Principles Of Operation

PinPoint provides accurate location results without the requirement of synchronized clocks. This section will discuss how PinPoint operates.

Here is the quick description of PinPoint's operation;

PinPoint computes distance using a Differential Time Of Arrival methodology. (DTOA). PinPoint nodes send and receive timestamps and the calculate the distance by comparing the timestamp values.

The clocks of PinPoint nodes need not be synchronized. The clock rates are assumed to be reliable but may be slightly different (drift) and certainly not in phase (offset).

PinPoint differentiates itself by making accurate measure without hardware synchronization. It relies on its proprietary Derived Parametric Synchronization (DPS) algorithm to provide virtual synchronization among the nodes.

Once the DPS algorithm is applied to a pair of PinPoint enabled mobile nodes (PinPoint tags) the distance between them can be determined. By repeating this among three Pinpoint devices the location (X,Y) can be determined. If four nodes are processed the (X,Y,Z) location which includes relative altitude of the devices can be ascertained.

PinPoint uses proven Trilateration techniques to ascertain the relative locations of all nodes (PinPoint tags) in any configuration or application.

Knowing the location of three or four fixed “beacon” tags in the deployment will then provide accurate absolute location of a PinPoint tagged item. The absolute location determination is base on simple trigonometric calculations.

The next sections explain in detail how each all this is accomplished.