JPH09203777A - Gps antenna device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable GPS signals to be received even where they cannot reach because of obstacles, so as to provide accurate information about the position of a moving object, by providing an antenna for receiving the GPS signals, a GPS receiver which calculates the position information, a transmitter for transmitting the GPS signals to the moving object, etc. SOLUTION: This device comprises an antenna 1 for receiving GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites 6, a GPS receiver 2 which calculates position information from the GPS signals received by the antenna 1, a converter 3 for amplifying and modifying the position information calculated by the GPS receiver 2, and a transmitter 4 for transmitting the amplified and modified GPS signals to a moving object 7 such as a vehicle. The GPS signals sent via the sending antenna 5 of the transmitter 5 are received by the GPS receiver 9 via a GPS antenna 8 mounted on the moving object 7 such as a vehicle, so that the current position of the moving object 7 can be determined even if there are obstacles.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a GPS antenna device used in a GPS system that receives GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites and measures the position and speed of a moving body. The present invention relates to a GPS antenna device capable of transmitting positioning information to a moving body even if an obstacle exists between the moving body and an artificial satellite.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, G transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites
G that receives the PS signal and measures the position and speed of the moving body
PS systems are in widespread use.

In this GPS system, it is necessary to capture at least three or more artificial satellites by a GPS antenna provided on the mobile body.

[0004] In the above GPS system, when an artificial satellite is captured, GPS signals transmitted from three or more artificial satellites in the sky captured by the GPS antenna, which is a constituent element, are received and connected to the GPS antenna. The GPS receiver can calculate positioning information and obtain position information such as latitude, longitude, and altitude. The position data, time data, and satellite data of the GPS data sent from the plurality of artificial satellites are used to determine the vehicle distance, altitude, and
Also, the current position of the vehicle can be calculated. Also,
By adding time data to the above data, the moving speed and moving distance of the vehicle can be calculated.

However, the GPS provided on the mobile unit
The antenna is usually installed with the receiving surface facing the zenith, so if there is an obstacle such as a building or structure between the vehicle and the satellite, the GPS signal transmitted from the satellite will be sent directly to the antenna. It becomes impossible to reach it and the reception condition becomes extremely poor.

[0006] For example, if a GPS antenna is mounted on a vehicle, the vehicle may pass through a tunnel, travel on a highway crossing vertically, or stop at a multilevel parking lot or an underground parking lot. . In such a case, the GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite cannot reach the GPS antenna mounted on the vehicle due to the obstacle of the structure or building. As a result, the GPS receiver cannot perform positioning calculation and cannot calculate the current position and altitude.

Therefore, a GPS antenna is installed on the outer wall of a building or structure capable of receiving GPS signals transmitted from artificial satellites, and the GP obtained through this GPS antenna is installed.
A GPS relay device has been used in which the S signal is received by a GPS receiver, and a transmitter is installed at a position where the mobile body can receive the S signal to transmit the GPS signal.

However, in the above GPS relay device,
The position of the GPS antenna that receives the GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite and the position of the transmitter may be installed at positions greatly apart from each other due to obstacles, and the calculation results may differ greatly.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object the following:
An object of the present invention is to provide a GPS antenna device capable of receiving a GPS signal even in a place where the GPS signal does not reach due to an obstacle and can obtain accurate positioning information of a mobile body.

[0010]

A GPS antenna device according to claim 1 of the present invention is an antenna installed on an outer wall of a structure or a building, for receiving GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites. , A GPS receiver for calculating positioning information from the GPS signal received by the antenna, a converter for amplifying and converting the positioning information calculated by the GPS receiver, and transmitting the amplified and converted GPS signal to a mobile body And a transmitter that operates.

A GPS antenna device according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the converter adds arbitrary latitude, longitude, and altitude, and a GPS signal amplified and converted by a transmitter is transmitted. .

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a GPS antenna device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the GPS antenna device of the present invention includes an antenna 1 for receiving GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites 6, and a GP received by the antenna 1.
The GPS receiver 2 for calculating the positioning information from the S signal and the G
It is composed of a converter 3 that amplifies and converts the positioning information calculated by the PS receiver 2, and a transmitter 4 that transmits the amplified and converted GPS signal to a mobile body 7 such as a vehicle.

The antenna 1 of the GPS antenna device of the present invention is installed at a place where the GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite 6 can be received, for example, at a high place such as a mountaintop or a rooftop.

The GPS receiver 2 connected to the antenna 1 receives GPS signals via the antenna 1 and
A plurality of position data transmitted as PS signals and time data are calculated as positioning information such as latitude, longitude, altitude, and time by an arithmetic device.

The positioning information obtained by the GPS receiver 2 is further sent to the converter 3. At least one converter 3 is connected to the GPS receiver 2, and a plurality of converters 3 are connected as necessary. This converter 3 is a GPS receiver 2
Since it is installed at a distant point, the signal of the positioning information transmitted from the GPS receiver 2 is amplified,
The distance (latitude, longitude, altitude) between the receiver 2 and the converter 3 is added to the above positioning information, and the converted positioning information is calculated.

The positioning information amplified and converted by the converter 3 is transmitted via the transmitting antenna 5 provided in the transmitter 4.

In this way, the transmitting antenna 5 of the transmitter 4
GPS signals transmitted via the
GPS receiver 9 via GPS antenna 8 mounted on
By receiving at, it is possible to know the current position of the moving body 7 even if there is an obstacle.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment in which the GPS antenna device of the present invention is installed in a tunnel.

For example, a GPS receiver 9 is mounted on a moving body 7 such as an automobile to drive the vehicle. A GPS antenna 8 for receiving a GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite 6 is connected to the GPS receiver 9.

While this vehicle is running, the GPS receiver 9
Positioning information is calculated from the GPS signal received every 1 minute in
The current position is obtained from the position information and the time information. For this position, the latitude, longitude, and altitude can be displayed as they are, or a map can be displayed using a map database or the like, and the current position of the vehicle can be displayed by superimposing it on the map.

However, when an automobile enters the tunnel, the GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite 6 cannot be received, and the current position while traveling cannot be calculated.

Therefore, the signal transmitted from the transmitting antenna 5 installed in the tunnel is received.

This signal is a GPS signal received by an antenna 1 installed outside the tunnel, positioning information is calculated by a GPS receiver 2, and further amplified by a converter 3 to set a transmitting antenna 5. The GPS signal whose position is corrected based on the position is transmitted into the tunnel via the transmitter 4.

Therefore, the signals output from the respective transmitting antennas 5 are time data together, but position data are data different from each other in distance.

[0027]

As described above, according to the GPS antenna device of the present invention, an antenna installed on the outer wall of a structure or a building for receiving GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites, and the antenna. GPS receiver for calculating the positioning information from the GPS signal received by the GPS receiver, a converter for amplifying and converting the positioning information calculated by the GPS receiver, and a transmitter for transmitting the amplified and converted GPS signal to the mobile body. By including the above, even if the mobile body moves to a position where the GPS signal transmitted from the artificial satellite cannot be received, the GPS signal can be continuously received and the current position can be known.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 antenna 2 GPS receiver 3 converter 4 transmitter 5 transmission antenna

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideki Oka 1048 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. (72) Kozo Miyai, 1048, Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. 72) Inventor Kenji Okuno 1048, Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An antenna installed on the outer wall of a structure or building, for receiving GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites, and a GPS receiver for calculating positioning information from the GPS signals received by the antennas. A GPS antenna device comprising: a converter for amplifying and converting the positioning information calculated by the GPS receiver; and a transmitter for transmitting the amplified and converted GPS signal to a mobile body. 2. The GPS antenna device according to claim 1, wherein the converter adds arbitrary latitude, longitude and altitude, and a transmitter transmits the amplified and converted GPS signal.