Disclosed are various approaches for determining positions of a navigation unit and correcting for errors. The navigation unit can receive a guided surface wave using a guided surface wave receive structure. The navigation unit can then determine a potential location of the guided surface wave receive structure. Finally, the navigation unit can determine an accuracy of the potential location based at least in part on a secondary data source.

A first device is mounted on a robot, and signals are transmitted between the first device and at least one second device placed at a certain physical location. Based on the signals, one or more positions in a coordinate system of the robot are determined. For this purpose, the robot may move the first device so that the signals can be transmitted for different physical locations of the first device.

A system for estimating a location of a source transmitting a spectral-diversity signal having a known form but at least one unknown parameter is disclosed. The system comprises signal receiving circuits, each receiving the spectral-diversity signal and computing, for each signal carrier component in the spectral-diversity signal, a cross-ambiguity function based on the known form and on the received spectral-diversity signal. A central processor circuit estimates the location of the source, by calculating an extremum of an objective function constructed from all the cross-ambiguity functions.

Disclosed are various approaches for determining positions of a navigation unit and correcting for errors. The navigation unit can receive a guided surface wave using a guided surface wave receive structure. The navigation unit can then determine a potential location of the guided surface wave receive structure. Finally, the navigation unit can determine an accuracy of the potential location based at least in part on a secondary data source.

A transmit arrangement (100) for generating a signal pattern suitable for a localization comprises a first antenna (102) and at least one second antenna (104) spatially separated from the first antenna. A transmit apparatus (106) of the transmit arrangement (100) is configured to generate a known signal form and to transmit the known signal form by means of a transmit signal via the first and second antennas (104).

The present disclosure relates to building management. Various embodiments may include methods for determining a current position of mobile objects in buildings including: transmitting a referenced item of position information to a mobile object; transmitting a building plan to the mobile object for display thereon; and providing a calibration calculation for determining the current position of the mobile object on the plans displayed on the mobile object based on the position information. The position information is unambiguously associated with the transmitting device and thus corresponds to a current location of the mobile object in the building. Transmission of the position information or of the reference thereto takes place within a directional radio emitting region.

A set of samples are returned by radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader corresponding to the readings of signals emitted from a particular RFID tag, each sample including a respective set of features identifying values of the attributes of the signals as detected. At least some of the features are provided as inputs to a random forest of decision trees, each providing a prediction that the particular RFID tag is located in one of a plurality of defined zones in a particular environment. From outputs of the plurality of decision trees based on the set of samples, it can be determined that the particular RFID tag is located in a particular one of the plurality of zones at a first instance in time.

A set of samples are returned by radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader corresponding to the readings of signals emitted from a particular RFID tag, each sample including a respective set of features identifying values of the attributes of the signals as detected. At least some of the features are provided as inputs to a random forest of decision trees, each providing a prediction that the particular RFID tag is located in one of a plurality of defined zones in a particular environment. From outputs of the plurality of decision trees based on the set of samples, it can be determined that the particular RFID tag is located in a particular one of the plurality of zones at a first instance in time.

Systems and methods for uniquely identifying areas within a facility for location services. The methods involve: operating a plurality of beacons disposed within the facility; emitting, from a first beacon of the plurality of beacons, a first beam having a first beamwidth in a manner so as to communicate at least a unique identification code associated with a first physical area of the facility; changing a value for a beamwidth parameter to modify an area of coverage for the first beacon; and emitting, from the first beacon, a second beam having a second beamwidth in a manner so as to communicate at least the unique identification code associated with the first area of the facility, where the second beamwidth is different from the first beamwidth. The changing is performed autonomously by the first beacon or in response to the first beacon's reception of a command from a remote beacon receiver.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a balloon-based positioning system and method. In one example embodiment, a system includes at least three balloons, with each balloon including a position-determining module (PDM) and a position-broadcasting module (PBM). Each PDM is configured for determining a position of the respective balloon and each PBM is configured for broadcasting a balloon signal containing balloon-positioning data of the respective balloon. The balloon-positioning data includes the determined position of the respective balloon and a corresponding time of broadcast.