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CN-122017728-A - Wireless positioning of devices using beamforming

CN122017728ACN 122017728 ACN122017728 ACN 122017728ACN-122017728-A

Abstract

A method for locating a device (110, 120) is described herein, the method comprising i) forming a beam (150) at a transmitter device (120) from a first wireless transmitter signal and a second wireless transmitter signal, ii) performing a scanning operation for a receiver device (110) with the formed beam (150), iii) evaluating at least one criterion associated with the scanning operation of the formed beam (150), and iv) locating the device (110, 120) based on the evaluated at least one criterion.

Inventors

  • STEFAN TERTINEK
  • Daiketsu

Assignees

  • 恩智浦有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20250919
Priority Date
20241112

Claims (10)

  1. 1. A method for locating a device (110, 120), the method comprising: forming a beam (150) at the transmitter device (120) from the first wireless transmitter signal and the second wireless transmitter signal; Performing a scanning operation for the receiver device (110) with the formed beam (150); Evaluating at least one criterion associated with said scanning operation of said formed beam (150), and The apparatus (110, 120) is located based on the evaluated at least one criterion.
  2. 2. The method according to claim 1, Wherein performing the scanning operation comprises transmitting the formed beam (150) in two or more different transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  3. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: The formed beam (150) is received in at least one transmission position (α1, α2, αn).
  4. 4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, Wherein evaluating comprises comparing the criteria associated with the scanning operation of the formed beam (150) in the two or more transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  5. 5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, Characterized in that evaluating comprises selecting a transmission position (α1, α2, αn) based on said comparison of said criterion associated with said scanning operation of said formed beam (150) in said two or more transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  6. 6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: providing transmission configuration information (140) from the transmitter device (120) to the receiver device (110), Wherein the transmission configuration information (140) includes information about at least one of The formed beam (150), Said transmission positions (alpha 1, alpha 2, alpha n), The scanning operation is performed in a manner that, Transmission timing.
  7. 7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: -providing an assessment report (170) from the receiver device (110) to the transmitter device (120).
  8. 8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, Wherein the at least one criterion includes at least one of intensity, strength, energy, quality, signal to noise ratio.
  9. 9. A transmitter device (120), characterized by comprising: A first transmitter antenna (121) for transmitting a first wireless transmitter signal; a second transmitter antenna (122) for transmitting a second wireless transmitter signal, and A transmitter control device (130) configured to: forming a beam (150) from the first and second wireless transmitter signals, and The formed beam (150) is transmitted to thereby perform a scanning operation for a receiver device (110) such that the device (110, 120) is located based on an evaluation of at least one criterion associated with the scanning operation of the formed beam (150).
  10. 10. A wireless communication system (100), comprising: The transmitter device (120) according to claim 9, and -Said receiver means (110).

Description

Wireless positioning of devices using beamforming Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a method for locating a device, the method comprising: Forming a beam from the first wireless transmitter signal and the second wireless transmitter signal at the transmitter device, performing a scanning operation with the formed beam for the receiver device, evaluating at least one criterion associated with the scanning operation of the formed beam, and locating the device based on the evaluated at least one criterion. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to a transmitter device and a wireless communication system. Background Radio Frequency (RF) devices, such as Ultra Wideband (UWB) devices, may be used for positioning operations such as safe ranging and range estimation. UWB may be particularly suitable, for example, because the time stamps can be generated from the received RF signals with high accuracy. In one example, multiple UWB devices may operate together and thereby locate another device, such as a key fob or a smart phone in a vehicle. Fig. 5A shows an example of a conventional positioning operation. The use case is inside and outside detection of the key fob 210 for vehicle access. The vehicle is equipped with four UWB anchors 260 in respective corners of the vehicle. Typical setup at Tier1/OEM are four anchors 260 on the outside at the bumper and one anchor 220 on the inside at the center. Before the driver can start the engine, the vehicle determines whether the key fob 210 is internal or external. To illustrate, the key fob 210 is placed at the co-driver seat in the figure and all anchors 220, 260 perform ranging with the key fob 210. Finally, the range value (distance) is processed in the central computer node to locate the key fob 210. However, in this example, multiple signal paths 250 would overlap, thereby generating errors in time stamp generation and ranging. Multipath reflections will strongly affect i) the ranging results from the inner anchor 220 due to dense multipath environments (seats, dashboards, etc.), and ii) the ranging results from the outer anchor 260 due to attenuation and reflection from the car body. The internal anchor 220 has a single antenna and is connected to a single transmitter TX. The measured beam pattern is simply an antenna gain pattern (single TX), indicating that the gain is high towards the driver seat, center console and co-driver seat. Thus, when RFRAME radiates uniformly within the beamwidth of the antenna, strong multipath reflections will overlap at the key fob 210, resulting in a range estimation error. Accurate time stamp generation is strongly dependent on the environment, as RF signals reflected at objects such as walls or surfaces may overlap at the receiver and cause distortion of the received signal, resulting in incorrect time stamp estimation and thus ranging and distance errors. For example, locating a key fob (as shown in fig. 5A) inside a car remains a significant challenge due to the dense multipath environment. Conventionally, there are several methods to improve ranging/positioning accuracy in such environments, e.g., increasing the number of anchor devices, using additional angle of arrival (AoA) information, or applying machine learning to the channel impulse response to, for example, filter bad ranging estimates. However, positioning based on RF (particularly UWB) devices remains a challenge, particularly in highly reflective multipath environments such as in the interior of automobiles. Disclosure of Invention It may be desirable to locate wireless devices in an efficient and reliable manner. A method, a transmitter apparatus and a wireless communication system are provided. According to an aspect of the disclosure, a method for locating/positioning (RF) devices (e.g., transmitter devices or receiver devices, in a particular example, key fobs) is described, the method comprising: i) Forming (common) beams (in particular with main lobes) from (at least) a first wireless transmitter signal and a second wireless transmitter signal (in particular provided from an antenna array) (in particular at the transmitter means, more in particular at the transceiver means); ii) performing a scanning operation (beam steering) with the formed beam pair (RF) receiver device (in particular the transceiver device) (e.g. using different transmission angles for the formed beam); iii) Evaluating (e.g., at a receiver device) at least one criterion (e.g., received power) associated with a scanning operation of the formed beam (e.g., comparing intensities of different beam transmission locations), and Iv) locating (e.g. by the transmitter device, the receiver device or another entity) the device (the transmitter device may locate the receiver device and/or the receiver device may locate the transmitter device) based on the evaluated at least one criterion (e.g. selecting the best beam path). According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a tra