Patent ID: 8493890

Claim:
A method for determining node location in a wireless network, comprising: receiving, at a receiver node, chirped signals, each chirped signal being broadcast from a transmitting node of a plurality of pairs of transmitting nodes in the wireless network, wherein the transmitting nodes of each pair share a common timeslot and transmit identical chirped signals, and wherein a location of the transmitting nodes is known; detecting beat frequencies, wherein each beat frequency is created by a pair of the chirped signals broadcast from each of the pairs of transmitting nodes; determining time delay differences between the chirped signals corresponding to each beat frequency, wherein each time delay difference is calculated by dividing the beat frequency of a pair of chirped signals by a frequency rate of change of the chirped signals; determining differential distances of the pairs of transmitting nodes to the receiver node based on the time delay differences and the known location of the transmitting nodes; and determining a location of the receiver node in view of the differential.