The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 1996
Filed:
Jul. 19, 1994
Joseph H Zablotney, Oakton, VA (US);
Steven F Gorman, Falls Church, VA (US);
E-Systems, Inc., Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and system for determining the direction and range to a signal source from a single movable antenna. The direction and range are determined by the simultaneous solution of trigonometric equations which describe triangles including the source and at least two positions assumable by the antenna as apices. The simultaneous equations incorporate the distances from the source to each antenna position as triangle sides and the determination of the relationship between these sides provides for the solution of the equations. The relationship of the triangle sides is determined by detecting periodic symbols occurring in the source signal while the antenna is moved through multiple positions. Actual symbol occurrences corresponding to each antenna position are detected. The expected occurrences at the first antenna position of the symbols actually occurring at the subsequent antenna positions are determined. The differences between the actual and expected symbol occurrences indicate the change in the distance travelled by the signal to each antenna position relative to the distance travelled to the first antenna position. Accordingly the distance from the source to each antenna position may be described as a function of the distance to the first antenna position and the simultaneous equations may be solved for direction and range to the source from any of the antenna positions.