B-Field Communication and Navigation

T

he global positioning system, GPS, is one of the important technical accomplishments of the United States.  It has a pervasive influence on many elements of DoD and civilian related activities.  However, it has operational limitations, which preclude its use in many situations as in cases of signal blockage, e.g., under tree canopies, in dense urban environments, underground tunnels, caves, and under water.  Visidyne has developed a concept to address these limitations with an innovative design that closely parallels GPS, but uses AC, non-propagating magnetic fields for precise, accurate location and navigation where GPS does not work.  Operationally, it would use multiple, four or more, local, i.e., B-field pseudolites, pre-positioned around an area that would propagate time stamped signals into a volume under interrogation.  This development can be used for local communication in high-rise buildings when for example, due to fires or power outages the conventional communication systems are disabled. Some key components of the design are under patent application.

Applications: Indoor, underground, underwater navigation and communications.