US6539327B1 — Process for determining the position of a moving …

Claim 1

Independent Claim 126 words

A process for determining the position of a moving object comprising: acquiring scalar measurements by a set of sensors capable of movement during said process and adapted to transmit their positions at each of a plurality of instants; estimating a trajectory of the object by a model; combining the measurements output from each sensor to obtain spatial gradient measurements representative of the vector magnetic disturbance of the moving object; estimating a vector of parameters characteristic of the model as a function of gradient measurements and as a function of the position of the sensors; and determining the position of the object as a function of the position of the sensors and the parameters vector; wherein the sensors are all installed at substantially the same physical location.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 126 words

A process for determining the position of a moving object comprising: acquiring scalar measurements by a set of sensors capable of movement during said process and adapted to transmit their positions at each of a plurality of instants; estimating a trajectory of the object by a model; combining the measurements output from each sensor to obtain spatial gradient measurements representative of the vector magnetic disturbance of the moving object; estimating a vector of parameters characteristic of the model as a function of gradient measurements and as a function of the position of the sensors; and determining the position of the object as a function of the position of the sensors and the parameters vector; wherein the sensors are all installed at substantially the same physical location.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 75 words

A process according to claim 1 , further comprising modeling the movement of the object based on a uniform movement along a straight line, the parameters vector being (θ, r/v, v′/v), where θ is the azimuth of the object at a reference instant taken with respect to the North direction, r is the source/sensor distance at the same reference instant, v′ is the speed of the object, and v is the modulus of the speed.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 1 , further comprising using magnetic measurements in combination with acoustic measurements.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 19 words

A process according to claim 1 , further comprising using electromagnetic measurements output from scalar magnetometers used in gradientmeters.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 37 words

A process according to claim 1 , further comprising estimating the parameters vector using an algorithm that maximizes the probability of the tracking parameters vector or state vector with respect to the probability distribution of measurement noise.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 42 words

A process according to claim 5 , further comprising using minimization algorithms to minimize the error between the measured signals and the signals reconstructed with the model used to approximate the trajectory of the object when the measurement noise is approximately gaussian.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 154 words

A process for determining the position of a moving object comprising: acquiring scalar measurements by a set of sensors capable of movement during said process and adapted to transmit their positions at each of a plurality of instants; estimating a trajectory of the object by a model; combining the measurements output from each sensor to obtain spatial gradient measurements representative of the vector magnetic disturbance of the moving object; estimating a vector of parameters characteristic of the model as a function of gradient measurements and as a function of the position of the sensors; and determining the position of the object as a function of the position of the sensors and the parameters vector; wherein the sensors are all installed at substantially the same physical location; and further comprising using together an azimuth method and a Doppler phenomenon observed in the case of sources radiating a narrow band signal around a stable central frequency.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 154 words

A process for determining the position of a moving object comprising: acquiring scalar measurements by a set of sensors capable of movement during said process and adapted to transmit their positions at each of a plurality of instants; estimating a trajectory of the object by a model; combining the measurements output from each sensor to obtain spatial gradient measurements representative of the vector magnetic disturbance of the moving object; estimating a vector of parameters characteristic of the model as a function of gradient measurements and as a function of the position of the sensors; and determining the position of the object as a function of the position of the sensors and the parameters vector; wherein the sensors are all installed at substantially the same physical location; and further comprising using together an azimuth method and a Doppler phenomenon observed in the case of sources radiating a narrow band signal around a stable central frequency.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 5 , wherein at least one sensor is moved during said process.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 1 , wherein the speed of vehicles is counted, classified and estimated.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 15 words

A process according to claim 1 , wherein said process is used for submarine surveillance.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 75 words

A process according to claim 7 , further comprising modeling the movement of the object based on a uniform movement along a straight line, the parameters vector being (θ, r/v, v′/v), where θ is the azimuth of the object at a reference instant taken with respect to the North direction, r is the source/sensor distance at the same reference instant, v′ is the speed of the object, and v is the modulus of the speed.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 7 , further comprising using magnetic measurements in combination with acoustic measurements.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 19 words

A process according to claim 7 , further comprising using electromagnetic measurements output from scalar magnetometers used in gradientmeters.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 37 words

A process according to claim 7 , further comprising estimating the parameters vector using an algorithm that maximizes the probability of the tracking parameters vector or state vector with respect to the probability distribution of measurement noise.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 42 words

A process according to claim 14 , further comprising using minimization algorithms to minimize the error between the measured signals and the signals reconstructed with the model used to approximate the trajectory of the object when the measurement noise is approximately gaussian.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 14 , wherein at least one sensor is moved during said process.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 17 words

A process according to claim 7 , wherein the speed of vehicles is counted, classified and estimated.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 15 words

A process according to claim 7 , wherein said process is used for submarine surveillance.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2006-03-24	2006-09-23	2007-03-25	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2010-03-24	2010-09-23	2011-03-25	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2014-03-24	2014-09-23	2015-03-25	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Process for determining the position of a moving object using magnetic gradientmetric measurements

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