THREE-DIMENSIONAL GEOLOCATION SYSTEM

A spatial location system capable of spatially locating a device in three dimensions is described comprising at least three of: a transmitter and a receiver, together with an antenna array operably connected to each, wherein each antenna array is capable of varying a pointing angle of at least one antenna lobe independently without the need to move either the antenna array or its constituent parts physically and wherein at least three antenna lobes are arranged such that they may partially intersect at one or more pointing angles under electronic control. The antenna array may, for example, comprise at least a first sub-array and at least a second sub-array wherein the second sub-array is oriented substantially orthogonally to the first sub-array and at least a third sub-array wherein third sub-array is positioned at a location which is not coincident with the location at which the at least a first sub-array is positioned. The pointing angle of an antenna lobe or null or other characteristic feature of the antenna radiation pattern of a first sub-array and the pointing angle of an antenna lobe or null or other characteristic feature of the antenna radiation pattern of at least a second sub-array together with the pointing angle of an antenna lobe or null or other characteristic feature of the antenna radiation pattern of at least a third sub-array may be independently controllable in order to allow each to separately locate a signal which falls within their respective steering ranges. A point within the area of intersection of the three or more beams, when they are arranged to point at a signal to be located, may be reported to a further process or system as a three-dimensional spatial location of the signal source or its transmitting antenna. L'invention concerne un système de localisation spatiale susceptible de localiser spatialement un dispositif en trois dimensions, comprenant au moins trois des éléments suivants : un émetteur et un récepteur, conjointement avec un réseau d'antennes connecté de manière fonctionnelle à chacun, chaque réseau d'antennes étant susceptible de faire varier un angle de pointage d'au moins un lobe d'antenne indépendamment sans avoir besoin de déplacer le réseau d'antennes ou ses parties constitutives physiquement et au moins trois lobes d'antenne étant agencés de sorte qu'ils puissent se croiser partiellement à un ou plusieurs angles de pointage sous commande électronique. Le réseau d'antennes peut, par exemple, comprendre au