HIGH-SENSITIVITY GPS DEVICE WITH DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA

摘要

The effective use of weak GPS signals that are present in various environments enables an electronic device to pinpoint its location in such environments. The electronic device uses an antenna to perform sequential scanning in multiple directions for global positioning system (GPS) signals. The electronic device further analyzes GPS signals obtained from scanning the multiple directions to determine a number of acquired GPS satellites that provided the GPS signals. The GPS signals include code phases of the acquired GPS satellites. The electronic device then computes a location of the electronic device based on the code phases of the acquired GPS satellites when the number of acquired GPS satellites meets a threshold.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
performing sequential scanning in multiple directions for global positioning system (GPS) signals via an antenna of an electronic device, the scanning in each of the multiple directions being performed for a time interval; analyzing the GPS signals obtained from scans in the multiple directions to determine a number of acquired GPS satellites that provided the GPS signals, the GPS signals indicating code phases of the acquired GPS satellites; and computing a location of the electronic device based on the code phases of the acquired GPS satellites in response to determining that the number of acquired GPS satellites meets a threshold number, the threshold number increasing as a number of directions scanned increases.