Radio Frequency Ranging and Positioning
Radio Frequency (RF) ranging technology provides precise relative position between moving objects such as vehicles, and absolute positioning in GPS-denied areas such as heavily wooded regions, subterranean environments, and inside buildings. Using licensed free radio technology in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequency bands, and patented signal processing techniques, we offer highly accurate, customized navigation solutions. RF ranging offers geolocation, tracking, mapping and navigation for pedestrians and moving objects.
Shepherd–Collision Avoidance System for Large Mining Trucks
Using RF ranging, ENSCO is developing Shepherd, an integrated sensor collision avoidance system, which is intended to alert drivers of large (30 – 40 feet high) haul trucks to avoid colliding with each other and with smaller objects such as pickup trucks, buildings, and even people operating in open pit mines. Named Shepherd for the many individuals and objects it must coordinate, this real-time system is designed to increase mine safety and reduce mining costs through decreased operational delays. Shepherd synchronizes geolocation, tracking and navigation in GPS-denied environments.
Sensor Positioning
ENSCO has developed a unique patented GPS-denied geolocation and navigation system called Ranger, which locates, tracks, and communicates among mobile units in areas where GPS coverage is spotty or unavailable, such as subterranean environments, dense forests, inside buildings and in urban canyons.
Ranger, a local-area precise position measurement and communications system based upon direct sequence spread spectrum technology, uses a number of fixed radios placed at arbitrary locations and a relative coordinate system defining position. Mobile radios can then move about, measuring distance to each fixed radio, computing accurate X-Y positions. One big advantage of Ranger technology is that the radio can also be used for data communications. Sensor information, voice or biometric data are easily communicated between mobile and fixed transponders. In field applications, Ranger has demonstrated location accuracies of less than a meter in densely wooded areas, one of the most difficult ranging environments.
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