Patent attributes
A method of providing synchronization-free station locating in a wireless network is provided. In this method, an AP having a known location sends a unicast packet to the station and notes its time of departure TOD(D). The station receives the unicast packet, notes its time of arrival TOA(D), sends an acknowledgement packet to the AP, and notes its time of departure TOD(D_ACK). The AP receives the acknowledgment packet and notes its time of arrival TOA(D_ACK). Notably, a distance between the AP and the station can be accurately determined using a first difference between the TOA(D_ACK) and the TOD(D) and a second difference between the TOD(D_ACK) and the TOA(D). A plurality of such computed distances between a plurality of APs and the station can be used to determine an accurate location of the station.