A beacon anchor may include a signal generator configured to generate an ultra-wide band signal inclusive of a unique identifier associated with the beacon anchor, where the UWB signal is a pulse sequence. A transceiver may be in communications with the signal generator. Responsive to receiving the UWB signal from the signal generator, the UWB signal may be broadcast. A processing unit may be in communication with the transceiver, and, responsive to receiving a unicast communications session request from a portable device, be configured to establish a unicast communications session with the portable device to enable a distance between the portable device and beacon anchor to be determined. Through use of UWB signals, relative position (e.g., in front of or behind the beacon anchor) may be determined, thereby enabling different actions to be taken in response to determining the relative position.

An integrated identification system including a housing, an active light beacon supported by the housing, an RF beacon supported by the housing, and a controller coupled to the active light beacon and RF beacon to facilitate independent control of the active light beacon and RF beacon.

Techniques are provided for positioning of a mobile device in a wireless network using directional positioning reference signals (PRS), also referred to as PRS beamforming. In an example method, a plurality of directional PRSs are generated for at least one cell for a base station, such that each of the plurality of directional PRSs comprises at least one signal characteristic and a direction of transmission, either or both of which may be distinct or unique. The plurality of directional PRSs is transmitted within the at least one cell, such that each of the plurality of directional PRSs is transmitted in the direction of transmission. A mobile device may acquire and measure at least one of the directional PRSs which may be identified using the associated signal characteristic. The measurement may be used to assist position methods such as OTDOA and ECID and to mitigate multipath.

A method to be executed by a user terminal for searching for locations of one or more wireless devices that are located within an area in which the one or more wireless devices can wirelessly communicate with the user terminal, wherein each of the one or more wireless devices periodically transmits a beacon signal. The method includes detecting a number of the one or more wireless devices that are located within the area based on the beacon signals; determining a transmission period for transmitting the beacon signals depending on the number of the one or more wireless devices; and instructing the one or more wireless devices that are located within the area to transmit the beacon signals in accordance with the determined transmission period.

A method to be executed by a user terminal for searching for locations of one or more wireless devices that are located within an area in which the one or more wireless devices can wirelessly communicate with the user terminal, wherein each of the one or more wireless devices periodically transmits a beacon signal. The method includes detecting a number of the one or more wireless devices that are located within the area based on the beacon signals; determining a transmission period for transmitting the beacon signals depending on the number of the one or more wireless devices; and instructing the one or more wireless devices that are located within the area to transmit the beacon signals in accordance with the determined transmission period.

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.

A wayfinder system includes at least one beacon operable to transmit information that relates a position of the beacon with respect to a predefined destination. A method of directing a user to a passenger conveyance includes receiving information that relates a position of a beacon with respect to a predefined destination and displaying directions to the predefined destination from the information via a mobile device application. A method of configuring a wayfinder system for a passenger conveyance includes transiting a route from an initial point to a predefined destination; receiving information from at least one beacon along the route from the initial point to the predefined destination; and communicating the received information to the beacon such that the beacon is operable to transmit a position of the beacon with respect to the predefined destination.

The present invention relates to a method for determining position of a user equipment in a wireless mobile communication system. The method comprises receiving a plurality of subframes including reference signals for positioning of the user equipment from a plurality of base stations periodically with a predetermined period of time; and determining position of the user equipment using reference signal time difference (RSTD) between the reference signals for positioning of the user equipment included in the received plurality of subframes, wherein a pattern of the reference signals for positioning of the user equipment is generated by repeating a diagonal mother matrix with dimension of 66, the pattern of the reference signals are mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of the subframe, and the reference signals for positioning of the user equipment in a OFDM symbol in which common reference signal (CRS) is transmitted are punctured.

A method, apparatus and system for globally referenced positioning in a shielded environment includes integrating and correlating information from a UWB receiver, a GPS receiver, and a bent-path GPS receiver adapted to extract a GPS radio frequency wave from a heterodyned GPS signal. The method, apparatus, and system is resistant to interference and can be used in a shielded environment such as indoors or behind a line-of-sight barrier.

An apparatuses, methods and systems for beacon transmission of a fixture that includes sensed information are disclosed. For an embodiment, the fixture includes a sensor operative to generate a sense signal, communication circuitry operative to maintain a link with a network, a wireless transmitter, and a controller. The controller is operative to receive the sensed signal, manage communication with the network, and manage transmission of beacons through the wireless transmitter, wherein the beacons include information associated with the fixture, wherein the information includes at least information of the sense signal.