UWB ranging device and UWB ranging method using thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) ranging device and a UWB ranging method using the same. A UWB ranging device according to the present invention includes a memory containing a UWB ranging program and a processor for executing the program, wherein the processor performs UWB ranging by transmitting an integrated packet including an STS and a payload.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) ranging device and a UWB ranging method using the same. Background Technology

[0003] UWB is a technology that utilizes Time of Flight (ToF) to calculate the distance between communicating entities by multiplying the signal arrival time by the speed of light.

[0004] According to conventional technology, there is a problem of transmitting unnecessary frames by distinguishing between frames for data communication and frames to which an STS for timestamping has been added. The problem to be solved

[0006] The present invention is proposed to solve the aforementioned problems, and aims to provide a UWB ranging device and a UWB ranging method using the same that can increase the efficiency of UWB ranging by integrating a frame for data communication and a frame to which an STS for taking a timestamp has been added. means of solving the problem

[0008] A UWB ranging device according to the present invention includes a memory containing a UWB ranging program and a processor for executing the program, wherein the processor performs UWB ranging by transmitting an integrated packet including an STS and a payload.

[0009] The processor transmits the Poll and Final, including the integrated packet.

[0010] The processor calculates the error in transmission time by considering the actual Poll transmission time, and estimates the Final transmission time by taking the error into account.

[0011] When antenna diversity is applied or when ranging is repeated, the processor calculates the average of the errors in the transmission time from the previous step and estimates the final transmission time by taking the average into account.

[0012] The UWB ranging method according to the present invention is characterized by comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a Poll including an STS and a payload; (b) estimating a Final transmission time; and (c) transmitting a Final including an STS and a payload using the estimation result.

[0013] (a) Step integrates the frame for data communication and the frame with an added STS for timestamps, and transmits it to the anchor.

[0014] Step (b) calculates the error in transmission time by considering the actual Poll transmission time and estimates the Final transmission time by applying the error.

[0015] (b) Step (b) calculates the average of the transmission time errors from the previous step when antenna diversity is applied or when ranging is repeated, and estimates the final transmission time by taking the average into account. Effects of the invention

[0017] According to an embodiment of the present invention, by integrating and transmitting / receiving a frame for data communication and a frame for taking a timestamp, the number of slots is reduced compared to the UWB ranging operation according to the prior art, thereby achieving power optimization and increasing the efficiency of UWB ranging.

[0018] The effects of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other unmentioned effects will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates UWB ranging according to the prior art. FIG. 2 illustrates a UWB ranging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 illustrates a frame format according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 illustrates UWB ranging according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the final transmission time estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 illustrates a UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0021] The aforementioned objectives of the present invention, as well as other objectives, advantages, and features, and the methods for achieving them, will become clear from the embodiments described in detail below together with the accompanying drawings.

[0022] However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below but can be implemented in various different forms, and the following embodiments are provided merely to easily inform those skilled in the art of the purpose, structure, and effects of the invention, and the scope of the rights of the present invention is defined by the description in the claims.

[0023] Meanwhile, the terms used in this specification are for describing the embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention. In this specification, the singular form includes the plural form unless specifically stated otherwise in the text. As used in this specification, "comprises" and / or "comprising" do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps, actions, and / or elements to the mentioned components, steps, actions, and / or elements.

[0025] Technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are utilized to provide Local Based Services (LBS), but while they have the problem of being difficult to measure precisely, UWB (6~8GHz, bandwidth of 500MHz or more) has the advantages of a wide frequency band, low-power communication, and high accuracy of within tens of centimeters.

[0026] According to conventional technology, GPS and mobile communication network-based location tracking technologies have error ranges of 5 to 50m and 50 to 200m, respectively, and in the case of GPS, there may be obstacles to the signal sent from the satellite reaching the building forest in urban areas.

[0027] While Wi-Fi enables low-cost location tracking, its narrow frequency band can lead to limitations in channel splitting when the number of targets increases. Additionally, mobile devices may lose their connection to fixed Wi-Fi access points (APs).

[0028] While Bluetooth enables the deployment of multiple sensors at a low cost, it is not suitable for real-time location tracking in dynamic environments due to high communication latency.

[0029] UWB is a technology that calculates the distance between communication entities by utilizing Time of Flight (ToF) technology with a bandwidth of 6~8 GHz and 500 MHz or more, and multiplying the time it takes for a signal to arrive between communication entities by the speed of light.

[0030] Unlike Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, UWB uses a wide frequency band, making it possible to transmit large amounts of information at high transmission speeds with low power consumption.

[0031] Positioning using UWB technology has the advantage of a low error rate of about 20 centimeters, high penetration through obstacles, and not being affected by other signals such as Wi-Fi.

[0032] Ranged refers to the act of measuring the distance between one device (fove) and one anchor, and the data structure follows the IEEE 802.15.4z standard, taking about 200us to transmit one packet.

[0033] A slot is defined as the time taken for a fob or anchor to transmit (or receive) a signal once and then transmit (or receive) the next time.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates a UWB ranging sequence based on four anchors according to the prior art.

[0035] The device (10) transmits a Pre-poll from the first anchor (21) to the fourth anchor (24) in the first slot, and at this time, uses a frame format structure that includes a payload without a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence (STS) for transmitting data such as timestamps.

[0036] The device (10) transmits a Poll from the 2nd slot to the 1st anchor (21) to the 4th anchor (24), and at this time uses a frame format with a structure including an STS to take a timestamp.

[0037] The first anchor (21) to the fourth anchor (24) transmit a response to the device (10) in slots 3 to 6, and the device (10) transmits a Final to the first anchor (21) to the fourth anchor (24) in slot 7.

[0038] The device (10) transmits Final Data from the 8th slot to the 1st anchor (21) to the 4th anchor (24), and at this time, uses a frame format structure that includes a payload without STS for data transmission, such as Pre-poll.

[0039] According to the aforementioned conventional technology, there is a problem of transmitting unnecessary frames by distinguishing between frames for data communication and frames to which an STS for timestamping has been added.

[0041] FIG. 2 illustrates a UWB ranging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] A UWB ranging device (100) according to the present invention includes a memory (110) in which a UWB ranging program is embedded and a processor (120) that executes the program, and the processor (120) is characterized by performing UWB ranging by transmitting an integrated packet including an STS and a payload.

[0043] The processor (120) transmits a Poll and a Final containing a packet that integrates a frame for data communication and a frame with an added STS for timestamp.

[0044] The processor (120) calculates an error in the transmission time by considering the actual Poll transmission time, estimates the Final transmission time by considering the error, and transmits the Final packet including the estimated Final transmission time.

[0045] When antenna diversity is applied or when ranging is repeated, the processor (120) calculates the average of the errors in the transmission time from the previous step, estimates the final transmission time by taking the average into account, and transmits the final packet including the estimated final transmission time.

[0047] FIG. 3 illustrates a frame format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] Figure 3(a) illustrates a frame format structure including an STS for taking timestamps, (b) illustrates a frame format structure including a payload without an STS for transmitting data such as timestamps, and (c) illustrates a structure capable of taking timestamps and transmitting data.

[0050] FIG. 4 illustrates UWB ranging according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0051] A device (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits a Poll by integrating a frame for data communication and a frame with an added STS for timestamp, which is a structure capable of taking timestamps and transmitting data, and transmitting it to the first anchor (210) to the fourth anchor (240).

[0052] In slots 2 through 5, the first anchor (210) through the fourth anchor (240) transmit a response to the device (100), and at this time, a frame format with a structure including STS is used to take a timestamp.

[0053] In slot 6, the device (100) transmits the Final packet by integrating a frame for data communication and a frame with an added STS for timestamps, similar to Poll, and transmits it to the first anchor (210) to the fourth anchor (240).

[0054] Compared to FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention, by performing ranging with 6 slots, it is possible to achieve power optimization by reducing the number of slots and increase the efficiency of UWB ranging.

[0055] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in including the time (Timestamp) at which the corresponding signal was transmitted in the last slot (slot 6 in FIG. 4), the time of transmitting the last slot is predicted and the STS is included.

[0056] That is, the time to transmit the last slot is predicted by using the transmission error that occurred when the Poll was sent from the device (100), because the error in the transmission time is mostly caused by the production error of the UWB module unit and the oscillator error due to the environment (temperature / humidity), and since the time between transmitting the Poll and the Final is only a few milliseconds, it can be assumed that the environment is almost identical (on the other hand, the response reception time includes ToF, so it cannot be useful).

[0058] FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the final transmission time estimation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0059] Referring to Fig. 5, the time between slots is variable, but it is assumed to be 1ms.

[0060] If the actual Poll transmission time in slot 1 is 1.002ms, the device (100) predicts the Final transmission time using the error in the Poll transmission time and estimates the transmission time in slot 6 to be 6.002ms.

[0061] Referring to Figure 6, when the same signal is transmitted multiple times or ranging is continuously repeated, such as when antenna diversity is applied, the parameters increase, so it is possible to predict the final transmission time more accurately by using the average of the actual transmission time errors.

[0062] That is, if the actual first Poll transmission time of slot 1 is 1.001ms and the actual second Poll transmission time of slot 2 is 2.003ms, the average of the error is 0.002ms, and the final transmission time in slot 11 is estimated to be 11.002ms by taking into account the average of the transmission time errors of the previous signals.

[0064] FIG. 7 illustrates a UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0065] A UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the step of transmitting a Poll including an STS and a payload (S710), the step of estimating the Final transmission time of the last slot (S720), and the step of transmitting a Final including an STS and a payload using the estimation result (S730).

[0066] In step S710, the frame for data communication and the frame with the added STS for timestamp are integrated and transmitted to the anchor.

[0067] In step S720, the error in transmission time is calculated by considering the actual Poll transmission time in the first slot, and the Final transmission time is estimated by applying the error.

[0068] In step S720, if antenna diversity is applied or ranging is repeated, the average of the transmission time errors from the previous step is calculated, and the Final transmission time is estimated by considering the average.

[0069] In step S730, using the estimation result, the frame for data communication and the frame with the added STS for timestamp are combined and transmitted to the anchor.

[0071] Meanwhile, the UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in a computer system or recorded on a recording medium. The computer system may include at least one processor, memory, a user input device, a data communication bus, a user output device, and a storage. Each of the aforementioned components communicates data through the data communication bus.

[0072] The computer system may further include network interfaces coupled to the network. The processor may be a central processing unit (CPU) or a semiconductor device that processes instructions stored in memory and / or storage.

[0073] Memory and storage may include various forms of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, memory may include ROM and RAM.

[0074] Accordingly, the UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented as a method executable on a computer. When the UWB ranging method according to an embodiment of the present invention is executed on a computer device, computer-readable instructions can execute the ranging method according to the present invention.

[0075] Meanwhile, the UWB ranging method according to the present invention described above can be implemented as computer-readable code on a computer-readable recording medium. Computer-readable recording media include all types of recording media in which data that can be decoded by a computer system is stored. For example, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), magnetic tape, magnetic disk, flash memory, optical data storage device, etc. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium can be distributed to computer systems connected via a computer network and stored and executed as code that can be read in a distributed manner.

[0077] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may be implemented in modified forms without departing from the essential characteristics of the invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims, not by the foregoing description, and all variations within the scope of the claims should be interpreted as being included in the invention.

Claims

Claim 1 A UWB ranging device comprising: a memory having a built-in UWB ranging program; and a processor for executing said program, wherein the processor performs UWB ranging based on a plurality of slots by transmitting a packet including an STS (Scrambled Timestamp Sequence) and an integrated packet including the STS and a payload, wherein the integrated packet is transmitted in a first slot located earliest in time and a second slot located latest in time among the plurality of slots, and the packet including the STS is transmitted in the remaining slots excluding the first slot and the second slot among the plurality of slots, and wherein the processor transmits a Poll and a Final including the integrated packet in the first slot and the second slot, respectively, calculates an error in the transmission time by considering the time between the plurality of slots and the actual Poll transmission time in the first slot, estimates the Final transmission time by considering the error, and, when antenna diversity is applied or ranging is performed repeatedly, calculates the average of the errors in the transmission time from the previous step and estimates the Final transmission time by considering the average. Claim 2 delete Claim 3 delete Claim 4 delete Claim 5 (a) transmitting a Poll based on an integrated packet including a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence (STS) and a payload, related to UWB ranging based on multiple slots, in the first slot which is the earliest in time among the multiple slots; (b) estimating the final transmission time; and (c) a step of transmitting a Final based on an integrated packet including the STS and the payload in the second slot, which is located later in time among the plurality of slots, using the estimation result in step (b) above, wherein a packet including the STS is transmitted in the remaining slots excluding the first slot and the second slot among the plurality of slots, and step (a) is to integrate a frame for data communication and a frame with the STS added for timestamps and transmit it to an anchor, and step (b) is to calculate an error in transmission time by considering the time between the plurality of slots and the actual Poll transmission time in the first slot, and to estimate the Final transmission time by applying the error, and step (b) is to calculate the average of the transmission time error in the previous step when antenna diversity is applied or when ranging is repeated, and to estimate the Final transmission time by considering the average. Claim 6 delete Claim 7 delete Claim 8 delete

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