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EP-4741866-A1 - WIRELESS LOCATION OF A DEVICE USING BEAM FORMING

EP4741866A1EP 4741866 A1EP4741866 A1EP 4741866A1EP-4741866-A1

Abstract

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

Inventors

  • TERTINEK, STEFAN
  • LUGITSCH, David

Assignees

  • NXP B.V.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241112

Claims (15)

  1. A method for locating a device (110, 120), the method comprising: forming a beam (150) from a first wireless transmitter signal and a second wireless transmitter signal at a transmitter device (120); performing a scan operation for a receiver device (110) with the formed beam (150); evaluating at least one criterium associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (150); and locating the device (110, 120) based on the evaluated at least one criterium.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the scan operation comprises transmitting the formed beam (150) in two or more different transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: receiving the formed beam (150) in at least one transmission position (α1, α2, αn).
  4. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein evaluating comprises comparing the criteria associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (150) in the two or more transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  5. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein evaluating comprises selecting a transmission position (α1, α2, αn) based on the comparison of the criteria associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (150) in the two or more transmission positions (α1, α2, αn).
  6. The method according to one 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) comprises information about at least one of the formed beam (150), the transmitting positions (α1, α2, αn), the scan operation, the transmission timing.
  7. The method according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising: providing an evaluation report (170) from the receiver device (110) to the transmitter device (120).
  8. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one criterium comprises at least one of intensity, strength, energy, quality, signal-to-noise ratio.
  9. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the method is performed in the context of ultra-wide band, UWB.
  10. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein localizing comprises applying at least one of a ranging method, a time-of-flight method, an angle-of-arrival method.
  11. A transmitter device (120), comprising: a first transmitter antenna (121) to transmit a first wireless transmitter signal; a second transmitter antenna (122) to transmit a second wireless transmitter signal; and a transmitter control device (130) configured to: form a beam (150) from the first wireless transmitter signal and the second wireless transmitter signal, and transmit the formed beam (150) to thereby perform a scan operation for a receiver device (110), so that a device (110, 120) is located based on an evaluation of at least one criterium associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (150).
  12. A wireless communication system (100), comprising: the transmitter device (120) according to claim 11; and the receiver device (110).
  13. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 12, wherein the receiver device (120) comprises: a receiver antenna to receive the formed beam (150) in at least one transmission position.
  14. The wireless communication system (100) according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising: an evaluation device, configured to: evaluate the received formed beam (150) with respect to the at least one criterium associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (150).
  15. The wireless communication system (100) according to one of the claims 12 to 14, further comprising: a locating device, configured to: locate the transmitter device (120) or the receiver device (110) based on the evaluated at least one criterium.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a method for locating a device, the method comprising: forming a beam from a first wireless transmitter signal and a second wireless transmitter signal at a transmitter device, performing a scan operation for a receiver device with the formed beam, evaluating at least one criterium associated with the scan operation of the formed beam, and locating the device based on the evaluated at least one criterium. Further, the disclosure refers to a transmitter device and a wireless communication system. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND Radio frequency (RF) devices such as ultra-wide band (UWB) devices can be used for localization operations such as secure ranging and distance estimation. For example, UWB may be especially suitable due to the ability to generate time stamps from received RF signals with high accuracy. In an example, multiple UWB devices can operate together and thereby localize another device, such as a key fob or a smart phone in a vehicle. Figure 5A shows an example of a conventional localization operation. The use case is key fob 210 inside-outside detection for vehicle access. The vehicle is equipped with four UWB anchors 260 in the respective corners of the vehicle. Typical setup at Tierls/OEMs: four anchors 260 outside at the bumpers and one anchor 220 inside in the center. The vehicle determines whether a key fob 210 is inside or outside before a driver can start the engine. For illustration, 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, range values (distances) are processed in a central computer node to localize the key fob 210. However, multiple signal paths 250 will overlap in this example, thereby generating errors in the time stamp generation and ranging. The multi-path reflections will strongly influence ranging results i) from the inside anchor 220, due to dense multipath environment (seats, dashboard, etc.), and ii) from the outside anchors 260, due to attenuation and reflections from the car body. The inside anchor 220 has a single antenna and is connected to a single transmitter TX. The measured beam pattern is just the antenna gain pattern (single TX), showing that the gain is high towards the driver seat, the center console, and the co-driver seat. Thus, as the RFRAME is radiated uniformly within the beamwidth of the antenna, strong multi-path reflections will overlap at the key fob 210 causing distance estimation errors. Accurate time stamp generation depends strongly on the environment, as the RF signal reflected at objects, such as walls or surfaces, can overlap at the receiver and cause distortion in the received signal, leading to an incorrect time stamp estimation and thus ranging and distance errors. For example, locating a key fob in a car interior (as shown in Figure 5A) remains a big challenge due to the dense multipath environment. Conventionally, there are a number of methods to improve the ranging/localization accuracy in such environments, e.g. increase the number of anchor devices, use additional angle-of-arrival (AoA) information, or apply machine learning on the channel impulse response to e.g. filter bad ranging estimates. However, localization based on RF (in particular UWB) devices still remains a challenge, especially in highly reflective multipath environments such as a car interior. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE There may be a need to localize a wireless device in an efficient and reliable manner. A method, a transmitter device, and a wireless communication system are provided. According to an aspect of the present disclosure, it is described a method for locating/localization a (RF) device (e.g. a transmitter device or a receiver device, in a specific example a key fob), the method comprising: i) forming a (common) beam (in particular with a main lobe) from (at least) a first wireless transmitter signal and a second wireless transmitter signal (in particular provided from an antenna array) (in particular at a transmitter device, more in particular a transceiver device);ii) performing a scan operation (beam steering) for a (RF) receiver device (in particular a transceiver device) with the formed beam (e.g. using different transmission angles for the formed beam);iii) evaluating (e.g. at the receiver device) at least one criterium (e.g. received power) associated with the scan operation of the formed beam (e.g. comparing intensity of different beam transmission positions); andiv) locating (e.g. by the transmitter device, the receiver device, or a further entity) the device (the transmitter device may localize the receiver device and/or the receiver device may localize the transmitter device) based on the evaluated at least one criterium (e.g. selecting optimal beam path). According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, it is described a transmitter device (in particular a transceiver device), comprising: i) a first transmitter an