Patent ID: 11971492
Assignee: RTR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A ranging system, comprising:
a transponder mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle; and
a range detector comprising:
a Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver that utilize different transmit and receive frequencies; and
a controller;
when hovering proximate to a first known location, the controller is configured to determine first GPS coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle, to direct the RF transmitter to transmit a first RF signal at the transmit frequency, to receive a second RF signal at the receive frequency through the RF receiver from the transponder in response to the first RF signal, and to calculate a distance between the range detector and the transponder based on the first RF signal and the second RF signal;
when hovering proximate to a second known location, the controller is configured to determine second GPS coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle, to direct the RF transmitter to transmit the first RF signal at the transmit frequency, to receive the second RF signal at the receive frequency through the RF receiver from the transponder in response to the first RF signal, and to calculate the distance between the range detector and the transponder based on the first RF signal and the second RF signal;
the controller is further configured to calculate a position of the range detector relative to the first known location and the second known location based on the distance calculated between the range detector and the transponder with the unmanned aerial vehicle at the first GPS coordinates, a distance between the first GPS coordinates and the first known location, the distance calculated between the range detector and the transponder with the unmanned aerial vehicle at the second GPS coordinates, a distance between the second GPS coordinates and the second known location, a distance between the first GPS coordinates and the second GPS coordinates, and a distance between the first known location and the second known location.