Patent ID: 7859465

Claim:
A method of time synchronizing a plurality of receiving units in a multilateration system, comprising the steps of: forming a communications network between the plurality of receiving units, the communications network supplying data between receiving units and a central processor; transmitting a message from a first receiving unit to at least one other receiving unit to initiate time synchronization between a clock in the first receiving unit and clocks in the at least one other receiving unit; receiving, at the first receiving unit, a response message from the at least one other receiving unit; and transmitting a reply message from the first receiving unit to the at least one other receiving unit, wherein the reply message contains at least one of (i) a time of receipt of the response message at the first receiving unit, and (ii) a time of transmission of the reply message from the first receiving unit, whereby the at least one other receiving unit uses the messages from the first receiving unit to synchronize the clock in the at least one other receiving unit to the clock in the first receiving unit.