CN109889979B

CN109889979B - Positioning method and device based on wireless signals

Info

Publication number: CN109889979B
Application number: CN201910136857.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨智健; 张少博
Original assignee: Zhongan Information Technology Service Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Zhongan Information Technology Service Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-25
Filing date: 2019-02-25
Publication date: 2021-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 2039-02-25
Also published as: CN109889979A

Abstract

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a positioning method based on wireless signals, including: acquiring signal data of at least one group of wireless signals, wherein each group of signal data comprises a received signal strength indicated value, and the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned; obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and at least part of acquisition equipment based on the received signal strength indicated value; and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned according to the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition equipment. According to the embodiment of the disclosure, the positioning method and device based on the wireless signal not only reduce power consumption and cost, but also provide more accurate precision.

Description

Positioning method and device based on wireless signals

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of object positioning, and more particularly, to a wireless signal based positioning method and apparatus.

Background

With the rise of the middle-grade and the upgrade of the consumption structure, the demand of consumers for high-quality agricultural products is more and more vigorous. In agricultural cultivation, free-range local chickens have large daily exercise amount, and insect weeds in various natural environments are used as food, so that the local chickens have higher quality and better taste. Currently, chickens are only raised in free range by wearing a chicken foot ring for the chicken and marking with a pattern or trademark on the chicken foot ring.

In addition, the coordinate positioning method for the outdoor object mainly comprises two methods: satellite Positioning, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the united states, the beidou in china, and the like; second, mobile communication base station Location Based Service (LBS).

Disclosure of Invention

The existing chicken foot ring has weak anti-counterfeiting capability, and is easy to replace in the processes of breeding, slaughtering, marketing and the like, so that common consumers can hardly distinguish whether the chickens are free-range chickens or not. If the number of the moving steps and the moving coordinate track of the chicken only every day can be collected and displayed to the consumer, the chicken can be proved to be only raised scattered. The existing positioning technology for positioning the chicken has a plurality of problems. The problems of the satellite positioning technology are large power consumption, high cost and no signal indoors. The power consumption is big, needs big battery, and the chicken of raising scattered only can carry the size of thing networking equipment limited, and the battery size and the capacity of containing in inside are limited, also can not change the battery during raising scattered. High cost is not suitable for breeding chicken with relatively low price. No signal exists indoors, which means that the coordinates cannot be located after the chicken only enters the henhouse. The problems of the mobile communication base station positioning technology are large power consumption, high cost and poor precision. The power consumption and the cost are the same as those of satellite positioning. However, the positioning accuracy of the mobile communication base station is worse (possibly several tens of meters) than that of the satellite positioning technology, so that the mobile communication base station cannot be used for positioning the chicken.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a positioning method and device based on wireless signals.

A first embodiment of the present disclosure provides a positioning method based on wireless signals, including: acquiring signal data of at least one group of wireless signals, wherein each group of signal data comprises a received signal strength indicated value, and the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned; obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and at least part of acquisition equipment based on the received signal strength indicated value; and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned according to the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition equipment.

In this embodiment, a device (a device to be positioned, for example, an internet of things device) disposed on an object to be positioned sends a wireless signal, and an acquisition device receives the wireless signal and generates signal data including a received signal strength indication value, so as to obtain position information of the device to be positioned (accordingly, the object to be positioned), thereby not only reducing power consumption and cost, but also providing more accurate precision. When the object to be positioned is a chicken or other breeding products, the battery of the Internet of things equipment does not need to be replaced in the whole growth cycle of the chicken or other breeding products due to low power consumption, and therefore the difficulty of replacing the battery in a free-ranging state is avoided. The cost is low enough to be suitable for a large number of chickens or other breeding products.

A second embodiment of the present disclosure provides a positioning apparatus based on wireless signals, including: a processor; and a memory to store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: acquiring signal data of at least one group of wireless signals, wherein each group of signal data comprises a received signal strength indicated value, and the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned; obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and at least part of acquisition equipment based on the received signal strength indicated value; and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned according to the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition equipment.

A third embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions stored thereon for executing the wireless-signal-based positioning method according to the first embodiment.

Drawings

The features, advantages and other aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which several embodiments of the present disclosure are shown by way of illustration and not limitation, wherein:

fig. 1 shows an architectural schematic of a wireless signal based positioning system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of obtaining positional information of a chicken according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of a wireless signal based positioning method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a wireless signal based positioning apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary methods, apparatus, and devices described below include software and/or firmware executed on hardware among other components, it should be noted that these examples are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of the hardware, software, and firmware components could be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, or in any combination of hardware and software. Thus, while the following describes example methods and apparatus, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the examples provided are not intended to limit the manner in which the methods and apparatus may be implemented.

Furthermore, the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of methods and systems according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

As used herein, the terms "comprising," "including," and similar terms are open-ended terms, i.e., "including/including but not limited to," meaning that additional content may also be included. The term "based on" is "based, at least in part, on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment," and the like.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate. For the connection between the units in the drawings, for convenience of description only, it means that at least the units at both ends of the connection are in communication with each other, and is not intended to limit the inability of communication between the units that are not connected.

The following is a detailed description taking as an example a wireless signal based positioning system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 1 shows an architectural diagram 100 of a wireless signal based positioning system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In the embodiment of fig. 1, the object to be located is a chicken. In other embodiments, the object to be located may be other farm produce, such as other avian animals. Alternatively, the object to be positioned may be any other moving object.

As shown in fig. 1, the

collecting devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 are provided in the farm 101, and

chickens

120, 121, 122, 123, and 124 are raised scattered within the range of the farm 101. A chicken house 102 is located within the farm 101. The chicken house 102 has a nearly square shape with the harvesting device 115 located in the center of the chicken house 102. In this example, only 6 harvesting devices, 5 chickens and 1 chicken house are shown for ease of illustration. In other embodiments, there may be any other number of collection devices, chickens and chicken houses. In this embodiment, the acquisition device is a base station. In other embodiments, the acquisition device may be any other device that may wirelessly communicate with the internet of things device and the server. The

chickens

120, 121, 122, 123, and 124 are wearing internet of things devices (i.e., devices to be located) that transmit wireless signals continuously, or at predetermined intervals, or at predetermined times through the communication modules thereon. Accordingly, the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 receive these wireless signals continuously, or at predetermined time intervals, or at predetermined times. The server 103 is used to communicate with the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 to locate the

chickens

120, 121, 122, 123 and 124.

The process of data initialization on the server 103 is described next. First, GPS coordinates of the vertices around the farm 101 and GPS coordinates of the vertices around the chicken house 102 are measured on the spot using a handheld device (e.g., a GPS measuring instrument). Then, the server 103 marks the GPS coordinates of each vertex on the electronic map, and sequentially connects adjacent vertices to form the electronic fence of the farm 101 and the electronic fence of the chicken house 102, respectively. The size and shape of the electronic pens are substantially the same as the actual farm 101 pens and chicken house 102 pens. Draw out the electronic fence on the electronic map and provide visual effect for the future consumer to the traceability of chicken on the one hand, on the other hand also can assist and fix a position chicken position. Then, according to the terrain and the range size of the farm 101, taking the maximum communication range of the acquisition devices as a limit, an appropriate number of acquisition devices (for example, the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115) are deployed, and no communication dead angle is ensured within the range of the farm 101. The GPS coordinates of the deployed

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 are then measured, respectively, and marked on the electronic map by the server 103.

After the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 are deployed and the electronic fences of the farm 101 and the chicken house 102 are drawn, the chickens can be located through wireless signals sent by the internet of things devices worn by the

chickens

120, 121, 123, 124, and 125. The internet of things equipment worn by the

chickens

120, 121, 123, 124 and 125 comprises a power supply module, a sensor, a data processing module and a communication module. The power supply module supplies power to each circuit module, the sensor senses the movement of the chicken and counts the movement steps of the chicken, and the data processing module performs appropriate processing on the movement steps of the chicken and broadcasts the processed movement steps through the communication module. The

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 have a power supply module, a first communication module, a data processing module and a second communication module, respectively. The power supply module supplies power to each circuit module, the first communication module is used for receiving wireless signals sent by the communication module of the internet of things device, and the data processing module is used for performing necessary data processing on the wireless signals and sending the processed signal data to the server 103 through the second communication module.

In this embodiment, the internet of things devices worn by the

chickens

120, 121, 123, 124 and 125 are chicken foot rings, and each chicken foot ring has a unique identification code (ID) to identify each chicken. The outer shell of the chicken foot ring is provided with a circuit board which comprises a button battery, a three-axis acceleration sensor, a micro processing unit (MCU) and a 2.4G-based wireless communication module (for example, a 2.4G wireless RF chip). The button cell is used for supplying power to each circuit module in the chicken foot ring, the triaxial acceleration sensor is used for sensing the movement of the chicken and counting the number of steps of the movement of the chicken, which is accumulated from zero, the micro processing unit (MCU) sends a step number reading request to the triaxial acceleration sensor at intervals of a preset period of time (for example, 1 hour), and after receiving the request, the triaxial acceleration sensor sends the current number of steps of the movement of the chicken to the micro processing unit (MCU). Subsequently, the micro processing unit (MCU) transmits the received motion steps of the chicken together with the ID and check bit of the current chicken foot ring through the 2.4G wireless RF chip.

The

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 include a power supply, a 2.4G-based wireless communication module (e.g., a 2.4G wireless RF chip), a micro processing unit (MCU), and a 4G communication module. The power supply converts 220V alternating current into direct current. The 2.4G-based wireless communication module receives wireless signals (including the number of steps of the chicken, the ID of the chicken foot ring and check bits) transmitted by the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken, and obtains a received signal strength indication value (RSSI) based on the wireless signals. Next, the micro-processing unit sends the wireless signal, the received signal strength indication value, together with an identification code (ID) of the acquisition device and a timestamp of the received wireless signal, as signal data of the wireless signal to the server 103 through the 4G communication module to locate the chicken foot ring (i.e., chicken). In addition, the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 may further include a 2.4G signal power amplifier for amplifying signals received by the wireless communication module, so that the coverage area of the acquisition devices may be larger.

Next, a detailed description will be given of a chicken locating method at a certain time point, taking chicken 120 and chicken 124 as examples, respectively. In this embodiment, as mentioned above, the chicken only 120 wears the internet of things device (i.e., the device to be located). At some point in time, the 2.4G-based wireless communication module in the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken 120 transmits a wireless signal to each acquisition device, which includes the current number of steps taken by the chicken, the chicken foot ring ID, and the check digit. In the present embodiment, at this point in time, the position of the chicken 120 is located within the coverage of the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 113, and 114, so the wireless signals transmitted by the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken 120 are received by the 2.4G-based wireless communication modules of the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 113, and 114, respectively, and the 2.4G-based wireless communication modules calculate the received signal strength indication value (RSSI) based on the received wireless signals. Specifically, the RSSI is calculated as follows:

x(dbm)＝10*1og₁₀(P(mw)/1(mw)) (1)

in formula (1), x (dbm) represents the RSSI value, and p (mw) represents the power of the received wireless signal. Thus,

acquisition devices

110, 111, 113 and 114 respectively obtain the received signal strength indicator value RSSI₁₁₀、RSSI₁₁₁、RSSI₁₁₃And RSSI₁₁₄. Then, signal data is generated from the wireless signals by the respective micro-processing units of the

acquisition devices

110, 111, 113 and 114, respectively. Specifically, the signal data includes the current number of steps taken by the chicken, the chicken foot ring ID and the check bits, the RSSI obtained, and the ID of the acquisition device and the timestamp of the received wireless signal. Next, each micro-processing unit transmits the signal data to the 4G communication module, and the 4G communication module transmits the signal data to the server 103.

Similar to chicken 120, at this point in time, the 2.4G-based wireless communication module in the chicken foot loop worn by chicken 124 transmits a wireless signal to each acquisition device that includes the current number of steps taken by the chicken, the chicken foot loop ID, and the check bits. Since the chicken 124 is located inside the chicken house 102, the RSSI of the received wireless signal will be larger due to the wall effect of the acquisition device outside the chicken house 102. In this embodiment, at this point in time, the position of the chicken 124 is within the coverage of the

acquisition devices

112, 113 and 115. Accordingly, the wireless signals transmitted by the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken 124 are received by the 2.4G-based wireless communication modules of the

acquisition devices

112, 113, and 115, respectively. Similar to the above positioning method of chicken 120, each of the 2.4G-based wireless communication modules of the

acquisition devices

112, 113, and 115 calculates a received signal strength indication value (RSSI) based on the received wireless signals. Then, the RSSI obtained including the current number of steps taken by the chicken, the chicken foot ring ID and the check bits, and the ID of the acquisition device and the time stamp of the received wireless signal are sent to the server 103 via the 4G communication module by each of the micro-processing units of the

acquisition devices

112, 113 and 115, respectively.

At server 103, seven sets of signal data from

acquisition devices

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115 are received. First, the seven sets of signal data are grouped by the chicken foot ring ID. Four sets of signal data from

acquisition devices

110, 111, 113, and 114 are associated with chicken 120, while three sets of signal data from

acquisition devices

112, 113, and 115 are associated with chicken 124.

Next, it is determined whether the chicken is in the chicken house. The smaller the RSSI is, the closer the corresponding acquisition equipment is to the chicken, and the less susceptible the corresponding acquisition equipment is to the environment. Therefore, for each of the

chickens

120 and 124, the RSSI sent by the corresponding acquisition device is sorted, and it is determined whether the acquisition device with the smallest RSSI is the acquisition device 115 located in the chicken house 102. If the acquisition device with the minimum RSSI is the acquisition device 115 positioned in the chicken house 102, the distance between the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken and the acquisition device 115 is calculated, and whether the chicken is in the range of the chicken house 102 is judged based on the distance. If the chicken is only within range of the chicken house 102, the chicken is located using the modified RSSI values of the acquisition devices outside the chicken house 102 and the RSSI values of the acquisition devices inside the chicken house 102. If the acquisition device with the lowest RSSI is not the acquisition device 115 located in the chicken house 102, or if the acquisition device with the lowest RSSI is the acquisition device 115 located in the chicken house 102 but the distance between the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken and the acquisition device 115 is not within the range of the chicken house 102, it indicates that the chicken is located outside the chicken house 102, and the received RSSI value is used to locate the chicken.

The process of positioning the

chickens

120 and 124 is described below. For chicken 120, first, it is determined whether the chicken 120 is in the chicken house 102. In this embodiment, the RSSI is measured₁₁₀、RSSI₁₁₁、RSSI₁₁₃And RSSI₁₁₄Sorted by size, it is determined whether the acquisition device with the lowest RSSI (e.g., acquisition device 110) is the acquisition device 115 located in the chicken house 102. Specifically, it is determined whether the ID of the pickup device included in the signal data with the minimum RSSI is the same as the ID of the pickup device 115 located in the chicken house 102. In this embodiment, the collecting apparatus110 is different from the ID of the acquisition device 115, and therefore the result indicates that the chicken 120 is outside the chicken house 102.

Next, a predetermined number of sets of signal data are selected from the received signal data of the four sets of wireless signals. In this embodiment, the RSSIs are sorted according to their sizes, and three sets of signal data with the smallest RSSI are selected to determine the position information of the chicken. For example, the RSSI is selected as RSSI₁₁₀、RSSI₁₁₁And RSSI₁₁₄From the

acquisition devices

110, 111 and 114 to determine the positional information of the chicken.

Then, the distance between the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken (i.e., the chicken) and each acquisition device was calculated based on the RSSI. Specifically, the calculation formula of the distance d (meter) between the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken and each acquisition device is as follows:

d＝10^((abs(RSSI)-A)/(10*n) (2)

in formula (2), d represents the distance (m) between the chicken foot ring and the acquisition device, a represents the signal strength when the chicken foot ring (transmitting end) and the acquisition device (receiving end) are separated by 1 m, and n is an environmental attenuation factor. A and n can be obtained by averaging a plurality of experimental measurements in the data initialization phase.

The distance d between the foot ring of the chicken 120 and the collecting

devices

110, 111 and 114 is calculated₁₁₀、d₁₁₁And d₁₁₄Then according to d₁₁₀、d₁₁₁And d₁₁₄The position information of each

acquisition device

110, 111 and 114 can determine the position information of the chicken foot ring. Specifically, the positions of the

acquisition devices

110, 111, and 114 are first centered at a distance d₁₁₀、d₁₁₁And d₁₁₄Three circles are drawn for the radius. Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of obtaining positional information of a chicken according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In fig. 2, the position of the

acquisition devices

110, 111 and 114 is taken as the center of a circle, and the distance d is taken as the center₁₁₀、d₁₁₁And d₁₁₄The three circles of radii intersect at points A, B and C, respectively. In this case, the position of the chicken foot ring must be within the region where the three circles intersect, and therefore, in a triangle formed by the intersection points A, B and C connected two by twoThe centroid of the figure serves as the position of the chicken foot ring.

As mentioned above, during the data initialization phase, the GPS coordinates of the

acquisition devices

110, 111 and 114 have been obtained. In calculating the centroid of triangle ABC, the GPS coordinates (log) of

devices

110, 111, and 114 will be acquired first₁₁₀，lat₁₁₀)、(log₁₁₁，lat₁₁₁) And (log)₁₁₄，lat₁₁₄) Respectively converted into plane coordinates. In the present embodiment, the position of the acquisition device 110 is taken as the origin (0, 0) of the plane coordinates, and the plane coordinates (x) of the acquisition device 111 can be calculated according to the following formula₁₁₁，y₁₁₁) And the plane coordinates (x) of the acquisition device 114₁₁₄，y₁₁₄)：

x₁₁₁＝(log₁₁₁-log₁₁₀)×(111×cos(lat₁₁₀))×1000 (3)

y₁₁₁＝(lat₁₁₁-lat₁₁₀)×111×1000 (4)

x₁₁₄＝(log₁₁₄-log₁₁₀)×(111×cos(lat₁₁₀))×1000 (5)

y₁₁₄＝(lat₁₁₄-lat₁₁₀)×111×1000 (6)

The plane coordinates (x) of the acquisition device 111 are obtained through calculation₁₁₁，y₁₁₁) And the plane coordinates (x) of the acquisition device 114₁₁₄，y₁₁₄) Then, according to the plane geometry calculation method, the coordinates of the three intersection points A, B and C of the three circles are firstly obtained, and then the coordinate (x) of the centroid E of the triangle ABC is obtained_E，y_E) As the coordinates of the chicken 200. Thereafter, the coordinates (x) of the chicken 200 are expressed according to the following formula_E，y_E) Conversion to GPS coordinates:

lat_E＝lat₁₁₀+(y_E÷1000÷111) (7)

log_E＝log₁₁₀+((x_E÷1000)÷(111×cos(lat_E))) (8)

the above only describes the case where three circles intersect. At the center of the circle of the positions of the

acquisition devices

110, 111 and 114 by the distance d₁₁₀、d₁₁₁And d₁₁₄In the case where only two circles of radius intersect each other, any one point of the intersection points of the two circles is used as the position of the chicken 200.

In addition, in the case where none of the three circles intersect, the position of the chicken 200 is determined from the circle centered on the acquisition device with the lowest RSSI (e.g., acquisition device 110). Specifically, as mentioned above, at the time of data initialization, the GPS coordinates of each vertex of the edge of the farm have already been obtained, and therefore, the GPS coordinates of each vertex are converted into planar coordinates and adjacent vertices are sequentially connected to form a plurality of line segments in a manner similar to equations (3) to (6). Then, a point is randomly selected on the circumference, the plane coordinate of the point is calculated, and whether the point is in the range of the farm, namely, whether the point is in the electronic fence of the farm is judged according to the calculated plane coordinate and the plane coordinate of each vertex of the edge of the farm. If the point is within the range of the farm, the point is taken as the position of the chicken 200 and converted into GPS coordinates. Otherwise, a point is randomly taken again on the circumference and the above process is repeated until the point taken is within the range of the farm.

In the present embodiment, in the process of locating the chicken 120, three sets of signal data with the minimum RSSI are selected from the received signal data of the four sets of wireless signals. However, in other embodiments, other number of sets of signal data may be selected from the received signal data of the four sets of wireless signals, for example, two sets of signal data with the smallest RSSI may be selected. In such an embodiment, two circles are respectively drawn by taking the positions of the two acquisition devices with the minimum RSSI as the centers of circles and taking the distance between the two acquisition devices and the chicken foot ring as a radius, and any point in the intersection point of the two circles is taken as the position of the chicken 200.

In the present embodiment, the magnitude of RSSI is used to select a predetermined number of sets of signal data from among the received sets of signal data of wireless signals. However, in other embodiments, a predetermined number of sets of signal data may be selected from among the received sets of signal data of the wireless signals by other rules.

For chicken124, like the chicken 120, first, it is determined whether the chicken 124 is in the chicken house 102. In this embodiment, the RSSI is measured₁₁₂、RSSI₁₁₃And RSSI₁₁₅The acquisition devices with the lowest RSSI are sorted by size to determine whether they are the acquisition devices 115 located in the chicken house 102. Specifically, it is determined whether the ID of the pickup device included in the signal data with the minimum RSSI is the same as the ID of the pickup device 115 located in the chicken house 102. In this embodiment, for the chicken 124, the acquisition device with the smallest RSSI is the acquisition device 115, and therefore, the ID of the acquisition device included in the corresponding signal data is the same as the ID of the acquisition device 115 located in the chicken house 102.

Next, the distance d between the foot ring worn by the chicken 124 and the acquisition device 115 is calculated using equation (2)₁₁₅. Since the GPS coordinates of the vertices around the chicken house have been obtained during data initialization, the GPS coordinates of the vertices are converted into planar coordinates in a manner similar to equations (3) - (6). Also, during data initialization, the distances of the acquisition device 115 to the four vertices of the chicken house 102 are measured. Thus, the distance d between the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken 124 and the acquisition equipment 115 is calculated₁₁₅Then d is put₁₁₅Compared to the distances of the acquisition device 115 from the four vertices of the chicken house 102. If d is₁₁₅Less than the distance of the acquisition device 115 from the four vertices of the chicken house 120 indicates that the chicken 124 is within the range of the chicken house 102. Otherwise, it means that the chicken 124 is outside the chicken house 102.

In the case where the chicken 124 is determined to be within the range of the chicken house 102, the RSSI transmitted by the acquisition device outside the chicken house 102 needs to be reduced to eliminate or reduce the influence of the walls of the chicken house 102 on the RSSI. In the data initialization stage, the internet of things equipment can be enabled to transmit wireless signals, the positions of the acquisition equipment and the internet of things equipment are kept unchanged, and the ratio of the RSSI obtained by the acquisition equipment under the condition that a wall body is arranged between the acquisition equipment and the RSSI obtained under the condition that no wall body is arranged between the acquisition equipment and the equipment is calculated. The average result of multiple measurements and calculations is used as a scaling factor.

Next, the chicken 124 is positioned in the same manner as the chicken 120 except that the RSSI in the wireless data transmitted by the

acquisition devices

112 and 113 is scaled down by a scaling factor before the distance between the

acquisition devices

112 and 113 and the chicken foot ring worn by the chicken 124 is calculated. Therefore, the detailed process will not be described herein.

After obtaining the GPS coordinates of the

chickens

120 and 124, the server 103 may also send the GPS coordinates to the blockchain network along with the ID of the chicken foot ring worn by the

chickens

120 and 124, a timestamp, so that this information is stored in the blockchain, ensuring that the data cannot be tampered with.

In addition, as mentioned above, the signal data of the wireless signals transmitted by the

acquisition devices

110, 111 and 114 to the server 103 includes the current number of steps taken by the chicken, the chicken foot ring ID and check bits, the RSSI of the wireless signals received from the chicken foot ring, and the ID of the acquisition device and the timestamp of the received wireless signals. In this embodiment, after the GPS coordinates of the chicken 120 and the chicken 124 are obtained, the GPS coordinates are also associated with a time stamp and displayed on the electronic map. After the GPS coordinates of the

chickens

120 and 124 at other time points are then obtained, the obtained GPS coordinates of the

chickens

120 and 124 are also associated with the time stamps of the time points and displayed on the electronic map. Then, for each of the chicken 120 and the chicken 124, the GPS coordinates of different time stamps are connected to form a movement route of the chicken on the electronic map.

In the embodiment described above with reference to fig. 1 and 2, the signal data received by the server 103 comprises the cumulative number of moving steps of the chicken at the current time point only. However, in other embodiments, only the number of chicken steps may be located without counting the number of chicken steps. Thus, in such an embodiment, the chicken foot loop worn by the chicken need not sense and transmit the number of steps taken by the chicken to the acquisition device.

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of a wireless signal based positioning method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed at the server 103 in fig. 1. As seen in fig. 3, the wireless signal based positioning method 300 includes the steps of:

first, in step 301, signal data of at least one group of wireless signals is obtained, where each group of signal data includes a received signal strength indication value, and the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned. In some embodiments, the wireless signal is a 2.4G wireless signal that is transmitted by a 2.4G-based communication module of the device to be located and received by a 2.4G-based communication module of the at least one acquisition device. The signal strength indication value is obtained by a 2.4G-based communication module of the at least one acquisition device based on the wireless signal. In some embodiments, the signal data further comprises: identification information of the equipment to be positioned, identification information of the acquisition equipment and a timestamp of the wireless signal received by the acquisition equipment.

Next, in step 302, based on the received signal strength indication value, a distance between the device to be located and at least part of the acquisition devices is obtained. In some embodiments, the step further comprises: selecting a predetermined number of groups of signal data from among signal data of at least one group of radio signals, the predetermined number of groups of signal data including a predetermined number of received signal strength indication values; and obtaining a distance between the device to be positioned and each acquisition device that transmitted a predetermined number of sets of signal data based on each of the predetermined number of received signal strength indication values. Specifically, the RSSI in the signal data of the received at least one group of wireless signals may be sorted, and the corresponding signal data having a predetermined number of RSSI may be selected in order of the RSSI from small to large. Next, using each of these RSSIs, the distance between the device to be positioned and each acquisition device that transmitted the selected predetermined number of sets of signal data is obtained.

The method then proceeds to step 303, where position information of the device to be positioned is determined based on the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition device. In some embodiments, the step further comprises: and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned based on a preset rule according to the obtained preset number of distances and the position information of each acquisition equipment which transmits the preset number of groups of signal data. Specifically, the initial GPS coordinates of each acquisition device that transmits the signal data of the selected predetermined number of groups may be converted into plane coordinates, and then a circle may be drawn with the obtained distance between the acquisition device and the device to be positioned as a radius with the positions of the acquisition devices as the center of the circle. In the case where three or more circles intersect, the center point of the intersection area is taken as the position of the device to be located. In the case where only two circles intersect, any intersection point where the two circles intersect is taken as the position of the device to be positioned. Under the condition that the circles do not intersect, any point located in the range of the farm on the circumference of the circle with the position of the acquisition equipment with the minimum RSSI as the center of the circle is taken as the position of the equipment to be positioned.

Although not shown in fig. 3, in some embodiments, method 300 further comprises: selecting a minimum received signal strength indicator value from among received signal strength indicator values in signal data of at least one group of wireless signals; and judging whether the identification information of the acquisition device included in the signal data with the minimum received signal strength indication value is the same as the preset identification information of the acquisition device.

In a case where identification information of an acquisition device included in the signal data having the minimum received signal strength indication value is the same as preset identification information of the acquisition device, obtaining a distance between a device to be positioned and at least a part of the acquisition devices based on the received signal strength indication value further includes: selecting a predetermined number of groups of signal data from among signal data of at least one group of radio signals, the predetermined number of groups of signal data including a predetermined number of received signal strength indication values; based on the minimum received signal strength indicated value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and the preset acquisition equipment indicated by the identification information of the acquisition equipment; comparing the distance between the obtained equipment to be positioned and the preset acquisition equipment indicated by the identification information of the acquisition equipment with a preset threshold value; and under the condition that the distance is smaller than a preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits the signal data of the groups of the preset number based on each of the indicated values of the received signal strength of the preset number and a preset scaling factor; and under the condition that the distance is not less than a preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits signal data of a preset number of groups based on each of the preset number of received signal strength indicating values.

Determining the position information of the device to be positioned according to the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition device further comprises: and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned based on a preset rule according to the obtained preset number of distances and the position information of each acquisition equipment which transmits the preset number of groups of signal data. In these embodiments, it is determined whether the acquisition device with the smallest RSSI is a certain preset acquisition device (e.g., an acquisition device located in a chicken house), and if so, it is further determined whether the to-be-positioned device is located within a preset distance from the preset acquisition device, and if so, at least a portion (e.g., the RSSI other than the smallest RSSI) of a predetermined number of the RSSIs selected from at least one set of signal data is scaled by a scaling factor to calculate the distance between the to-be-positioned device and the corresponding acquisition device, thereby avoiding or reducing the influence of an external environment (e.g., a wall) on the RSSI.

Moreover, in some embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: associating the determined location information of the device to be located with a timestamp; and forming a movement route of the equipment to be positioned according to the position information of the equipment to be positioned associated with different time stamps. The movement route of the equipment to be positioned is formed according to the position information of the equipment to be positioned at different time points, and the movement route can be displayed to an operator or a user through an electronic map, so that the track of the equipment to be positioned is visually displayed.

Alternatively, the above-described method can be implemented by a computer program product, i.e., a computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied thereon for performing various embodiments of the present disclosure. The computer readable storage medium may be a tangible device that can hold and store the instructions for use by the instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic memory device, a magnetic memory device, an optical memory device, an electromagnetic memory device, a semiconductor memory device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical coding device, such as punch cards or in-groove projection structures having instructions stored thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer-readable storage media as used herein is not to be construed as transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission medium (e.g., optical pulses through a fiber optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through electrical wires.

In general, the various example embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, firmware, logic or any combination thereof. Some embodiments may be implemented in hardware, while some embodiments may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated or described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a wireless signal based positioning apparatus 400 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As can be seen in fig. 4, the wireless signal based positioning apparatus 400 includes a processor 401 and a memory 402 coupled to the processor 401.

The memory 402 stores instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor 401, cause the processor 401 to perform the following acts: acquiring signal data of at least one group of wireless signals, wherein each group of signal data comprises a received signal strength indicated value, and the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned; obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and at least part of acquisition equipment based on the received signal strength indicated value; and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned according to the obtained distance and at least part of the position information of the acquisition equipment.

In some embodiments, obtaining the distance between the device to be located and at least part of the acquisition device based on the received signal strength indication value comprises: selecting a predetermined number of groups of signal data from among signal data of at least one group of radio signals, the predetermined number of groups of signal data including a predetermined number of received signal strength indication values; and obtaining a distance between the device to be positioned and each acquisition device that transmitted a predetermined number of sets of signal data based on each of the predetermined number of received signal strength indication values.

In some embodiments, determining the location information of the device to be located based on the obtained distance and at least part of the location information of the acquisition device comprises: and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned based on a preset rule according to the obtained preset number of distances and the position information of each acquisition equipment which transmits the preset number of groups of signal data.

In some embodiments, the signal data further comprises: identification information of the equipment to be positioned, identification information of the acquisition equipment and a timestamp of the wireless signal received by the acquisition equipment.

In some embodiments, memory 402 further includes instructions that, when executed, cause processor 401 to: selecting a minimum received signal strength indicator value from among received signal strength indicator values in signal data of at least one group of wireless signals; and judging whether the identification information of the acquisition device included in the signal data with the minimum received signal strength indication value is the same as the preset identification information of the acquisition device.

In some embodiments, where the identification information of the acquisition device included in the signal data with the minimum received signal strength indication value is the same as the preset identification information of the acquisition device, obtaining the distance between the device to be positioned and at least part of the acquisition devices based on the received signal strength indication value further includes: selecting a predetermined number of groups of signal data from among signal data of at least one group of radio signals, the predetermined number of groups of signal data including a predetermined number of received signal strength indication values; based on the minimum received signal strength indicated value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and the preset acquisition equipment indicated by the identification information of the acquisition equipment; comparing the distance between the obtained equipment to be positioned and the preset acquisition equipment indicated by the identification information of the acquisition equipment with a preset threshold value; and under the condition that the distance is smaller than a preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits the signal data of the groups of the preset number based on each of the indicated values of the received signal strength of the preset number and a preset scaling factor; and under the condition that the distance is not less than a preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits signal data of a preset number of groups based on each of the preset number of received signal strength indicating values.

In some embodiments, wherein determining the location information of the device to be located based on the obtained distance and at least part of the location information of the acquisition device further comprises: and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned based on a preset rule according to the obtained preset number of distances and the position information of each acquisition equipment which transmits the preset number of groups of signal data.

In some embodiments, memory 402 further includes instructions that, when executed, cause processor 401 to: associating the determined location information of the device to be located with a timestamp; and forming a movement route of the equipment to be positioned according to the position information of the equipment to be positioned associated with different time stamps.

Although it is described above that various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or in a dedicated circuit, the above-described wireless signal based positioning apparatus can be implemented in a form of hardware as well as software because: in the 90's of the 20 th century, a technological improvement could easily be either a hardware improvement (e.g., an improvement in the structure of a circuit such as a diode, a transistor, a switch, etc.) or a software improvement (e.g., an improvement in the process flow). However, as the technology continues to develop, many of the current method flow improvements can be almost realized by programming the improved method flow into the hardware circuit, in other words, by programming different programs for the hardware circuit to obtain the corresponding hardware circuit structure, i.e. realizing the change of the hardware circuit structure, so that such method flow improvements can also be regarded as direct improvements of the hardware circuit structure. Thus, it cannot be said that an improvement in the process flow cannot be realized by hardware physical modules. For example, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), is an integrated circuit whose Logic functions are determined by a user programming the Device. A digital system is "integrated" on a piece of programmable logic device by the designer's own programming without requiring the chip manufacturer to design and fabricate application specific integrated circuit chips. Furthermore, nowadays, instead of manually making an Integrated Circuit chip, such Programming is often implemented by "logic compiler 1 er" software, which is similar to a software compiler used in program development and writing, but the original code before compiling is also written by a specific Programming Language, which is called Hardware Description Language (HDL), and HDL is not only one kind, but many kinds, such as abel (advanced Boolean Expression Language), ahdl (advanced Hardware Description Language), communication, pl (core unity Programming Language), HDCal, JHDL (Java Hardware Description Language), Lava, Lola, HDL, pamm, hard Language (Hardware Description Language), and vhigh Language (Hardware Description Language), which are currently used in the most popular fields. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that hardware circuitry that implements the logical method flows can be readily obtained by merely slightly programming the method flows into an integrated circuit using the hardware description languages described above.

Computer-readable program instructions or computer program products for executing the embodiments of the present disclosure can also be stored in the cloud, and when a call is needed, a user can access the computer-readable program instructions stored in the cloud for executing one embodiment of the present disclosure through a mobile internet, a fixed network, or other networks, so as to implement the technical solutions disclosed according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The above description is only an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure, and various modifications and changes may be made to the embodiments of the present disclosure by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the embodiments of the present disclosure should be included in the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

While embodiments of the present disclosure have been described with reference to several particular embodiments, it should be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. The embodiments of the disclosure are intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The scope of the claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

Claims

1. A method of wireless signal based positioning, comprising:

acquiring signal data of at least one group of wireless signals, wherein the wireless signals are sent to at least one acquisition device by a device to be positioned, and each group of signal data comprises a received signal strength indicating value and identification information of the acquisition device;

selecting a predetermined number of groups of signal data from the signal data of the at least one group of radio signals, the predetermined number of groups of signal data including a predetermined number of received signal strength indication values;

determining a minimum received signal strength indicated value in the signal data of the at least one group of wireless signals, and judging whether the identification information of the corresponding acquisition equipment is the same as the identification information of preset acquisition equipment;

under the condition that the identification information is the same, based on the minimum received signal strength indicated value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and the preset acquisition equipment and comparing the distance with a preset threshold value;

under the condition that the distance is smaller than the preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits the signal data of the preset number of groups based on each of the preset number of received signal strength indicating values and a preset scaling factor; and

and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned according to the obtained distance and the position information of each acquisition equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless signal is a 2.4G wireless signal.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and under the condition that the identification information is different, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits the signal data of the groups with the preset number based on each of the preset number of received signal strength indication values.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the location information of the device to be located according to the obtained distance and the location information of the acquisition devices comprises:

and determining the position information of the equipment to be positioned based on a preset rule according to the obtained preset number of distances and the position information of each acquisition equipment which transmits the preset number of groups of signal data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal data further comprises: identification information of the device to be positioned and a timestamp of the wireless signal received by the acquisition device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and under the condition that the distance is not less than the preset threshold value, obtaining the distance between the equipment to be positioned and each acquisition equipment which transmits the signal data of the groups of the preset number based on each of the preset number of received signal strength indication values.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the location information of the device to be located according to the obtained distance and the location information of the acquisition devices further comprises:

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

associating the determined location information of the device to be located with the timestamp; and

forming a movement route of the device to be positioned according to the position information of the device to be positioned associated with different time stamps.

9. A wireless signal based positioning apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory to store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

10. The apparatus of claim 9, the memory further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein determining the location information of the device to be located according to the obtained distance and the location information of each acquisition device comprises:

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the signal data further comprises: identification information of the device to be positioned and a timestamp of the wireless signal received by the acquisition device.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein determining the location information of the device to be located according to the obtained distance and the location information of each acquisition device further comprises:

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

16. A computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions stored thereon for performing the wireless signal based positioning method according to any of claims 1-8.