A system and method for identifying a person's location at a school, hotel, office, business, restaurant or other venue and tracking the movements of that person during their visit to the venue. One or more wireless virtual beacons communicate with the person's electronic device. The virtual beacons provide the system with real-time data about the person's whereabouts, allowing for the confirmation and tracking of the person at the location. A first non-limiting example of use, include a company that provides food and beverage allowing the person to place an order for food and beverages on their electronic device and having the order delivered to the person at their current location as determined by the system. Another non-limiting example includes a company performing analytics on the time and movement of it's employees and customers.

An enhanced LOng RAnge Navigation (eLORAN) system may include a plurality of eLORAN transmitter stations, and at least one eLORAN receiver device. The eLORAN receiver device may include an eLORAN receive antenna, an eLORAN receiver coupled to the eLORAN receive antenna, and a controller coupled to the eLORAN receiver. The controller may be configured to cooperate with the eLORAN transmitter stations to determine an eLORAN receiver position and receiver clock error corrected from additional secondary factor (ASF) data, the ASF data based upon different geographical positions and different times for each different geographical position.

Methods and systems are described which use a sensing system in cooperation with a wireless communication system. Coordinate information (which may be from the sensing system, from an electronic device, or from a network-side device) and signal-related information (which may be from the wireless system) are associated with each other. The associated information may be used for wireless communication management, such as beam management operations, among others.

A UAV landing system can include a landing pad defining a landing area including a target point; a plurality of positioning radio transmitters positioned in a spaced apart relation and equidistant from the target point, each radio transmitter transmitting a ranging signal; and a position determination and aircraft navigation system at the incoming UAV to receive the ranging signals; determine a range to each positioning radio using the received ranging signals; compute a position of the UAV relative to the target point; determine a course for the UAV to a point above the target point of the landing pad; fly the UAV to the point above the target point of the landing pad, and cause the aircraft to descend vertically toward the target point when the UAV reaches the point above the target point.

A UAV landing system can include a landing pad defining a landing area including a target point; a plurality of positioning radio transmitters positioned in a spaced apart relation and equidistant from the target point, each radio transmitter transmitting a ranging signal; and a position determination and aircraft navigation system at the incoming UAV to receive the ranging signals; determine a range to each positioning radio using the received ranging signals; compute a position of the UAV relative to the target point; determine a course for the UAV to a point above the target point of the landing pad; fly the UAV to the point above the target point of the landing pad, and cause the aircraft to descend vertically toward the target point when the UAV reaches the point above the target point.

Deployable navigation beacons can be deployed from a vehicle, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), in an event of a loss of position or orientation of the vehicle. After deployment of the navigation beacons, the vehicle may detect locations of the navigation beacon, which may define a surface that may include surface features. The vehicle may then perform control operations based on the resolved locations. For example, UAV may maneuver to land proximate to the navigation beacons after resolving locations of the navigation beacons as a continuous surface. The navigation beacons may output a visual signal (e.g., a light), a auditory signal (e.g., a sound), and/or a radio signal. In some embodiments, each navigation beacon may include a different or unique signal.

Deployable navigation beacons can be deployed from a vehicle, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), in an event of a loss of position or orientation of the vehicle. After deployment of the navigation beacons, the vehicle may detect locations of the navigation beacon, which may define a surface that may include surface features. The vehicle may then perform control operations based on the resolved locations. For example, UAV may maneuver to land proximate to the navigation beacons after resolving locations of the navigation beacons as a continuous surface. The navigation beacons may output a visual signal (e.g., a light), a auditory signal (e.g., a sound), and/or a radio signal. In some embodiments, each navigation beacon may include a different or unique signal.

Systems and methods are described for determining position of a receiver. The positioning system comprises a transmitter network including transmitters that broadcast positioning signals. The positioning system comprises a remote receiver that acquires and tracks the positioning signals and/or satellite signals. The satellite signals are signals of a satellite-based positioning system. A first mode of the remote receiver uses terminal-based positioning in which the remote receiver computes a position using the positioning signals and/or the satellite signals. The positioning system comprises a server coupled to the remote receiver. A second operating mode of the remote receiver comprises network-based positioning in which the server computes a position of the remote receiver from the positioning signals and/or satellite signals, where the remote receiver receives and transfers to the server the positioning signals and/or satellite signals.

Systems and methods are described for determining position of a receiver. The positioning system comprises a transmitter network including transmitters that broadcast positioning signals. The positioning system comprises a remote receiver that acquires and tracks the positioning signals and/or satellite signals. The satellite signals are signals of a satellite-based positioning system. A first mode of the remote receiver uses terminal-based positioning in which the remote receiver computes a position using the positioning signals and/or the satellite signals. The positioning system comprises a server coupled to the remote receiver. A second operating mode of the remote receiver comprises network-based positioning in which the server computes a position of the remote receiver from the positioning signals and/or satellite signals, where the remote receiver receives and transfers to the server the positioning signals and/or satellite signals.

Systems and methods for providing improved accuracy for beacon-based location systems. A location estimation system may include a multi-beacon system which includes two or more beacons positioned proximate each other. The beacons emit correlated beacon frames which are time and data correlated. A mobile device receives the beacon signals and processes them to estimate the distance between the mobile device and the multi-beacon system. The mobile device processes the signals based on a correlation function of the beacons signal strength trends, which indicates homogeneity and reliability of the acquired signals. When the correlation is high, the two or more RSSI signals are stable and may be used for the distance estimation. When the correlation is low, at least one of the signals is irregular. The mobile device compensates for the irregular signal, thus improving distance estimation accuracy.