CN116847276A

CN116847276A - Positioning method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116847276A
Application number: CN202210750646.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 田军; 王康; 李卫华; 韩冷
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-25
Filing date: 2022-06-28
Publication date: 2023-10-03

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a positioning method and a positioning device. In the method, a first device which is positioned in a first narrow-band sub-network and a second narrow-band sub-network at the same time can respectively transmit positioning measurement parameters with a second device in the first narrow-band sub-network and a third device in the second narrow-band sub-network through a narrow-band communication technology, so that positioning measurement configuration between the first device and the second device and between the first device and the third device is realized; in this way, the first device can adopt ultra-wideband technology to respectively perform positioning measurement on the second device and the third device to obtain two measurement results; finally, the first device may obtain relative position information between the second device and the third device based on the obtained two measurement results. The method can realize the positioning among communication devices crossing the narrowband subnetwork, thereby realizing the remote positioning.

Description

Positioning method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from chinese patent office, application number 202210307198.2, application name "a positioning method and apparatus" filed 25 at 2022, 03, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a positioning method and apparatus.

Background

Along with the development of technology, the indoor positioning and ranging technology is more and more widely applied. For example, the indoor positioning has wide application prospect in application scenes such as intelligent home, industrial production, logistics management and the like.

Indoor positioning is a process of determining the position or posture of a target object by using various devices supporting functions such as angle measurement, distance measurement, time measurement or feature recognition. In contrast to outdoor positioning, which readily receives absolute position information such as positioning signals (e.g., global positioning system (global positioning system, GPS) signals), constellation features, barometer readings, etc., indoor positioning generally must rely on devices interacting with the environment to obtain relative position information to determine its position in the room.

An Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology is used as a short-distance communication technology, and a pulse with a pulse width of nanosecond level is used as a basic signal, so that the Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology has the characteristics of high transmission rate, large system capacity, large spectrum bandwidth and the like, has extremely low power spectral density, and can coexist with other short-distance communication technologies. The UWB technology has the characteristics of high time resolution, strong multipath resistance, high ranging and positioning precision, and can reach centimeter level.

In the process of positioning by adopting UWB technology: device a, acting as a coordinator, needs to create a UWB personal area network (personal area network, PAN) to which other devices in the vicinity of device a, exemplified by device B, can join on their own. Thereafter, in order to achieve positioning between device a and device 2, device a is responsible for resource configuration and management, including: role definition of the devices contained in the UWB PAN, including which device acts as initiator (initiator) and which device acts as responder), and allocation of corresponding time domain resources to each responder according to a time division multiple access (time division multiple access, TDMA) technique. Finally, in the time domain resource corresponding to each responder, the positioning (ranging and/or angle measurement) between the devices can be realized by transmitting UWB pulse signals between the initiator and the responders.

However, it is limited that UWB technology is a short-range communication technology, and two devices that are far apart may not join the same UWB PAN, and thus, this method cannot achieve positioning between the two devices that are far apart.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a positioning method and a positioning device, which are used for realizing positioning between devices with a longer distance.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may be applied to a scenario as shown in fig. 1. The following description will take an example in which the first device and the second device are located in the first narrowband subnetwork, and the first device and the third device are located in the second narrowband subnetwork. The first device is an intersection device of the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork. The method is described by taking a first device in the scene as an execution subject, and comprises the following steps:

the first device transmits the first measurement parameters with the second device through a narrowband communication technology, and transmits the second measurement parameters with the third device through the narrowband communication technology; the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the second equipment through an ultra-wideband technology according to the first measurement parameters to obtain a first measurement result; positioning and measuring the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the second measurement parameters to obtain a second measurement result; and the first device determines first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result, wherein the first relative position information is used for indicating the relative position between the third device and the second device.

According to the method, the first equipment positioned in the first narrow-band sub-network and the second narrow-band sub-network can transmit positioning measurement parameters with the second equipment in the first narrow-band sub-network and the third equipment in the second narrow-band sub-network respectively through a narrow-band communication technology, so that positioning measurement configuration between the first equipment and the second equipment and between the first equipment and the third equipment is realized; in this way, the first device can adopt UWB technology to respectively perform positioning measurement on the second device and the third device, and two measurement results are obtained; finally, the first device may obtain relative position information between the second device and the third device based on the obtained two measurement results. The method can realize the positioning of the cross-narrowband subnetwork, thereby realizing the remote positioning.

In one possible design, the first device may determine the relative position between the third device and the second device from the first measurement result and the second measurement result by:

the first device determines second relative position information according to the first measurement result; wherein the second relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the second device and the first device; the first device determines third relative position information according to the second measurement result; wherein the third relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the third device and the first device; and finally, the first device determines the first relative position information according to the second relative position information and the third relative position information. Alternatively, the first device may determine the first relative position information using triangle cosine law, and the specific process may be described with reference to fig. 4.

Through the design, the first equipment can obtain the relative position information between the second equipment and the third equipment according to two measurement results obtained by respectively carrying out positioning measurement on the second equipment and the third equipment by adopting the UWB technology, so that the positioning across a narrow-band sub-network is realized, and the remote positioning is further realized.

In one possible design, the first device may obtain the first measurement by:

mode one: the first device receiving the first measurement result from the second device through the narrowband communication technology;

mode two: the first device performs positioning measurement on the second device through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the first measurement result;

similarly, the first device may also obtain the second measurement by:

mode one: the first device receiving the second measurement result from the third device through the narrowband communication technology;

mode two: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the second measurement result.

In one possible design, the first device may also send the first relative location information to the second device via the narrowband communication technology; or the first device transmits the first relative location information to the third device via the narrowband communication technology. In this way, the second device or the third device can obtain the first relative position information to determine the position and distance of the other party with respect to itself, and further can perform subsequent processing (for example, moving toward the other party as a guiding direction, or positioning further farther).

In one possible design, the first device may also receive fourth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the fourth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the first device and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork; the first device determines fifth relative position information according to the fourth relative position information and the second measurement result; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

Since the third device is located in the second narrowband subnetwork, the fourth device is located in the third narrowband subnetwork, and the second narrowband subnetwork and the third narrowband subnetwork are spaced apart by the first narrowband subnetwork. By design, the method can also realize the positioning of the communication equipment between two narrow-band sub-networks which are separated by one narrow-band sub-network in the middle, namely the positioning at a longer distance.

In one possible design, the first device may also receive sixth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the sixth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between a fifth device in the first narrowband subnetwork and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork; the first device transmitting a third measurement parameter with the fifth device over the narrowband communication technology; the first device performs positioning measurement on the fifth device through the ultra-wideband technology according to the third measurement parameter to obtain a third measurement result; the first device determines seventh relative position information according to the third measurement result and the second measurement result; wherein the seventh relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fifth device and the third device; determining fifth relative position information according to the sixth relative position information and the seventh relative position information; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

Since the third device is located in the second narrowband subnetwork, the fourth device is located in the third narrowband subnetwork, and the second narrowband subnetwork and the third narrowband subnetwork are spaced apart by the first narrowband subnetwork. By design, the method can also realize the positioning of the communication equipment between two narrow-band sub-networks which are separated by one narrow-band sub-network.

Further, if the first device transmits the fifth relative position information to the third device through the narrowband communication technology, the third device may further calculate the relative position information between the device in the fourth narrowband subnetwork farther from the fourth device and the fourth device. Obviously, based on the steps, the design can also realize the positioning of the communication equipment between two narrow-band sub-networks which are separated by two or more narrow-band sub-networks, and realize the positioning at a longer distance.

In one possible design, the first device may communicate the first measurement parameter with the second device via a narrowband communication technique by either:

mode one: the first device sends the first measurement parameter to the second device through the narrowband communication technology;

Mode two: the first device receiving the first measurement parameter from the second device over the narrowband communication technology;

similarly, the first device may also communicate second measurement parameters with a third device over the narrowband communication technology by either:

mode one: the first device sends the second measurement parameters to the third device through the narrowband communication technology;

mode two: the first device receives the second measurement parameter from the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

It should be noted that, the manner in which the first device transmits the first measurement parameter and the second measurement parameter may be the same or different, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

In one possible design, in an embodiment of the present application, the relative position information between the two devices may include a distance between the two devices, and an angle between a connection line between the two devices and a set direction. Illustratively, the first relative position information includes: and the distance between the third device and the second device is an included angle between a connecting line between the third device and the second device and a set first direction.

In one possible design, the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork form a wireless mesh network.

Through the design, the mesh network can be built between different narrowband sub-networks through narrowband communication technology. Therefore, the positioning method provided by the application can utilize the characteristic of wireless expansion of the mesh network to wirelessly expand the scale of the mesh network, thereby flexibly realizing the positioning between communication devices in any two narrow-band sub-networks.

In one possible design, any narrowband subnetwork is a personal area network established using the narrowband communication technology; wherein the narrowband communication technology comprises at least one of: bluetooth BT technology, bluetooth low energy BLE technology, wireless fidelity WIFI technology, or near field communication NFC technology.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including means for performing the steps of the first aspect above.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising at least one processing element and at least one storage element, wherein the at least one storage element is for storing programs and data, and the at least one processing element is for performing the method provided in the above first aspect of the present application.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in the first aspect above.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored therein, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in any of the above aspects.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, and execute the method provided in the first aspect. Optionally, the chip may include a processor and a memory, where the processor is configured to read a computer program stored in the memory, and perform the method provided in the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and the processor is configured to support a computer device to implement the method provided in any one of the above aspects. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a conventional UWB based positioning measurement process;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a positioning method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example positioning according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another example positioning provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of yet another example positioning provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a positioning method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The application provides a positioning method and a positioning device, which are used for realizing positioning between devices with a longer distance. The method and the device are based on the same technical conception, and because the principle of solving the problems by the method and the device is similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred to, and the repetition is not repeated.

Some terms used in the present application are explained below to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) The short-range wireless communication technology is a communication technology in which two parties in a smaller range transmit information through radio waves, and generally has the following characteristics:

Low cost, generally working on open unlicensed bands;

low power consumption, with respect to cellular communication technology, the transmit power of the wireless transmitter is typically within 100 mW;

short-range peer-to-peer communication, the communication distance is typically controlled within tens or hundreds of meters.

For example, short-range wireless communication techniques may include, but are not limited to: radio frequency identification (radio frequency identification, RFID) technology, bluetooth (BT) technology (e.g., normal BT technology, bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth low energy, BLE) technology), near field communication (near field communication, NFC) technology, greenteeth (greenteeth) technology, wireless-fidelity (WIFI) technology, zigBee (ZigBee) technology, ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology, and communication technology based on the evolution of the above communication technology, and communication technology that functions the same as or similar to the above communication technology, can be substituted for each other, and the like.

2) UWB technology is a wireless carrier communication technology, i.e., a wireless signal is transmitted by means of nanosecond narrow pulses instead of sinusoidal carriers, so that the frequency spectrum occupied by the UWB technology is wide. For example, a 7.5GHz bandwidth frequency from 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz, as specified by the U.S. Federal communications Commission (Federal Communications Commission, FCC), is a frequency range used by UWB with single channel bandwidths exceeding 500MHz.

The UWB technology is used as a short-distance wireless communication technology, has the advantages of high transmission rate, large system capacity, low power spectrum density and the like, and can coexist with other short-distance communication technologies. The characteristics of the UWB technology enable the UWB technology to have the advantages of high time resolution, strong multipath resistance and the like, and finally enable the ranging and positioning accuracy of the UWB technology to be high and reach the centimeter level.

3) Narrowband communication technology is a wireless carrier communication technology proposed with respect to the concept of wideband in UWB technology. Narrowband communication techniques may use a narrower spectral range than UWB techniques. By way of example, the narrowband communication technology may be 1) other communication technology than UWB among the short-range wireless communication technologies. By way of example, narrowband communication techniques may include, but are not limited to, at least one of: BT technology, BLE technology, WIFI technology, or NFC technology.

4) Narrowband subnetworks, networks established by narrowband communication technology, may also be referred to as narrowband networks. In one embodiment, the narrowband subnetwork may be a Personal Area Network (PAN) established by narrowband communication technology. Communication may be performed between communication devices within a narrowband subnetwork via narrowband communication techniques.

5) PANs are short-range communication networks established by configuring a point-to-point (Ad-Hoc) network architecture using short-range, low-power wireless communication technologies. The advantage of a PAN is that it can automatically discover and establish a connection with any communication device that falls within the coverage area of the PAN. The coverage of a PAN is typically in the range of 10 meters radius, typically a few meters. By establishing a PAN, a personalized information network can be assembled, and resources and information sharing in a personal range can be realized.

A PAN may typically support 7-8 communication devices in communication.

6) The wireless mesh (mesh) network is a wireless multi-hop network and is developed from an Ad-Hoc network. The mesh network can cooperatively communicate with other networks, and is a dynamic network architecture which can be continuously expanded. In the mesh network, any two communication devices can keep wireless interconnection.

7) Communication devices, devices that support short-range wireless communication technologies, providing voice and/or data connectivity to users. In the embodiment of the application, the communication device may also be referred to as a terminal device.

For example, the communication device may be a handheld device, an in-vehicle device, or the like having a wireless connection function. Currently, examples of some terminal devices are: a mobile phone, a tablet, a notebook, a palm, a mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), a point of sale (POS), a wearable device (binaural real wireless (true wireless stereo, TWS) bluetooth headset), a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned (self driving), a wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), various smart meters (smart water meter, smart electricity meter, smart gas meter), and the like.

8) And the measurement parameters are used for configuring the positioning measurement process of the equipment. Optionally, the measured parameters may include, but are not limited to, at least one of: communication technology information used for measurement (e.g., indication information of UWB technology, operating parameters of UWB technology, etc.), measurement task information, devices to be measured, measurement role assignment, measurement method, measurement quantity (i.e., parameters to be measured such as angle, distance, signal flight time), etc. Wherein the measurement task information may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the other measurement parameters described above.

9) "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" as used herein means two or more. At least one, refers to one or more.

In addition, it should be understood that in the description of the present application, the words "first," "second," and the like are used merely for distinguishing between the descriptions and not for indicating or implying any relative importance or order.

Embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication scenario to which the positioning method provided by the embodiment of the present application is applicable. Referring to fig. 1, a plurality of communication devices located adjacent to each other may construct a short-range communication network (e.g., PAN) through a short-range wireless communication technology. As shown in fig. 1, devices a, B and E may construct a network 1, devices a and C may construct a network 2, and devices B and D may construct a network 3.

In a short-distance communication network, different communication devices can communicate through a short-distance communication technology, so that the functions of sharing resources and information, positioning and measuring the devices and the like are realized.

By way of example, UWB technology is widely used in the field of positioning because it enables highly accurate positioning measurements (including ranging and angulation). A brief description of a conventional positioning measurement procedure using UWB technology will be given below by taking device a and device B as examples:

as shown in fig. 2, currently, the UWB-based positioning measurement process is performed with a beacon interval (beacon interval) as a time period. The beacon interval mainly comprises 3 periods, which are in turn: a ranging beacon period (ranging beacon period), a measurement management period (ranging management period), a ranging period (ranging period). Wherein the ranging beacon period is used for time synchronization of the UWB personal area network and broadcasting of network parameters of the UWB personal area network (e.g., various network definition parameters including network identification). And the measurement management period is used for the communication equipment to join the UWB personal area network and the coordinator to perform time slot allocation for the interaction among the equipment. The ranging period is used to perform specific inter-device location measurements.

S201: first, the device a and the device B establish a bluetooth communication connection through bluetooth technology. For example, device a establishes a BLE connection with device B via BLE technology.

Devices a and B may wake up UWB functions within the devices via bluetooth functions to perform UWB personal area network setup and inter-device location measurements. At this point, device a and device B may initiate the UWB function using default parameters for UWB. Illustratively, the default parameters of UWB may include, but are not limited to, channel number (channel number), synchronization code (preamble code), signal rate, and the like.

S202: during the ranging beacon period, device a may be defined as a coordinator responsible for transmitting beacon (beacon) frames, achieving time synchronization within the UWB personal area network, and broadcasting network parameters of the UWB personal area network. During this ranging beacon period, device B receives the beacon (beacon) frame and prepares to join the UWB personal area network created by device a (coordinator) as needed.

S203: the ranging management period includes two periods: a contention period and a non-contention period. The contention period is a ranging contention period (ranging contention access period, RCAP). The non-contention period is a ranging non-contention period (ranging contention free period, RCFP). During the ranging management period, the contention period and the non-contention period alternate as shown in the structure of the beacon interval on the left side in fig. 2. Alternatively, a communication device within the coverage of the UWB personal area network may join the UWB personal area network during a contention period (RCAP) in the measurement management period. In a non-contention period (RCFP) in the measurement management period, device a as a coordinator may perform slot allocation according to interactions between devices in the UWB personal area network.

During the ranging management period, device a may indicate whether this phase (the ranging management period) is needed through a beacon frame. For example, device a may determine whether this phase is needed by whether it wishes to maintain the state of the current UWB personal area network and whether it increases the number of communication devices in the UWB personal area network. If device a needs this phase, then other communication devices may join the UWB personal area network created by device a at this phase.

In the case where device a needs this phase, a communication device of UWB personal area network coverage may join the UWB personal area network during a contention period (RCAP) in the measurement management period. In a non-contention period (RCFP) in the measurement management period, device a as a coordinator may perform slot allocation according to interactions between devices in the UWB personal area network.

In the measurement process, there are a total of 4 role definitions, a control end (controller), a controlled end (controller), an initiator end (initiator), and a response end (responder). Assume that device a is both the control and initiator and device B is both the controlled and responder. In implementing the ranging procedure for device a and device B, device a is responsible for transmitting ranging control (ranging control message, RCM) frames. And in the ranging period, the interaction of ranging frame broadcasting, measuring information frame broadcasting and the like is carried out between the equipment A and the equipment B, so that the ranging task between the equipment A and the equipment B is realized.

S204: during one RCM period of the ranging period, device a transmits a measurement control (RCM) frame to device B. Wherein, the RCM frame may include at least one of the following: role definition information for device a and/or device B, or time domain resources allocated for ranging of different devices according to TDMA techniques.

S205: in a ranging period adjacent to the RCM period in S204 in the ranging period, the device a and the device B perform interactions of broadcasting a ranging frame, broadcasting a measurement information frame, and the like according to the role and/or time domain resources configured by the measurement control (RCM) frame, and obtain a measurement result. The measurement result may include: time of flight information of the ranging frame, and/or transmit or receive angle information of the ranging frame.

Based on the above measurement results, the device a and/or the device B can determine the distance between the device a and the device B from the measurement results, and the orientation of the other with respect to itself.

During the ranging period, device a may repeat the ranging wheel and continue to perform ranging between device a and device B or between device a and other devices in the UWB personal area network in accordance with the steps of S204-S205.

It should be noted that, the transmission of various beacon frames, ranging frames and measurement information frames involved in the conventional positioning measurement process shown in fig. 2 is realized by the communication device through UWB technology, and is irrelevant to bluetooth technology.

As can be seen from the above description of the conventional positioning measurement process shown in fig. 2, the method needs to construct a UWB personal area network, and needs to complete TDMA time allocation by a controller, so that the implementation complexity of the method is high, which is not beneficial to implementation. In addition, the coverage area limited by the UWB personal area network is smaller, and long-distance positioning cannot be realized. For example, taking the scenario shown in fig. 1 as an example, the positioning between the device a and the device B can be achieved through UWB technology, but the device B and the device C cannot join the same UWB personal area network due to the long distance, so that the positioning between the two cannot be achieved through UWB technology. The same problem is that positioning cannot be achieved between device B and device C and between device a and device D.

In addition, in the scenario shown in fig. 1, there is a device cross between different UWB personal area networks, and thus, due to the problems of device repetition, device number repetition, etc., effective ranging may not be completed between two communication devices even within the same UWB personal area network in the above scenario.

In order to realize remote positioning, the embodiment of the application provides a positioning method which can be applied to a communication scene shown in fig. 1. The method will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 3. The method shown in fig. 3 is described by taking an example that the first device and the second device are located in a first narrowband subnetwork, and the first device and the third device are located in a second narrowband subnetwork, i.e. the first device is an intersection device (also called a central node) of the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork.

Wherein the first narrowband subnetwork is established by narrowband communication technology for the first device and the second device (optionally, other communication devices may also be included). The second narrowband subnetwork is established by the narrowband communication technology for the second device and the third device (optionally, other communication devices may also be included). In an embodiment of the present application, the narrowband communication technology may include, but is not limited to, at least one of: BT technology, BLE technology, WIFI technology, or NFC technology. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the narrowband communication technologies used by different devices are the same, and the ultra wideband technologies used by different devices are also the same.

S301a: the first device communicates a first measurement parameter with the second device via the narrowband communication technology.

Wherein the first measurement parameter is used for positioning measurements between the first device and the second device.

Alternatively, in an embodiment of the present application, the first device may transmit the first measurement parameter by:

mode one: the first device transmits the first measurement parameter to the second device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork). In this manner, the first device may obtain the first measurement parameter according to a measurement requirement or a configuration of a user.

Mode two: the first device receives the first measurement parameter from the second device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork). In this manner, the second device may obtain the first measurement parameter according to a measurement requirement or a configuration of a user, and send the first measurement parameter to the first device through the narrowband communication technology. It should be noted that, the second device may directly send the first measurement parameter to the first device, or may forward the first measurement parameter to the first device through other communication devices in the first narrowband subnetwork, which is not limited by the present application.

In any case, the first measurement parameter used for positioning measurement between the first device and the second device may be determined for the first device or may be determined for the second device, which is not limited in the present application.

S301b: the first device communicates a second measurement parameter with the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

Wherein the second measurement parameter is used for positioning measurements between the first device and the third device.

Similar to S301a, in the embodiment of the present application, the first device may transmit the second measurement parameter in the following manner, and the specific description may refer to the description in S301a, which is not further developed herein.

Mode one: the first device transmits the second measurement parameter to the third device via the narrowband communication technology (via the second narrowband subnetwork).

Mode two: the first device receives the second measurement parameter from the third device via the narrowband communication technology (via the second narrowband subnetwork).

In addition, regarding the content of the first measurement parameter and the second measurement parameter in S301a and S301b, reference may be made to the description of the measurement parameter at point 8) in the previous explanation, which is not repeated in the embodiment of the present application.

In S301a and S301b, the first device may transmit the first measurement parameter in the same manner as or different from the second measurement parameter, which is not limited by the present application. For example, the first device may receive the first measurement parameter from the second device and the second measurement parameter from the third device. For another example, the first device may send the first measurement parameter to the second device and the second measurement parameter to the third device. For another example, the first device may send the first measurement parameter from the second device and the second measurement parameter to the third device.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the first device, the second device, or the third device may execute S301a and S301b according to a specific measurement requirement or a configuration of a user, and perform transmission of measurement parameters, so as to implement measurement configuration between devices.

S302a: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the second equipment through an ultra-wideband technology according to the first measurement parameter to obtain a first measurement result.

Wherein, the ultra wideband technology can be UWB technology. It should be noted that, compared with the conventional positioning measurement process based on UWB technology shown in fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present application, the first device does not need to construct a UWB personal area network during the positioning measurement process of other devices by using the UWB technology, and does not need to perform TDMA time allocation and other processes. The first device and the second device may directly transmit ranging frames based on UWB technology, and specific procedures may refer to conventional various positioning measurement methods (e.g., single-ranging (SS-TWR) method, double-ranging (SS-TWR) method, etc.), which will not be described herein.

Obviously, the positioning method provided by the application can fully utilize the high-precision advantage of the UWB technology for positioning measurement, and avoids the complexity in the traditional positioning measurement process based on the UWB technology.

In S302a, the first device may obtain the first measurement result by:

mode one: the first device receives the first measurement from the second device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork). In this manner, the first measurement result is generated by the second device and transmitted to the first device.

Mode two: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the second equipment through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the first measurement result. Optionally, after generating the first measurement result, the first device may further send the first measurement result to the second device through the narrowband communication technology (through the first narrowband subnetwork), so that the second device may determine a relative position between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement result.

S302b: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the second measurement parameters to obtain a second measurement result.

In this step, the process of positioning measurement of the third device by the first device through the ultra wideband technology may refer to the description of positioning measurement of the second device by the first device in S302a, which is not described herein.

Similar to the acquisition of the first measurement result at S302 a. The first device may also obtain the second measurement result in two ways:

mode one: the first device receives the second measurement result from the third device via the narrowband communication technology (via the second narrowband subnetwork). Optionally, in this aspect, the second measurement result is generated by the third device and sent to the one device.

Mode two: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the second measurement result. Optionally, after generating the second measurement result, the first device may further send the second measurement result to the third device through the narrowband communication technology (through the second narrowband subnetwork), so that the third device may determine a relative position between the first device and the third device according to the second measurement result.

In S302a and S302b, the first device may acquire the first measurement result in the same manner as or may be different from the second measurement result, which is not limited by the present application. For example, the first device may receive the first measurement result from the second device and the second measurement result from the third device. For another example, the first device may generate the first measurement and generate the second measurement. As another example, the first device may receive the first measurement result from the second device and generate the second measurement result.

S303: and the first device determines first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result, wherein the first relative position information is used for indicating the relative position between the third device and the second device.

Alternatively, in an embodiment of the present application, the relative position information for indicating the relative position between any two devices may include, but is not limited to: the distance between the two devices, the angle between the connection between the two devices and the set first direction.

Alternatively, the first device may perform S303 by:

a1: the first device determines second relative position information according to the first measurement result; wherein the second relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the second device and the first device;

a2: the first device determines third relative position information according to the second measurement result; wherein the third relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the third device and the first device;

a3: the first device determines the first relative position information according to the second relative position information and the third relative position information.

The first measurement result is obtained by performing positioning measurement between the first device and the second device, and therefore includes a value of a first measurement quantity measured by the first device and/or the second device. Since the first measurement result is measured for positioning based on the first measurement parameter, when a measurement amount is specified in the first measurement parameter, the first measurement amount may be included in the first measurement parameter.

Similarly, the second measurement result is obtained by performing positioning measurement between the first device and the third device, and therefore includes a value of the second measurement quantity measured by the first device and/or the third device. The second measurement quantity may be included in the second measurement parameter.

It should be noted that the measurement amounts specifically configured in the first measurement amount and the second measurement amount are not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and may be the same or different.

In one embodiment, when the first measurement quantity includes a relative position between the first device and the second device, the first device may directly acquire the second relative position information in the first measurement result in A1. In another embodiment, when the first measurement quantity does not include the relative position between the first device and the second device, in A1, the first device may obtain the second relative position information by performing an analysis calculation on the first measurement result.

In one embodiment, when the second measurement quantity includes a relative position between the first device and the third device, the first device may directly acquire the third relative position information in the second measurement result in A2. In another embodiment, when the second measurement quantity does not include the relative position between the first device and the third device, in A2, the first device may obtain the third relative position information by performing an analysis calculation on the second measurement result.

In A3, the first device determines the first relative position information according to the second relative position information and the third relative position information by using a specific algorithm (for example, triangle cosine law), and the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 4.

After S303, the first device may send the first relative location information to the second device through the narrowband communication technology (through the first narrowband subnetwork); or the first device transmits the first relative location information to the third device via the narrowband communication technology (via the second narrowband subnetwork). In this way, the second device or the third device can obtain the first relative position information, thereby determining the position and distance of the other party relative to itself, and further can perform subsequent processing.

Through the steps S301a-S303, the first device located in the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork can transmit positioning measurement parameters with the second device in the first narrowband subnetwork and the third device in the second narrowband subnetwork respectively through a narrowband communication technology, so that positioning measurement configuration between the first device and the second device and between the first device and the third device is realized; in this way, the first device can adopt UWB technology to respectively perform positioning measurement on the second device and the third device, and two measurement results are obtained; finally, the first device may obtain relative position information between the second device and the third device based on the obtained two measurement results. The method can realize the positioning of the cross-narrowband subnetwork, thereby realizing the remote positioning.

Obviously, the method can avoid the coverage limitation of a single narrowband subnetwork, and compared with the traditional scheme, the method can also get rid of the limitation of small coverage of a UWB personal area network and realize remote positioning. In addition, in the method, the high-precision advantage of the UWB technology for positioning measurement is fully utilized, high-precision positioning measurement among devices is realized, and further the precision of remote positioning can be ensured. Furthermore, compared with the traditional scheme, in the positioning measurement process by utilizing the UWB technology, the method has the advantages that the equipment does not need to execute complicated and complicated processes such as constructing a UWB personal area network, TDMA time allocation and the like, and the complexity of positioning measurement by adopting the traditional scheme can be avoided.

It should be further noted that, step S303 in the embodiment of the present application shown in fig. 3 is not limited to the device performing the final remote location calculation. For example, the first device may send the obtained first measurement result to the third device, and then the third device calculates the first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result. For another example, the first device may send the obtained second measurement result to the second device, and then the second device calculates the first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result.

Optionally, based on the positioning method provided in S301a-S303 above, the embodiment of the present application may also implement positioning at a greater distance than positioning between communication devices located in two adjacent narrowband subnetworks. The following description will be made with reference to the following two embodiments.

Embodiment one: as shown in S304-S305 in fig. 3.

S304: the first device receives fourth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology. Wherein the fourth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the first device and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork.

Optionally, an intersection device exists between the third narrowband subnetwork and the first narrowband subnetwork where the first device is located. The fourth relative position information may be determined for the intersection device, but is not limited to, and the specific determination process may be described in S301a-S303 above.

Based thereon, the first device may receive the fourth relative position information by:

mode one: the first device receives the fourth relative position information directly from the intersection device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork).

Mode two: the intersection device may send the fourth relative position information to other devices in the first narrowband subnetwork via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork). The other device then transmits the fourth relative position information to the first device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork).

S305: the first device determines fifth relative position information according to the fourth relative position information and the second measurement result; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

In an embodiment, the first device may determine the third relative position information according to the second measurement result, and the description of step A2 in S303 may be referred to specifically, which is not described herein. The first device may then determine the fifth relative location information between the fourth device and the third device based on the fourth relative location information and the third relative location information. The process of determining the fifth relative position information by the first device is similar to the process of determining the first relative position information in S303, and will not be repeated here.

As is apparent from the above description, the third device is located in the second narrowband subnetwork, the fourth device is located in the third narrowband subnetwork, and the second narrowband subnetwork and the third narrowband subnetwork are spaced apart by the first narrowband subnetwork. By this embodiment, the method may also enable a communication device location between two narrowband subnetworks that are intermediately separated by a narrowband subnetwork.

Further, if the first device transmits the fifth relative position information to the third device through the narrowband communication technology, the third device may further calculate the relative position information between the device in the fourth narrowband subnetwork farther from the fourth device and the fourth device. It is obvious that based on this embodiment, the method can also realize the positioning of the communication device between two narrowband subnetworks separated by two or more narrowband subnetworks, and realize the positioning at a longer distance.

In summary, this embodiment can achieve positioning between communication devices in two narrowband subnetworks (i.e., two non-adjacent narrowband subnetworks) where no intersection device exists, and achieve positioning at a greater distance.

Embodiment two: as shown in S306-S310 in fig. 3.

S306: the first device receives sixth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology. Wherein the sixth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between a fifth device in the first narrowband subnetwork and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork.

Optionally, an intersection device exists between the third narrowband subnetwork and the first narrowband subnetwork. The sixth relative position information may be determined for the intersection device, but is not limited to, and the specific determination process may refer to the descriptions in S301a-S303 above, which are not described herein.

Based on this, the first device may also receive the sixth relative position information in two ways, similar to that in S304:

mode one: the first device receives the sixth relative position information directly from the intersection device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork).

Mode two: the intersection device may send the sixth relative position information to other devices in the first narrowband subnetwork via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork). The other device then transmits the sixth relative position information to the first device via the narrowband communication technology (via the first narrowband subnetwork).

S307: the first device communicates a third measurement parameter with the fifth device via the narrowband communication technology.

The third measurement parameter is used for positioning measurement between the first device and the fifth device, and the process of transmitting the third measurement parameter by the first device may refer to descriptions in S301a and S301b, which are not repeated herein.

S308: and the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the fifth equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the third measurement parameter to obtain a third measurement result.

In this step, the process of the first device performing positioning measurement on the fifth device by using the ultra wideband technology may refer to the description of the positioning measurement on the second device by using the first device in S302a, which is not described herein.

S309: and the first equipment determines seventh relative position information according to the third measurement result and the second measurement result. Wherein the seventh relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fifth device and the third device.

Optionally, in this step, the process of determining the seventh relative position information by the first device may refer to the process of determining the first relative position information in S303, which is not described herein.

S310: determining fifth relative position information according to the sixth relative position information and the seventh relative position information; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

This step may refer to the description in A3 in S303, and will not be described here.

In summary, the second embodiment can also implement positioning between communication devices located in two narrowband subnetworks (i.e., two non-adjacent narrowband subnetworks) where no intersection device exists, and implement positioning at a longer distance.

It should be further noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, a mesh network may be configured between different narrowband subnetworks through a narrowband communication technology. Therefore, the positioning method provided by the application can utilize the characteristic of wireless expansion of the mesh network to wirelessly expand the scale of the mesh network, thereby flexibly realizing the positioning between communication devices in any two narrow-band sub-networks.

The positioning method provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 is illustrated below by taking the communication scenario shown in fig. 1 as an example. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the narrowband communication technologies used by different devices are the same, and the ultra wideband technologies used by different devices are also the same.

As shown in fig. 4, devices a, B, and E establish a narrowband subnetwork 1 through narrowband communication technology, and devices a and C establish a narrowband subnetwork 2 through narrowband communication technology. Device a is the intersection device of narrowband subnetwork 1 and narrowband subnetwork 2. Communication interactions between two communication devices within each narrowband subnetwork are performed through the narrowband communication technology.

It is assumed that device a (corresponding to the first device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2) can transmit the first measurement parameters through the narrowband network 1 with device B (corresponding to the second device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2) and the second measurement parameters through the narrowband network 2 with device C (corresponding to the third device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2).

The equipment A and the equipment B perform positioning measurement through UWB technology according to the first measurement parameters; device a may then obtain the first measurement. The equipment A and the equipment C perform positioning measurement through UWB technology according to the second measurement parameters; device a may then obtain a second measurement.

The device A obtains relative position information 1 for indicating the relative position between the device A and the device B according to the first measurement result; the device a obtains relative position information 2 indicating the relative position between the device a and the device C based on the second measurement result.

As shown in fig. 4, it is assumed that the present scene uses east (east, E) south (south, S) west (west, W) north (north, N) as the direction coordinates. By way of example, the relative position information 1 may include: distance d between device A and device B ₁ The angle a between the line between the device a and the device B and the direction S. By way of example, the relative position information 2 may include: distance d between device A and device C ₂ The angle b between the connection between the device a and the device C and the direction S.

Then device a may determine relative position information 3 indicating the relative position between device B and device C using the triangle cosine law based on relative position information 1 and relative position information 2.

Wherein, in the relative position information 3, the distance d between the device B and the device C ₃ The following formula is satisfied:

the angle d between the connection between the device B and the device C with respect to the direction E corresponds to the following formula:

∠d＝∠e-∠c

wherein, the angle e is the included angle between the line segment AB and the line segment BC,line AB represents the connection between device a and device B, and line BC represents the connection between device B and device C. Angle c=90° - < a >.

In summary, device a may determine relative location information 3, which subsequent device a may send to device B over narrowband subnetwork 1 and/or to device C over narrowband subnetwork 2. In this way, the device B or the device C moves or rescues or the like based on the relative position information 3 as a reference.

Through the steps, the positioning method provided by the application can realize the positioning between the devices in the adjacent two narrowband subnetworks.

In addition, based on the above method, in the communication scenario shown in fig. 1, positioning at a longer distance, that is, positioning between devices in two non-adjacent narrowband subnetworks, can also be implemented.

For example, referring to fig. 5, in this scenario, device B and device D may also establish narrowband subnetwork 3 via narrowband communication techniques. Device B is the intersection device of narrowband subnetwork 3 and narrowband subnetwork 1.

Assuming that the device B adopts the flow shown in fig. 4, the relative position information 4 indicating the relative position between the device D and the device a is determined, and the relative position information 4 is transmitted to the device a through the narrowband network 1. The device a may determine the relative position information 5 for indicating the relative position between the device D and the device C according to the relative position information 4 and the relative position information 2, and the specific calculation process may refer to the description of determining the relative position information 3, which is not described herein.

As another example, referring to fig. 6, in this scenario, device B and device D may also establish narrowband subnetwork 3 via narrowband communication techniques. Device B is the intersection device of narrowband subnetwork 3 and narrowband subnetwork 1.

Assuming that the device B adopts the flow shown in fig. 4, the relative position information 6 indicating the relative position between the device D and the device E is determined; device a may also employ the flow shown in fig. 4 to determine relative position information 7 indicating the relative position between device E and device C. When the device B transmits the relative position information 6 to the device a through the narrowband network 1, then the device a may determine the relative position information 5 for indicating the relative position between the device D and the device C according to the relative position information 6 and the relative position information 7, and the specific calculation process may refer to the description of determining the relative position information 3, which is not described herein.

In summary, the positioning method provided by the embodiment of the application is a relative positioning scheme integrating UWB technology and narrowband communication technology. In the scheme, a plurality of narrowband subnetworks can be established through a narrowband communication technology, and a mesh network is established based on the plurality of narrowband subnetworks so as to realize interconnection communication among all communication devices; combining the high-precision positioning advantage of UWB technology, firstly realizing the relative positioning between devices in a single narrow-band sub-network; then transmitting the measurement result and/or calculated relative position information in a single narrowband sub-network or between different narrowband sub-networks through a narrowband communication technology; the device which finally gathers the measurement results and/or the relative position information can finally determine the relative position information between the two designated devices by calculating the triangle cosine theorem by utilizing the position relation among the devices in the network.

The method can fully utilize the networking flexibility of the narrowband communication technology, and ensures that the method has higher practicability. Therefore, the method can be applied to various emergency scenes and relative position positioning scenes, such as rescue scenes, relative positioning of an aerial unmanned aerial vehicle scenes and the like, and large-scale, high-precision and long-distance relative positioning is realized.

As can be seen from the description of fig. 3 and fig. 4 to 6, in order to implement the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the communication device needs to support at least two short-range wireless technologies, namely, UWB technology and narrowband communication technology. Based on the above, the communication device according to the embodiment of the present application includes at least two communication modules: UWB modules and narrowband communication modules. The narrowband communication module supports a narrowband communication technology, is used for constructing a narrowband sub-network through the narrowband communication technology, and is in communication interaction with other devices in the same narrowband sub-network. The UWB module is used to make positioning measurements between communication devices via UWB technology.

The functions of the UWB module and the narrowband communication module in the communication device will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 7 in conjunction with the embodiment shown in fig. 3. The first device, the second device, and the third device in fig. 7 may correspond to the first device, the second device, and the third device, respectively, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

S700a: the narrowband communication module in the first device establishes a narrowband communication connection 1 with the narrowband communication module of the second device and establishes a first narrowband subnetwork based on said narrowband communication connection 1.

S700b: the narrowband communication module in the first device establishes a narrowband communication connection 2 with the narrowband communication module of the third device and establishes a second narrowband subnetwork based on said narrowband communication connection 2.

Narrowband communication modules in the first, second, and third devices may wake up UWB modules within the respective devices when there is a need for positioning measurements, as shown in fig. 7.

S701a: corresponding to S301a in fig. 3, the narrowband communication module in the first device communicates the first measurement parameter with the narrowband communication module in the second device via narrowband communication connection 1.

S701b: corresponding to S301b in fig. 3, the narrowband communication module in the first device communicates the second measurement parameter with the narrowband communication module in the third device via narrowband communication connection 2.

The transmission manners of the first measurement parameter and the second measurement parameter may refer to descriptions in S301a and S301b, respectively, and are not described herein.

It should be noted that the first measurement parameter may be generated by a narrowband communication module or a processing module in the first device or the second device, and the second measurement parameter may be generated by a narrowband communication module or a processing module in the first device or the third device.

Optionally, after the narrowband communication module of any communication device acquires the measurement parameter, the narrowband communication module may further send the measurement parameter to the UWB module in the communication device, so that the UWB module may perform positioning measurement according to the received measurement parameter. For example, the narrowband communication module in the second device may send the first measurement parameter to the UWB module in the second device after the first measurement parameter is obtained.

S702a: corresponding to S302a in fig. 3, positioning measurement is performed between the UWB module in the first device and the UWB module in the second device according to the first measurement parameter by using UWB technology, and the UWB module in the first device and/or the UWB module in the second device obtains a first measurement result.

S702b: corresponding to S302b in fig. 3, positioning measurement is performed between the UWB module in the first device and the UWB module in the second device according to the second measurement parameter by using UWB technology, and the UWB module in the first device and/or the third device obtains the second measurement result.

The UWB module in each communication device may not perform any processing and calculation on the measurement result generated by performing the positioning measurement, but may directly transmit the obtained measurement result to the narrowband communication module in the communication device, and further process the measurement result by the narrowband communication module.

S703a: the first measurement result is transmitted between the narrowband communication module of the first device and the narrowband communication module of the second device via the narrowband communication connection 1. For example, the narrowband communication module of the second device transmits the first measurement result to the narrowband communication module of the first device via narrowband communication connection 1.

S703b: the second measurement result is transmitted between the narrowband communication module of the first device and the narrowband communication module of the third device via the narrowband communication connection 2. For example, the narrowband communication module of the third device sends the second measurement result to the narrowband communication module of the first device via the narrowband communication connection 2.

Subsequently, the narrowband communication module of the first device may determine the first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result; or the narrowband communication module of the first device may send the obtained first measurement result and the second measurement result to the processing module in the first device, and the processing module determines the first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result. The specific process of calculating the first relative position information by the first device may refer to the description in S303 in fig. 3 and the description in fig. 4, which are not repeated herein.

In addition, it should be noted that, each step in the foregoing embodiments may be performed by a corresponding device, or may be performed by a component such as a chip, a processor, or a chip system in the device, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. The above embodiments are described only as examples to be executed by the respective apparatuses.

In the above embodiments, some steps may be selected and performed, or the order of steps in the drawings may be adjusted and performed, which is not limited to the present application. It should be understood that it is within the scope of the present application to perform some of the steps in the illustrations, adjust the order of the steps, or implement them in combination with each other.

It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the functions of the above embodiments, each device involved in the above embodiments includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and method steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

It can be understood that the above network architecture and application scenario described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, and are not limited to the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of new services, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is equally applicable to similar technical problems.

Note that: the "step" in the embodiments of the present application is merely illustrative, and is used to better understand a performance method adopted by the embodiments, and does not essentially limit the implementation of the solution of the present application, for example: this "step" may also be understood as a "feature". In addition, the execution sequence of the scheme of the application is not limited in any way, and any operation such as step sequence change or step combination or step splitting which does not affect the implementation of the whole scheme is made on the basis, so that the formed new technical scheme is also within the scope of the disclosure of the application. For example: in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the execution sequence between step S301a and step S301b, and the execution sequence between step S302a and step S302b are not limited, and neither does the exchange of sequences nor the simultaneous execution affect the specific implementation of the scheme. Moreover, all "steps" appearing in the present application are applicable to the convention, and are collectively described herein, and when appearing again, they will not be described again.

Based on the same technical concept, the present application also provides a communication apparatus which can be applied to any communication device in the communication scenario as shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, the communication means may be in the form of a communication device; or the communication means may be other means capable of realizing the functions of the communication device, such as a processor or a chip inside the communication device. By way of example, the communication device may be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (complex programmable logic device, CPLD), an application specific integrated circuit (application specific intergrated circuits, ASIC), or some programmable chip such as a System on a chip (SOC).

In one embodiment, the communication device may be configured as a communication device 800 as shown in fig. 8, and includes a first communication unit 801, a second communication unit 802, and a processing unit 803. The functions of the respective units in the communication apparatus 800 are described below.

The first communication unit 801 is configured to receive or transmit signals through a narrowband communication technology. The first communication unit 801 may be a communication module supporting the narrowband communication technology, for example, a narrowband communication module.

The second communication unit 802 is configured to receive or transmit signals through ultra wideband technology. Wherein the second communication unit 802 may be a communication module supporting the ultra wideband technology, such as a UWB module.

It should be noted that the present embodiment of the present application does not limit the deployment manner of the processing unit 803. The processing unit 803 may be a functional module independent of the first communication unit 801 and the second communication unit 802, and may be coupled to the first communication unit 801 or the second communication unit 802. For example, the processing unit 803 may be a processor such as a CPU in the communication apparatus 800 or a processing module inside a communication module supporting a narrowband communication technology.

When the communication apparatus 800 is applied to the first device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the processing unit 803 is configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit a first measurement parameter with a second device through the narrowband communication technology, wherein the first device and the second device are located in a first narrowband subnetwork;

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit a second measurement parameter with a third device through the narrowband communication technology; wherein the first device and the third device are located in a second narrowband subnetwork;

According to the first measurement parameter, the second communication unit 802 is controlled to perform positioning measurement on the second device through the ultra-wideband technology, and a first measurement result is obtained; and according to the second measurement parameter, controlling the second communication unit 802 to perform positioning measurement on the third device through the ultra-wideband technology, so as to obtain a second measurement result;

and determining first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result, wherein the first relative position information is used for indicating the relative position between the third equipment and the second equipment.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is specifically configured to:

determining second relative position information from the first measurement; wherein the second relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the second device and the first device;

determining third phase position information according to the second measurement result; wherein the third relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the third device and the first device;

and determining the first relative position information according to the second relative position information and the third relative position information.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is specifically configured to:

control the first communication unit 801 to receive the first measurement result from the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or controlling the second communication unit 802 to perform positioning measurement on the second device through the ultra-wideband technology, so as to generate the first measurement result;

the processing unit 803 is specifically configured to:

control the first communication unit 801 to receive the second measurement result from the third device through the narrowband communication technology; or controlling the second communication unit 802 to perform positioning measurement on the third device through the ultra-wideband technology, so as to generate the second measurement result.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is further configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit the first relative position information to the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

The first communication unit 801 is controlled to transmit the first relative position information to the third device through the narrowband communication technology.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is further configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to receive fourth relative position information through the narrowband communication technology; wherein the fourth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the first device and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

Determining fifth relative position information according to the fourth relative position information and the second measurement result; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is further configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to receive sixth relative position information through the narrowband communication technology; wherein the sixth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between a fifth device in the first narrowband subnetwork and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit a third measurement parameter with the fifth device through the narrowband communication technology;

positioning and measuring the fifth equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the third measurement parameters to obtain a third measurement result;

determining seventh relative position information according to the third measurement result and the second measurement result; wherein the seventh relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fifth device and the third device;

determining fifth relative position information according to the sixth relative position information and the seventh relative position information; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

Optionally, the processing unit 803 is specifically configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit the first measurement parameter to the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or control the first communication unit 801 to receive the first measurement parameter from the second device via the narrowband communication technology;

the processing unit 803 is specifically configured to:

controlling the first communication unit 801 to transmit the second measurement parameter to the third device through the narrowband communication technology; or to control the first communication unit 801 to receive the second measurement parameter from the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

Optionally, the first relative position information includes:

and the distance between the third device and the second device is an included angle between a connecting line between the third device and the second device and a set first direction.

Optionally, the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork form a wireless mesh network.

Optionally, any narrowband subnetwork is a personal area network established by adopting the narrowband communication technology; wherein the narrowband communication technology comprises at least one of: bluetooth BT technology, bluetooth low energy BLE technology, wireless fidelity WIFI technology, or near field communication NFC technology.

In one embodiment, the communication device may be configured as a communication device 900 as shown in fig. 9, and includes a first transceiver 901, a second transceiver 902, and a processor 903. Optionally, the communication device 900 may also include a memory 904. Wherein the first transceiver 901, the second transceiver 902, the processor 903 and the memory 904 are interconnected.

Optionally, the first transceiver 901, the second transceiver 902, the processor 903 and the memory 904 may be connected to each other through a bus 905. The bus 905 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be classified as address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 9, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

The first transceiver 901 is configured to receive and transmit signals through a narrowband communication technology, so as to implement communication interaction with other devices. In an embodiment of the present application, the first transceiver 901 may be a narrowband communication module, for example, a BT module, a BLE module, a WIFI module, or an NFC module.

The second transceiver 902 is configured to receive and transmit signals through ultra-wideband technology, so as to implement positioning measurement on other devices. The second transceiver 902 may be, for example, a UWB module.

Alternatively, the processor 903 may be a CPU in the communications device 900. Optionally, the processor 903 may be further coupled inside a narrowband communication module together with the first transceiver 901, which is not limited by the present application.

When the communication apparatus 900 is applied to the first device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the processor 903 is configured to:

controlling the first transceiver 901 to transmit a first measurement parameter with a second device through the narrowband communication technology, wherein the first device and the second device are located in a first narrowband subnetwork;

controlling the first transceiver 901 to transmit a second measurement parameter with a third device through the narrowband communication technology; wherein the first device and the third device are located in a second narrowband subnetwork;

according to the first measurement parameter, the second transceiver 902 is controlled to perform positioning measurement on the second device through the ultra-wideband technology, and a first measurement result is obtained; and according to the second measurement parameter, controlling the second transceiver 902 to perform positioning measurement on the third device through the ultra-wideband technology, so as to obtain a second measurement result;

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, detailed descriptions of specific functions of the processor 903 are not provided, and the specific functions of the processor 903 may refer to the description of the first device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 and the description of the processing unit 803 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, which are not repeated herein.

The memory 904 is used for storing program instructions, data, and the like. In particular, the program instructions may comprise program code comprising computer-operating instructions. The processor 903 executes program instructions stored in the memory 904, and uses data stored in the memory 904 to implement the above-described functions, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the above-described embodiment.

It will be appreciated that the memory 904 of FIG. 9 of the present application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double Data Rate SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be noted that, in the above embodiments of the present application, the division of the modules is merely schematic, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or may exist separately and physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a computer program, which when run on a computer causes the computer to perform the method provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in the above embodiments.

Wherein a storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: specific examples of memory 904 in communications apparatus 900 are illustrated in fig. 9, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, and implement the method provided in the above embodiments. In one implementation manner, the chip includes a processor and a memory, where the processor is configured to read a computer program stored in the memory, and implement the method provided in the foregoing embodiment.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer apparatus to implement functions related to a master device and a slave device in the above embodiments. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In summary, the embodiment of the application provides a positioning method and a positioning device. In the method, a first device which is positioned in a first narrow-band sub-network and a second narrow-band sub-network at the same time can respectively transmit positioning measurement parameters with a second device in the first narrow-band sub-network and a third device in the second narrow-band sub-network through a narrow-band communication technology, so that positioning measurement configuration between the first device and the second device and between the first device and the third device is realized; in this way, the first device can adopt UWB technology to respectively perform positioning measurement on the second device and the third device, and two measurement results are obtained; finally, the first device may obtain relative position information between the second device and the third device based on the obtained two measurement results. The method can realize the positioning among communication devices crossing the narrowband subnetwork, thereby realizing the remote positioning.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A positioning method, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first equipment transmits first measurement parameters with second equipment through a narrowband communication technology, wherein the first equipment and the second equipment are located in a first narrowband subnetwork;

the first device transmits a second measurement parameter with a third device through the narrowband communication technology; wherein the first device and the third device are located in a second narrowband subnetwork;

the first equipment performs positioning measurement on the second equipment through an ultra-wideband technology according to the first measurement parameters to obtain a first measurement result; positioning and measuring the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the second measurement parameters to obtain a second measurement result;

and the first device determines first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result, wherein the first relative position information is used for indicating the relative position between the third device and the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device determining a relative position between the third device and the second device based on the first measurement and the second measurement comprises:

The first device determines second relative position information according to the first measurement result; wherein the second relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the second device and the first device;

the first device determines third relative position information according to the second measurement result; wherein the third relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the third device and the first device;

the first device determines the first relative position information according to the second relative position information and the third relative position information.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein,

the first device obtaining a first measurement result, including:

the first device receiving the first measurement result from the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or the first device performs positioning measurement on the second device through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the first measurement result;

the first device obtaining a second measurement result, including:

the first device receiving the second measurement result from the third device through the narrowband communication technology; or the first device performs positioning measurement on the third device through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the second measurement result.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the method further comprises:

the first device sending the first relative location information to the second device over the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

The first device transmits the first relative location information to the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the method further comprises:

the first device receiving fourth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the fourth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the first device and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

the first device determines fifth relative position information according to the fourth relative position information and the second measurement result; wherein the fifth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fourth device and the third device.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the method further comprises:

the first device receiving sixth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the sixth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between a fifth device in the first narrowband subnetwork and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

The first device transmitting a third measurement parameter with the fifth device over the narrowband communication technology;

the first device performs positioning measurement on the fifth device through the ultra-wideband technology according to the third measurement parameter to obtain a third measurement result;

the first device determines seventh relative position information according to the third measurement result and the second measurement result; wherein the seventh relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the fifth device and the third device;

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first device transmitting the first measurement parameter with the second device via a narrowband communication technique, comprising:

the first device sends the first measurement parameter to the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

The first device receiving the first measurement parameter from the second device over the narrowband communication technology;

The first device transmitting a second measurement parameter with a third device via the narrowband communication technology, comprising:

the first device sends the second measurement parameters to the third device through the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

The first device receives the second measurement parameter from the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein the first relative position information comprises:

9. The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein the first narrowband subnetwork and the second narrowband subnetwork form a wireless mesh network.

10. The method according to any of claims 1-9, wherein any narrowband subnetwork is a personal area network established using said narrowband communication technology; wherein the narrowband communication technology comprises at least one of: bluetooth BT technology, bluetooth low energy BLE technology, wireless fidelity WIFI technology, or near field communication NFC technology.

11. A communication apparatus for use with a first device, comprising: a first transceiver, a second transceiver, a processor;

the first transceiver is used for receiving or transmitting signals through a narrowband communication technology;

the second transceiver is used for receiving or transmitting signals through ultra-wideband technology;

the processor is configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to transmit a first measurement parameter with a second device through the narrowband communication technology, wherein the first device and the second device are located in a first narrowband subnetwork;

controlling the first transceiver to transmit a second measurement parameter with a third device via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the first device and the third device are located in a second narrowband subnetwork;

according to the first measurement parameters, the second transceiver is controlled to perform positioning measurement on the second equipment through the ultra-wideband technology, and a first measurement result is obtained; according to the second measurement parameters, the second transceiver is controlled to perform positioning measurement on the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology, and a second measurement result is obtained;

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to:

13. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein,

the processor is specifically configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to receive the first measurement result from the second device through the narrowband communication technology; or controlling the second transceiver to perform positioning measurement on the second equipment through the ultra-wideband technology to generate the first measurement result;

the processor is specifically configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to receive the second measurement result from the third device through the narrowband communication technology; or controlling the second transceiver to perform positioning measurement on the third device through the ultra-wideband technology, and generating the second measurement result.

14. The apparatus of any of claims 11-13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to transmit the first relative location information to the second device over the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

Controlling the first transceiver to transmit the first relative location information to the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 11-14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to receive fourth relative position information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the fourth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between the first device and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

16. The apparatus of any of claims 11-14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to receive sixth relative location information via the narrowband communication technology; wherein the sixth relative position information is used to indicate a relative position between a fifth device in the first narrowband subnetwork and a fourth device in a third narrowband subnetwork;

Controlling the first transceiver to transmit a third measurement parameter with the fifth device via the narrowband communication technology;

17. The apparatus of any one of claim 11 to 16,

the processor is specifically configured to:

controlling the first transceiver to transmit the first measurement parameter to the second device over the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

Controlling the first transceiver to receive the first measurement parameter from the second device over the narrowband communication technology;

the processor is specifically configured to:

Controlling the first transceiver to transmit the second measurement parameter to the third device over the narrowband communication technology; or alternatively

Controlling the first transceiver to receive the second measured parameter from the third device via the narrowband communication technology.

18. The apparatus of any one of claims 11-17, wherein the first relative position information comprises:

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 11-18, wherein the first narrowband subnetwork, the second narrowband subnetwork, form a wireless mesh network.

20. The apparatus according to any of claims 11-19, wherein any narrowband subnetwork is a personal area network established using the narrowband communication technology; wherein the narrowband communication technology comprises at least one of: bluetooth BT technology, bluetooth low energy BLE technology, wireless fidelity WIFI technology, or near field communication NFC technology.

21. A positioning system, comprising: a first device, a second device, and a third device; the first device and the second device are located in a first narrow-band sub-network, and the first device and the third device are located in a second narrow-band sub-network;

The first device is configured to transmit a first measurement parameter with the second device through a narrowband communication technology; transmitting a second measurement parameter with a third device via the narrowband communication technology; positioning and measuring the second equipment through an ultra-wideband technology according to the first measurement parameters to obtain a first measurement result; positioning and measuring the third equipment through the ultra-wideband technology according to the second measurement parameters to obtain a second measurement result; determining first relative position information according to the first measurement result and the second measurement result, wherein the first relative position information is used for indicating the relative position between the third equipment and the second equipment;

the second device for transmitting the first measurement parameter with the first device over the narrowband communication technology; according to the first measurement parameters, positioning measurement of the first equipment to the second equipment is achieved through the ultra-wideband technology;

the third device for transmitting the second measurement parameter with the first device via the narrowband communication technology; and according to the second measurement parameters, positioning measurement of the first equipment to the third equipment is realized through the ultra-wideband technology.

22. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium has stored therein a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

23. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-10.

24. A chip, characterized in that the chip is coupled to a memory, the chip reading a computer program stored in the memory, performing the method of any of claims 1-10.