantities to determine an updated position. The iterative process can be repeated until consecutive iterations yield an updated position that falls within a defined threshold.

主权项

1. A position location system, comprising:
a receiver to receive a plurality of broadcast signals, each of the plurality of received signals characterized by data that identifies an originating one of a plurality of beacons; a processor that:
determines an initial receiver location relative to locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons;determines a vector quantity associated with each of the plurality of received broadcast signals to provide a respective plurality of vector quantities; andsum the resultant plurality of vector quantities to determine an updated receiver location relative to the locations of the at least some of the plurality of beacons; andgenerate an output indicative of the updated receiver location.