Method of setting-up a range-based tracking system utilizing a tracking coordinate system

1. A method of setting-up a range-based tracking system utilizing a tracking coordinate system, the range-based tracking system making use of a plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes for tracking objects within a tracking environment, the method including the steps of:

(a) transmitting signals between the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes to obtain range information from the range-based tracking system, the range information being indicative of ranges between at least a subset of pairs of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes, wherein the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes includes at least one reference node and at least one feature node;

(b) using the range information to perform anchorless localization to determine coordinates for all of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes in a node coordinate system;

(c) obtaining spatial information related to the at least one feature node, the spatial information being indicative of an absolute location of one or more features or locations within the tracking environment; and

(d) determining the location of all of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes in the tracking coordinate system, wherein some or all of the coordinates of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes are used for tracking in the range-based tracking system;

wherein the tracking coordinate system is determined using the spatial information for the at least one feature node or the tracking coordinate system is derived from the node coordinate system by applying a transformation to the node coordinate system based on the spatial information; and

further including the step of:

changing the role of the at least one feature node to become a further reference node prior to performing tracking;

wherein tracking is performed using mobile nodes and the mobile nodes and the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes utilize the same hardware.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the spatial information includes information specifying at least one of an origin or an orientation of the tracking coordinate system and the transformation includes applying a rigid transformation to the node coordinate system.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the spatial information includes coordinates in an application coordinate system and the transformation includes an alignment of the tracking coordinate system with the application coordinate system.

4. A method according to claim 1 including the step of removing one or more of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes prior to performing the tracking.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of anchorless localization includes the steps of:

a. defining a matrix of ranges between respective pairs of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes;

b. populating the matrix with the range information;

c. if the matrix is incomplete, generating an estimate for an unknown range and further populating the matrix; and then

d. assigning coordinates in the node coordinate system to the nodes based on the matrix.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes are Smartphones or tablet computers.

7. A computer system configured to perform a method according to claim 1 .

8. A computer program configured to perform a method according to claim 1 .

9. A non-transitive carrier medium carrying computer executable code that, when executed on a processor, causes the processor to perform a method according to claim 1 .

10. A range-based tracking system set up by the method according to claim 1 .

11. A method according to claim 1 wherein the spatial information includes one or more features of interest within the tracking environment.

12. A method according to claim 11 including the step of generating or updating a digital map in the tracking coordinate system.

13. A method according to claim 11 including the step of recording the coordinates of the one or more features of interest.

14. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step (b) further includes the step of reducing the errors in the estimation of ranges between the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes by the steps of:

(i) defining a matrix of measured and unknown ranges between respective pairs of the plurality of spaced apart stationary nodes;

(ii) populating the matrix with the measured ranges;

(iii) for each measured range, generating an estimated range using other measured ranges; and

(iv) updating the matrix with the estimated ranges.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein step (iii) includes iteratively performing the sub steps of:

(iii)(A) forming a plurality of simplexes, each including respective subsets of nodes;

(iii)(B) for simplexes having a single common unknown range, estimating the unknown range from the known ranges in the simplexes; and

(iii)(C) further populating the matrix.