Wireless Exchange Sniffer for Phase Error Distance Measurement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing radio communication systems lack detailed information on the characteristics of communicating radios and the communication channel, which hinders accurate distance estimation and debugging in narrowband localization systems.
Innovation Solution
A Sniffer device is configured to synchronize with Initiator and Reflector devices, obtaining phase and magnitude measurements via side communication channels, and performing post-processing to determine individual device errors, allowing for accurate distance measurements and channel analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If phase measurements are performed to determine distance between devices, then distance estimation capability is improved, but phase errors from individual devices reduce measurement precision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third communication device as an intermediary to monitor and measure the phase errors introduced by the first and second devices. This intermediary device captures the communication signals, performs independent phase measurements, and determines the phase errors contributed by each device, thereby enabling compensation for these harmful phase errors in distance calculations
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring device provides feedback information about the phase errors to the communication system. By measuring and reporting the phase errors from each device, the system can compensate for these errors in subsequent distance calculations, improving the overall measurement precision through continuous error correction
2Reliability
If synchronization steps are performed to align timing between devices, then communication reliability is improved, but system complexity increases due to multiple coordination steps
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device independently performs synchronization and measurement operations without requiring complex coordination with the communicating devices. It autonomously captures signals, performs phase measurements, and determines errors, thereby improving communication reliability while avoiding additional synchronization complexity in the main communication path
3Reliability
If multiple RF channels are used for distance measurement exchange, then measurement robustness is improved, but time synchronization requirements increase device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device serves as an intermediary that independently tracks and measures phase information across multiple RF channels. By performing measurements on each channel and combining results, it achieves robust distance measurement without requiring the communicating devices to maintain complex time synchronization across all channels
Data Source
AI summary
A communication exchange between two wireless communication devices is monitored. A communication device configured to function as a Sniffer device synchronizes the communication device to a frequency and a timing employed between the two wireless communication devices on a main wireless communication channel. The wireless communication exchanges are monitored, in which the wireless communication exchanges are packet-based data exchanges or tone-based data exchanges. The operations for wireless communication exchanges are repeated across a plurality of different frequencies. The communication device then combines a plurality of phase and/or magnitude measurements and determines a value of phase and/or magnitude error introduced by each device based on the combined plurality of phase and/or magnitude measurements.