KR101902715B1 - Method for tag location identifiying using uwb signal, and tag location identification apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A tag location identification method and a tag location identification apparatus are disclosed. The apparatus includes three or more antennas for receiving a UWB signal from a tag apparatus for transmitting an ultra wide-band (UWB) signal, three or more UWB signal detectors which are synchronized at equal time intervals and detect the UWB signals in different time zones, and a calculating part for calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus using the time zone and the arrival angle of each of the UWB signals detected by the three or more UWB signal detectors. It is possible to efficiently receive the UWB signals.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tag position identification method using a UWB signal and a tag position identification method using the UWB signal,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for identifying a tag location using an Ultra Wideband (UWB) signal, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for accurately identifying a tag device using a UWB signal received from a plurality of antennas And a tag position identification apparatus.

The location identification system includes GPS (Global Positioning System), INS (Inertial Navigation System), LORAN (Long Range Aid to Navigation), RFID / USN (Radio Frequency Identification / Ubiquitous Sensor Network) do. At this time, if the relative position information is required, the position information of the other party is calculated wirelessly, or the signal reflected by the radar signal is received and the position information of the other party is calculated.

Conventionally, when the position of the partner device is to be identified, the current position is calculated mainly through a GPS receiver or the like held by the partner device. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to precisely identify the location of an opponent device in an environment where the GPS signal is unstable, such as inside a building, or where there is a high possibility that erroneous signal distortion is caused by an obstacle device or the like. In addition, there is a security problem that the location information of the partner device can be exposed to other users.

On the other hand, it is also possible to estimate the position of a device by using wireless communication infrastructure instead of GPS. However, in order to do this, a plurality of APs (Access Points) capable of accurately identifying the positions of the devices must be installed, and it is uneconomical when precise position detection is required in a limited space.

In other words, a conventional GPS or a location identification system using a wireless communication infrastructure is not suitable in a limited space. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient and economical method of identifying a location within a certain space.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-power, high-efficiency location identification method using UWB (Ultra Wideband) signals between devices. It is another object of the present invention to provide a tag position identifying apparatus for efficiently receiving a UWB signal transmitted from a tag apparatus.

It is to be understood, however, that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described technical problems, and other technical problems may be present.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tag location identifying apparatus including three or more antennas for receiving UWB signals from a tag apparatus for transmitting UWB signals; Three or more UWB signal detectors which are synchronized at the same time intervals and detect the UWB signals in different time intervals; And a calculating unit for calculating a three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus using the time interval and the arrival angle of each of the UWB signals detected by the three or more UWB signal detecting units.

In addition, an operation method of a tag location identifying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes receiving an ultra Wide-band (UWB) signal transmitted from a tag apparatus from three or more antennas; Detecting UWB signals in different time intervals from a synchronized UWB signal detector at the same time interval; And calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag device using the time interval and the arrival angle of each of the detected UWB signals.

According to various embodiments as described above, the tag location identifying apparatus can efficiently identify the position of the tag apparatus by efficiently receiving the UWB signal transmitted from the tag apparatus through the plurality of antennas. In addition, if the position of the tag location identifying device is variable, the current position of the tag location identifying device can be identified using the UWB signals received through the plurality of antennas.

1 is an example of a tag location identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows a configuration of a tag location identifying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3A shows an example in which the antenna section is implemented with three antennas, and FIG. 3B shows an example in which the antenna section is implemented with four antennas.
FIG. 4 is an example of calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag device using the arrival angle of a signal detected from a plurality of antennas according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of calculating a distance value to a tag apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 shows an example in which the tag location identifying device is variable according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an example showing a method of identifying the current position of the tag position identifying apparatus of FIG. 6 by itself.
8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation method of a tag location identifying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, numerals (e.g., first, second, etc.) used in the description of the present invention are merely an identifier for distinguishing one component from another.

1 is an example showing a tag location identification system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the tag location identification system 10 includes a tag device 11 and one or more tag location identification devices 12,13.

The tag device 11 is a device which is variable in position or fixed in a fixed position, and transmits UWB (Ultra Wideband) signals at a predetermined time interval or an arbitrary time interval, and performs data communication (E.g., sending / receiving control signals, updating firmware, etc.). Here, UWB (or UWB) radio communication is a technique in which an electric pulse having a constant period and a waveform without using a carrier wave is used as a baseband signal by using a short pulse of 1 nano- And a communication method of transmitting and receiving data in a band.

Contrary to the tag device 11, the tag position identifying device 12 is a device fixed or position-variable at a predetermined position, receiving and detecting the UWB signal sent out from the tag device 11, Or identifies its current location. At this time, the tag location identifying apparatus 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes three or more antennas, and efficiently arranges them to identify the position of the tag apparatus 11 or its current position more accurately .

2 to 5, the position of the tag position identifying device 12 is fixed and the position of the tag device 11 is variable. However, in the opposite case as described later in FIGS. 6 and 7 The embodiments of the present invention can be applied.

2 shows a configuration of the tag location identifying device 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the tag location identifying apparatus 12 includes an antenna unit 210, a UWB detecting unit 220, and a calculating unit 230. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the tag location identifying device 12 may be implemented including more components (e.g., communication unit, gyro sensor, etc.).

The antenna unit 210 basically transmits a signal or receives a signal. That is, the antenna unit 210 selects and receives a signal according to a specific frequency band, or radiates a signal according to a specific frequency band to the air. For example, the antenna unit 210 may transmit and / or receive a UWB signal. UWB refers to wireless communication operating in a wide frequency band (for example, 3.1 to 10.6 GHz) as described above, and the antenna unit 210 is a frequency band that is allowed in Korea among the frequency bands provided by the UWB But is not limited to, receiving and / or transmitting a low frequency band 3.1 to 4.8 GHz and a high frequency band 7.2 to 10.2 GHz.

The antenna unit 210 may include a plurality of antennas. 3A, the antenna unit 210 may be implemented by three antennas 310, 320, and 330 and may include four antennas 310, 320, 330, and 340, as shown in FIG. 3B. . ≪ / RTI > It is also possible to implement the antenna unit 210 with four or more antennas. At this time, the plurality of antennas may be arranged in parallel in a first direction (e.g., transverse direction), and one or more antennas may be disposed in a direction perpendicular to the first direction (e.g., longitudinal direction). 3A, the first antenna 310 and the second antenna 320 are disposed parallel to each other at a predetermined distance in the lateral direction, and the third antenna 330 is disposed in parallel to the first antenna 310. In other words, 310, respectively.

Each antenna may be implemented with a fat dipole antenna, a bow-tie antenna, a monopole antenna, and a slot antenna. In this case, each antenna may be a tag position identification device Called "intenna" that is mounted in a case of the antenna 12 or may be implemented as an external antenna.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the UWB signal detecting unit 220 is implemented as one or more components that detect a UWB signal among the signals received from the antenna unit 210. For example, the UWB signal detector 220 may include a filter, a multiplexer, an amplifier, and the like. The UWB signal detecting unit 220 is implemented in a plurality of units so that the UWB signal detecting unit 220 can be connected to each of a plurality of antennas included in the antenna unit 210. Each of the plurality of UWB signal detecting units is synchronized by a single oscillator (not shown). That is, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, when three antennas 310, 320, and 330 are disposed, three UWB signal detectors 311, 321, and 331 are connected to the antennas 310, When four antennas 310, 320, 330 and 340 are arranged, four UWB signal detectors 311, 321, 331 and 341 are connected to the antennas 310, 320, 330 and 340 .

The oscillator (not shown) may be a crystal oscillator or the like as a non-limiting example. By applying a clock signal of nano-second or less to each UWB signal detecting unit, each UWB signal detecting unit It is possible to synchronize the UWB signal at the same time interval equal to or less than the nanosecond, and to detect the UWB signal at the time interval of the nanosecond or less. That is, even in the case of a UWB signal transmitted from one tag apparatus 11, it can be detected at different time intervals by antennas (see FIGS. 3A and 3B) arranged at different positions of the tag position identifying apparatus 12 have.

The calculating unit 230 identifies the position of the tag device 11 based on the UWB signals detected by the respective UWB signal detecting units. First, the calculating unit 230 calculates the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 using the angle of arrival (AOA) of the UWB signals. In this case, the AOA technique calculates the angle of a signal arriving from the tag device 11, and the calculating unit 230 calculates a time interval and an arrival angle of a signal detected from a plurality of antennas included in the antenna unit 210, The three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 can be calculated.

FIG. 4 is an example of calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 using the arrival angle of a signal detected from a plurality of antennas according to an embodiment of the present invention. The calculating unit 230 calculates a difference between the first and second antennas 310 and 320 in a first two-dimensional plane (e.g., an XY plane) using a time difference and an arrival angle difference between UWB signals received from the first and second antennas 310 and 320, (For example, a YZ plane) using the time difference and the arrival angle difference between the UWB signals received from the first and third antennas 310 and 330, The direction of the device 11 can be calculated. The calculation unit 230 can calculate the three-dimensional direction (i.e., the X-axis angle, the Y-axis angle, and the Z-axis angle) by combining the directions on the two-dimensional planes. The third antenna 330 is disposed in a straight line with the first antenna 310 so that the calculating unit 230 compensates for the angle difference according to the height difference between the first antenna 310 and the third antenna 330 So that the three-dimensional direction can be calculated more accurately.

In this case, when the tag device 11 is located at a predetermined height from the reference plane (for example, the floor, etc.), the calculation unit 230 calculates the position of the tag device 11 using the three- Can be identified. However, when the height of the tag device 11 is not constant, the calculating section 230 calculates the distance value between the tag position identifying device 12 and the tag device 11 to identify the position of the tag device 11 .

Illustratively, the calculating unit 230 may further obtain the three-dimensional direction information of the tag apparatus 11 from the one or more peripheral tag position identifying apparatus 13 to calculate the distance value to the tag apparatus 11. [ At this time, the tag location identifying device 12 may further include a communication unit (not shown) for communicating with the peripheral tag location identifying device 13, but the present invention is not limited thereto, It is possible to communicate with the peripheral tag location identifying device 13 using the UWB signal of the frequency band.

The calculating unit 230 calculates the distance between the first virtual vector extending in the three dimensional direction of the tag device 11 in the tag location identifying device 12 and the first virtual vector extending in the three dimensional direction of the tag device 11 in the peripheral tag location identifying device 13. [ The distance between the tag location identifying device 12 and the tag device 11 can be calculated using the intersection of the first virtual vector and the second virtual vector. 5 is an example showing a method of calculating the distance value to the tag device 11 by the calculation unit 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5, the calculating unit 230 calculates the intersection P from the position S of the tag position identifying apparatus 12 using the intersection P between the first virtual vector 510 and the second virtual vector 520 P can be calculated as the distance value to the tag device 11. [ At this time, the intersection point P may be a value reflecting the error range of each of the first virtual vector 510 and the second virtual vector 520.

Meanwhile, the calculating unit 230 may correct the three-dimensional direction information thereof using the three-dimensional direction information from the peripheral tag location identifying device 13 to the tag device 11. [ That is, the calculating unit 230 can correct an error due to crosstalk of a signal, an obstacle, or the like by using the information obtained from the peripheral tag location identifying device 13. [

Alternatively, the calculating unit 230 may calculate a distance value to the tag device 11 based on a TWR (two way ranging) technique. Here, the TWR technique is a technique in which, after a signal is transmitted from one device, a device that receives the signal on the opposite side again transmits a signal to calculate a round trip time of the signal between the two devices, It is a method to calculate distance between devices. That is, when the UWB signal is received from the tag apparatus 11, the calculating unit 230 transmits a marker signal to the tag apparatus 11 and outputs a timer (not shown) included in the tag position identifying apparatus 12, A timer value after detecting a response signal to the marker signal is calculated, and a distance value to the tag device 11 can be calculated excluding a predetermined signal processing time.

Meanwhile, the calculating unit 230 may be implemented with at least one logic circuit, and may be implemented as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) as a non-limiting example. Alternatively, the calculator 230 may be implemented as a CPLD (complex programmable logic device). Further, according to the embodiment, the calculating unit may be named as a "processing unit", a "signal processing unit", a "processor", a "control unit" and the like.

6, it is assumed that the position of the tag device 11 is fixed and the position of the tag position identifying device 12 is fixed. In this case, An embodiment of the present invention can be applied. In this case, the tag location identifying device 12 can identify its current location based on the location of the identified tag devices 11a, 11b.

For example, when the height of the tag position identification device 12 is fixed, the calculation unit 230 can identify the current position based on the three-dimensional direction value to the tag device 11a, and the tag position identification device 12 The current position can be identified by further calculating the three-dimensional direction to the peripheral tag device 11b and calculating the distance value between the tag position identifying device 12 and the tag device 11a. 7, the calculating unit 230 calculates the third virtual vector extending from the tag device 11a in the direction opposite to the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11a and the third virtual vector extending from the peripheral tag device 11b to the periphery The distance value between the tag location identifying device and the tag device can be calculated using the intersection of the fourth virtual vector extending in the direction opposite to the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11b. Through this, the tag location identifying device 12 can identify its current location. At this time, the method of calculating the three-dimensional direction value to the tag devices 11a and 11b is the same as the method described above with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the tag location identifying device 12 may further include a gyro sensor (not shown) for measuring a rotational angular velocity according to the motion of the device, thereby further performing error correction according to the angular change of the antennas. If the antennas are not arranged in a predetermined first direction or in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, the calculation unit 230 may compensate the error according to the difference angle with respect to the first direction or the vertical direction with respect to the three- can do.

8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation method of the tag location identifying device 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The operation method of the tag location identifying device 12 shown in Fig. 8 is related to the embodiment described in Figs. 1 to 7 and the like described above. Therefore, even if omitted below, the contents described above in Figs. 1 to 7 can also be applied to the operation method of Fig.

First, the tag location identification device 11 receives the UWB signal transmitted from the tag device 11 from three or more antennas (S810). At this time, three or more antennas may be arranged in parallel in a first direction (e.g., transverse direction), and two or more antennas may be disposed, and one or more antennas may be disposed in a direction perpendicular to the first direction .

Then, the tag position identification device 11 detects UWB signals in different time intervals from the synchronized UWB signal detector at the same time interval (S820). In this case, the time interval may be equal to or less than a nanosecond as a time interval in which each UWB signal detector is synchronized by a single oscillator.

Then, the tag position identification device 11 calculates the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 using the time interval and the arrival angle of each of the detected UWB signals (S830). The tag location identifying device 11 calculates the three-dimensional direction using the time difference and the arrival angle difference of the UWB signals received from each antenna. Illustratively, the tag location identifying device 11 is configured to identify the location of the tag device 14 on the first two-dimensional plane (e.g., the XY plane) using the time difference and the arrival angle difference between the UWB signals received from the antennas disposed in parallel in the first direction. (E.g., a YZ plane) using the time difference and the arrival angle difference between UWB signals received from one or more antennas arranged in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, The direction of the device 11 can be calculated. The tag position identification device 11 can calculate the three-dimensional directions (i.e., the X-axis angle, the Y-axis angle, and the Z-axis angle) by combining the directions on the two-dimensional planes.

If the height of the tag device 11 is constant (i.e., the height is K) (S840), the tag position identification device 11 determines whether the tag device 11 11) (S860). However, if the height of the tag device 11 is not constant (S840), the tag position identification device 11 calculates the distance value to the tag device 11 (S850).

Illustratively, the tag location identifying device 11 can further obtain the three-dimensional direction information of the tag device 11 from the one or more peripheral tag location devices 13 to calculate the distance value to the tag device 11. [ The tag position identification device 11 is configured to identify the first virtual vector extending in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 in the tag location identification device 12 and the first virtual vector in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11 in the peripheral tag location identification device 13. [ It is possible to calculate the distance value between the tag location identifying device 12 and the tag device 11 by using the intersection of the second virtual vector extending to the first virtual vector.

At this time, when the position of the tag device (11a in Fig. 6) is fixed and the position of the tag position identification device 12 is variable, the tag position identification device 11 identifies the peripheral tag position identification device 13, The three-dimensional direction to the device (11b in Fig. 6) may be further calculated to calculate the distance value between the tag position identification device 12 and the tag device 11a. The tag position identification device 11 is configured to identify the third virtual vector extending from the tag device 11a in the direction opposite to the three-dimensional direction of the tag device 11a and the third virtual vector extending from the peripheral tag device 11b in the three- The distance value between the tag location identifying device and the tag device can be calculated by using the intersection of the fourth virtual vector extending in the direction opposite to that of the first virtual vector.

Alternatively, the tag location identifying device 11 can calculate the distance value to the tag device 11 based on the TWR (two way ranging) technique. Illustratively, when the UWB signal is received from the tag device 11, the tag position identifying device 11 transmits a marker signal to the tag device 11, operates a timer, and detects a response signal to the marker signal The distance to the tag device 11 can be calculated on the basis of the timer value after the tag device 11 is started.

Meanwhile, the tag location identification method according to the various embodiments described above can be generated by software and mounted on various electronic devices.

For example, receiving from the three or more antennas, a UWB signal transmitted by the tag device, detecting UWB signals in different time intervals from a synchronized UWB signal detector at the same time interval, A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for performing the step of calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag device using the time interval and the arrival angle of each of the detected UWB signals may be installed.

Here, the non-transitory readable medium is not a medium for storing data for a short time such as a register, a cache, a memory, etc., but means a medium that semi-permanently stores data and is readable by a device. In particular, the various middleware or programs described above may be stored and provided in non-volatile readable media such as CD, DVD, hard disk, Blu-ray disk, USB, memory card, ROM,

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. It should be noted that the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

10: Tag location identification system
11: Tag device
12: Tag location identification device
13: Peripheral tag location identification device
210:
220: UWB signal detection unit
230:
310, 320, 330, 340: antenna
311, 321, 331, 341: UWB signal detection unit
11a: tag device
11b: peripheral tag device

Claims (13)

In the tag location identifying device,
Three or more antennas for receiving the UWB signal from a tag device for transmitting an ultra Wide-band (UWB) signal;
Three or more UWB signal detectors which are synchronized at the same time intervals and detect the UWB signals in different time intervals; And
And a calculating unit for calculating a three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus by using a time interval and an arrival angle of each of the UWB signals detected by the three or more UWB signal detecting units,
When the position of the tag location identifying device is fixed,
The calculating unit
Acquiring a three-dimensional direction of the tag device from a peripheral tag location identifying device,
Using the intersection of a first virtual vector extending in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device from the tag location identifying device and a second virtual vector extending in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device from the peripheral tag location identifying device, A distance value between the identification device and the tag device is calculated,
And identifies the position of the tag device based on the three-dimensional direction and the distance value of the tag device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the three or more antennas comprise:
Wherein at least two antennas are disposed at a predetermined distance in parallel in a first direction and one or more antennas are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the first direction. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the three or more antennas include a first antenna, a second antenna, and a third antenna,
Wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are disposed at a predetermined distance in parallel to the first direction and the third antenna is disposed on a straight line of the first antenna in a direction perpendicular to the first direction, Tag location identification device. The method of claim 3,
The calculating unit
Calculating a direction of the tag device on a first two-dimensional plane from the first antenna and the second antenna, calculating a direction of the tag device on a second two-dimensional plane from the first antenna and the third antenna,
And the direction of the tag device on the first and second two-dimensional planes is combined to calculate the three-dimensional direction. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the three or more UWB signal detectors receive a clock signal from a single crystal oscillator. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the tag location identifying device further comprises a timer,
The calculating unit
When receiving a UWB signal from the tag device, transmits a marker signal to the tag device, activates the timer, and calculates a distance value to the tag device based on a timer value after a response signal to the marker signal is detected and,
And identifies the position of the tag device based on the three-dimensional direction and the distance value of the tag device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the tag location identification device further comprises a gyro sensor,
The calculating unit
And performs error correction according to an angle change of the three or more antennas. The method according to claim 1,
If the location of the tag location identification device is variable,
The calculating unit
Dimensional direction of the peripheral tag apparatus based on the UWB signal received from the peripheral tag apparatus,
A third virtual vector extending from the tag apparatus in a direction opposite to the three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus and an intersection point of the fourth virtual vector extending from the peripheral tag apparatus in a direction opposite to the three- Calculates a distance value between the tag location identifying device and the tag device,
And identifies the current position of the tag position identification device based on the three-dimensional direction of the tag device and the distance value. A method of operating a tag location identification device,
Receiving, from three or more antennas, an ultra Wide-band (UWB) signal transmitted by the tag apparatus;
Detecting UWB signals in different time intervals from a synchronized UWB signal detector at the same time interval; And
And calculating the three-dimensional direction of the tag device using the time interval and the arrival angle of each of the detected UWB signals,
When the position of the tag location identifying device is fixed,
The method
Obtaining a three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus from a peripheral tag position identification apparatus;
Using the intersection of a first virtual vector extending in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device from the tag location identifying device and a second virtual vector extending in the three-dimensional direction of the tag device from the peripheral tag location identifying device, Calculating a distance value between the identification device and the tag device; And
And identifying the position of the tag device based on the three-dimensional direction of the tag device and the distance value. delete 11. The method of claim 10,
The method
Transmitting a marker signal to the tag device when the UWB signal is received from the tag device;
Operating a timer;
Calculating a distance value to the tag device based on a timer value after a response signal to the marker signal is detected; And
Further comprising the step of identifying a position of the tag device based on the three-dimensional direction of the tag device and the distance value. 11. The method of claim 10,
If the location of the tag location identification device is variable,
The method
Calculating a three-dimensional direction of the peripheral tag apparatus based on a UWB signal received from the peripheral tag apparatus;
A third virtual vector extending from the tag apparatus in a direction opposite to the three-dimensional direction of the tag apparatus and an intersection point of the fourth virtual vector extending from the peripheral tag apparatus in a direction opposite to the three- Calculating a distance value between the tag location identifying device and the tag device; And
Further comprising identifying a current position of the tag location identification device based on the three-dimensional direction of the tag device and the distance value.

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