Distributed A-GNSS positioning of static devices

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining locations of static devices are disclosed. The method includes identifying a plurality of static devices, obtaining location measurements by the plurality of static devices at different times, and determining locations of the plurality of static devices using the location measurements obtained at the different times. The method of determining locations of the plurality of static devices includes determining a group location of the plurality of static devices based on GNSS pseudo range measurements contributed by the one or more static devices, where the group location is near a centroid of the plurality of static devices weighted by the number of the GNSS pseudo range measurements contributed by each of the plurality of static devices. The method of determining locations of the plurality of static devices further includes sharing a common time reference among the plurality of static devices.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. non-provisional application Serial No. 13 / 309,476, filed December 1, 2011, entitled "Distributed A-GNSS Positioning of Static Devices," which claims the benefit of Benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 419,715, filed December 3, 2010, entitled "Distributed A-GNSS Positioning of Femtocells," which is assigned to the assignee of the present application. The entire contents of the aforementioned US applications are hereby incorporated by reference. technical field [0003] In general terms, the present application relates to the field of wireless communications. In particular, the present application relates to methods and systems for determining the location of static devices, such as femtocells. Background technique [0004] Femto cells (also known as home base stations), Home E-UTRAN Node B (HeNB), and Home Node B (HNB), which are base stations designed to serve a ...

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Problems solved by technology

[0006] In some cases, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is used in some cases because there are not enough artificial satellite (SV) signals (typically, 4 or more) of sufficient strength that each femtocell needs to acquire and measure in order to locate it. ) or assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) to determine femtocell location within a building can be difficult or unreliable

This is often a problem when trying to locate collections of femtocells (e.g., 3GPP HeNBs or HNBs) within a building or group of buildings (e.g., office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, apartment buildings) because many Femtocells may be located deep in a building or cluster of buildings where they cannot receive many GPS or GNSS SV signals (if any)

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