Short range precision navigation and tracking system and method therefor

Claim 1

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) modulating said continuous wave with a generated modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (3) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (4) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (5) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (6) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitter modulated continuous wave; (7) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (8) comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signals; (9) adjusting the frequency of the generated modulation signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (10) determining the frequency of said generated modulation signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between said master and repeater station; and (11) selectively reversing the phase of said generated modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 2

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) modulating said continuous wave with a generated modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (3) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (4) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (5) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (6) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitter modulated continuous wave; (7) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (8) comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signals; (9) adjusting the frequency of the generated modulation signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (10) determining the frequency of said generated modulation signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between said master and repeater station; and (11) selectively reversing the phase of said generated modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 4

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and a harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (10) comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (11) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 5

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and a harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (10) comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (11) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 9

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (10) comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signal and said recovered modulation signal; (11) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 10

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (10) comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signal and said recovered modulation signal; (11) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 12

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising: (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) means for dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) means for modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) means for recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and a harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (10) means for comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (11) means for adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) means for determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 13

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising: (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) means for dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) means for modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) means for recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and a harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (10) means for comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said harmonic of the recovered modulation signal; (11) means for adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) means for determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 17

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising: (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for modulating said continuous wave with a generated modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (3) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (4) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (5) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (6) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (7) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (8) means for comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signals; (9) means for adjusting the frequency of the generated modulation signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (10) means for determining the frequency of said generated modulation signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between said master and repeater station; and, (11) means for selectively reversing the phase of said generated modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 18

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising: (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for modulating said continuous wave with a generated modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (3) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (4) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (5) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (6) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (7) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (8) means for comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signals; (9) means for adjusting the frequency of the generated modulation signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (10) means for determining the frequency of said generated modulation signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between said master and repeater station; and, (11) means for selectively reversing the phase of said generated modulation signal thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 19

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) means for dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) means for modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) means for recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (10) means for comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signal and said recovered modulation signal; (11) means for adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) means for determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) means for selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 20

An apparatus for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station (1) means for generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) means for generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) means for dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is an integer greater than 1 to produce a modulation signal; (4) means for modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) means for transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) means for receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) means for receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) means for recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) means for establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the modulation signal and the recovered modulation signal; (10) means for comparing the phase relationship of said modulation signal and said recovered modulation signal; (11) means for adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (12) means for determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (13) means for selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 21

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is any integer to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) multiplying the frequency of the recovered modulation signal by N, where N is an integer greater than 1; (10) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and the multiplied recovered modulation signal; (11) comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said multiplied recovered modulation signal; (12) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (13) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relation is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (14) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 22

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is any integer to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulated continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at a master station; (8) recovering the modulation signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) multiplying the frequency of the recovered modulation signal by N, where N is an integer greater than 1; (10) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between the generated signal and the multiplied recovered modulation signal; (11) comparing the phase relationship of said generated signal and said multiplied recovered modulation signal; (12) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said predetermined phase relationship is obtained; (13) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relation is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (14) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near range working effectiveness.

Claim 23

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is any integer to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulation continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (8) recovering the modulated signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) multiplying the frequency of the recovered modulation signal by N, where N is an integer greate than 1; (10) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between a harmonic of the modulation signal and the multiplied recovered modulation signal; (11) comparing the phase relationship of said harmonic of the modulation signal and said multiplied recovered modulation signal; (12) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said pretermined phase relationship is obtained; (13) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (14) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near rane working effectiveness.

Claim 24

A method for determining the distance between a master station and a repeater station comprising the steps of: (1) generating a continuous wave at a first carrier frequency; (2) generating a signal wave having a frequency f; (3) dividing the frequency f of the signal wave by N, where N is any integer to produce a modulation signal; (4) modulating said continuous wave with the modulation signal to produce a modulated continuous wave; (5) transmitting the modulated continuous wave from a master station; (6) receiving said modulated continuous wave at a repeater station and retransmitting from the repeater station said modulation continuous wave at a second and different carrier frequency; (7) receiving said retransmitted modulated continuous wave at the master station; (8) recovering the modulated signal from said retransmitted modulated continuous wave; (9) multiplying the frequency of the recovered modulation signal by N, where N is an integer greate than 1; (10) establishing a predetermined phase relationship between a harmonic of the modulation signal and the multiplied recovered modulation signal; (11) comparing the phase relationship of said harmonic of the modulation signal and said multiplied recovered modulation signal; (12) adjusting the frequency of said generated signal until said pretermined phase relationship is obtained; (13) determining the frequency of said generated signal after said predetermined phase relationship is obtained, said frequency being a function of the distance between the master and repeater stations; and, (14) selectively reversing the phase of the modulation signal, thereby increasing the near rane working effectiveness.