Patent ID: 7062381

Claim:
A method for determining the relative position of a primary vehicle with respect to a secondary vehicle, the method comprising: transmitting a first transmission signal from a primary transceiver of a primary vehicle to a first transponder and a second transponder associated with a secondary vehicle, a first transponder antenna and a second transponder antenna are associated with secondary vehicular reference points that are spaced apart from each other; transmitting a second transmission signal from the first transponder of the secondary vehicle to a first beacon of the primary vehicle and the primary transceiver, a primary transceiver antenna and a first beacon antenna associated with primary vehicular reference points that are spaced apart from each other; transmitting a third transmission signal from the second transponder of the secondary vehicle to the first beacon of the primary vehicle and the primary transceiver; determining respective propagation times associated with the first transmission signal, the second transmission signal, and the third transmission signal; and estimating a relative position of the primary vehicle with respect to the secondary vehicle based on the primary vehicular reference points, the secondary vehicular reference points and the determined propagation times.