Determining Relative Locations by Differential Analysis in 5G and 6G
In a traffic emergency, an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle does not care about its absolute location; it only needs to know is the relative location, such as distance and bearing, of the other vehicle. Navigation satellite signals provide no help because they only relate to one receiver's absolute location. To resolve this, one of the vehicles (or a roadside access point), can precisely determine the relative locations of the two vehicles by instructing them to acquire the same satellite signals at the same time, and then differentially analyzing those signals to determine the relative locations of the vehicles relative to each other. The vehicle can then execute a maneuver, using that precision relative location information, to solve the emergency and save lives. Optionally, the differential analysis can be done by an artificial intelligence model, provided in one of the vehicles or in a roadside access point.
1 . A roadside access point of a wireless network, the roadside access point comprising non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by a computer environment in the roadside access point, cause a method to be performed, the method comprising:
a) broadcasting a planning message, the planning message specifying one or more particular navigation satellites, a particular time for acquiring signals from the particular navigation satellites, and a wireless address of the roadside access point;
b) acquiring, at the particular time, from the particular navigation satellites, a first set of the navigation satellite signals;
c) receiving, from a vehicle, a data message comprising a wireless address of the vehicle and data related to a second set of the navigation satellite signals, the second set of the navigation satellite signals acquired by the vehicle at the particular time from the particular navigation satellites; and
d) determining, according to the first set of navigation satellite signals and the data related to the second set of navigation satellite signals, a relative position of the vehicle, relative to a location of the roadside access point at the particular time.
2 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the planning message is transmitted according to 5G or 6G technology.
3 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the relative position comprises a distance and an angle according to a location of the vehicle and a location of the roadside access point at the particular time.
4 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the relative position comprises a pair of orthogonal coordinates according to the location of the vehicle and the location of the roadside access point at the particular time.
5 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting or broadcasting a position message indicating the relative position of the vehicle.
6 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises using differential analysis to determine the relative position of the vehicle, wherein:
a) the differential analysis takes, as input, the first set of navigation satellite
signals and the data related to the second set of navigation satellite signals; and
b) the differential analysis provides, as output, the relative position of the
vehicle.
7 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises using differential analysis to determine the relative position of the vehicle, wherein the differential analysis is configured to cause errors to cancel, wherein the errors are related to a satellite ephemeris, a satellite clock jitter, and an atmospheric propagation of the navigation satellite signals.
8 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
a) determining a geographical location of the roadside access point;
b) calculating a geographical location of the vehicle by adding, to the geographical location of the roadside access point, the relative position of the vehicle; and
c) transmitting a message to the vehicle indicating the geographical location of the vehicle.
9 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises synchronizing a clock of the vehicle with a clock of the roadside access point by:
a) transmitting, to the vehicle, a first synchronization message comprising a
first timing synchronization feature; and
b) receiving, from the vehicle, a second synchronization message comprising a second timing synchronization feature.
10 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
a) receiving, by the roadside access point, from an additional vehicle, an additional message comprising a wireless address of the additional vehicle and data related to a third set of the navigation satellite signals, the third set of the navigation satellite signals acquired by the additional vehicle at the particular time from the particular navigation satellites; and
b) determining, according to the data related to the second set of navigation satellite signals and the data related to the third set of navigation satellite signals, a position of the vehicle relative to the additional vehicle, or a position of the additional vehicle relative to the vehicle, at the particular time.
11 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
a) including, in the planning message, a plurality of times for receiving signals from a plurality of navigation satellites;
b) receiving, at each time of the plurality of times, the signals from navigation satellites of the plurality of navigation satellites;
c) determining, according to the signals from the plurality of navigation satellites, and according to data transmitted from the vehicle, a two-dimensional position of the vehicle relative to the roadside access point; and
d) transmitting a message to the vehicle indicating the two-dimensional position of the vehicle relative to the roadside access point.
12 . The roadside access point of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
a) receiving, from a plurality of vehicles, a plurality of data messages, each
data message comprising data related to the navigation satellite signals received by each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles at the particular time;
b) determining, according to the first set of navigation satellite signals and the plurality of data messages, a two-dimensional position of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, relative to the roadside access point; and
c) broadcasting a mapping message indicating the two-dimensional positions of each vehicle, of the plurality of vehicles, relative to the roadside access point.
13 . A method for a first wireless device to communicate with a second wireless user device and a third wireless device, the method comprising:
a) broadcasting a message offering to determine precision locations of any responding wireless user devices, and specifying a particular time;
b) receiving, from the second wireless device, a data message indicating data acquired, at the particular time, by the second wireless device from navigation satellite signals;
c) receiving, from the third wireless device, a further data message indicating further data acquired, at the particular time, by the third wireless device from the navigation satellite signals; and
d) determining, by differential analysis of the data and the further data, a relative location of the second wireless device relative to the third wireless device, or vice-versa.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
a) acquiring, by the first wireless device, at the particular time, yet further navigation satellite signals comprising yet further data; and
b) determining, by further differential analysis, a relative location of the second wireless device relative to the first wireless device, and a relative location of the third wireless device relative to the first wireless device.
15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
a) transmitting or broadcasting a mapping message indicating the relative location of the second wireless device relative to the third wireless device, or vice-versa.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the data and the further data comprise waveform data received by the second and third wireless devices, respectively, at the particular time.
17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein:
a) the first wireless device includes an artificial intelligence (AI) model;
b) the AI model is configured to receive, as input, the data and the further data;
c) the AI model is configured to produce, as output, the relative location of the second wireless device relative to the third wireless device, or vice-versa.
18 . A method for a first vehicle to determine a location of a second vehicle, the method comprising:
a) synchronizing a clock of the first vehicle with a clock of the second vehicle;
b) simultaneously, at a predetermined time, acquiring a first set of navigation satellite signals and determining a first value of a parameter of the signals;
c) receiving, from the second vehicle, a data message indicating a second value of the parameter, the second value determined according to a second set of navigation satellite signals acquired by the second vehicle at the predetermined time; and
d) determining, according to the first value and the second value, a location of the second vehicle relative to the first vehicle.
19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising transmitting or broadcasting a location message indicating the location of the second vehicle relative to the first vehicle.
20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the first vehicle and the second vehicle are traveling on a road, the road having a road direction, the location of the second vehicle comprising a first coordinate value in the road direction and a second coordinate value in a direction perpendicular to the road direction.