Patent ID: 6690917
Filing Date: 2004-02-10
Classification: G01S,H01Q

Abstract:
A system for automatically directing a communication antenna to point to a desired wireless communication transceiver, comprising:a position location receiver configured to receive signals indicating position location information of said antenna and at least one position location transmitter; a processing mechanism operatively coupled to said position location receiver and configured to determine calibration information of said antenna based on said location information of said antenna and said position location transmitter; and an alignment mechanism operatively coupled to said processing mechanism and said antenna and configured to automatically orient said antenna, based on said calibration information, and to automatically direct the oriented antenna to point to said wireless transceiver, based on directional location information of said wireless transceiver; a direction finding mechanism to point said antenna to said at least position location transmitter in order to determine said calibration information; wherein in response to pointing said antenna to said at least position location transmitter, said antenna location information is defined in terms of a position vector U=(ux, uy, uz) and said position location transmitter location information is defined in terms of a position vector S=(sx, sy, sz) and wherein said processing mechanism determines calibration information based on defining a vector reference space, in accordance with the following relationships: unit vector u=U/|U|, a unit vector defining a plane passing through U; unit vector r=(Sâˆ’U)/|Sâˆ’U|, a unit vector pointing from U to S; unit vector z=(zx=0, zy=0, zz=1), a unit vector pointing north from the center of the earth; unit vector e=(zÃ—U)/|zÃ—U|, a unit vector pointing true east from U; and unit vector n=(UÃ—e)/|U|, a unit vector pointing true north from U, wherein unit vectors u, n, and e are pair-wise orthogonal.