Passive uplink time difference of arrival positioning and tracking system

摘要

A system that tracks a mobile transmitter within a communication system is disclosed. The mobile transmitter transmits in one or more predetermined communication slots, the communication slots being dynamically assigned by a system node in the communication system. The tracking system includes at least three uplink probes spatially separated from one another, each uplink probe measuring transmissions in each of the communication slots as a function of time. A cell monitor monitors downlink scheduling transmissions from the system node directed to the mobile transmitter, the scheduling transmissions specifying a time and communication slot to be utilized by the mobile transmitter in a subsequent transmission. A correlator receives the measured transmissions and the monitored downlink scheduling transmissions. The correlator uses the monitored downlink scheduling transmissions and the measured transmissions to determine a time at which a transmission from the mobile transmitter was detected at each of the uplink probes.