Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, devices, and machine-readable mediums for providing a PNT system provided by stratospheric balloons. This stratospheric PNT system (SPNTS) replaces the space-segment of a standard PNTS with a stratospheric segment comprising one or more stratospheric balloons that provide PNTS signals usable to determine timing, positioning, and/or navigation for user devices.

Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, devices, and machine-readable mediums for providing a PNT system provided by stratospheric balloons. This stratospheric PNT system (SPNTS) replaces the space-segment of a standard PNTS with a stratospheric segment comprising one or more stratospheric balloons that provide PNTS signals usable to determine timing, positioning, and/or navigation for user devices.

A method for compensating for the absence of GPS data during a period of GPS signal loss in determining travel mileage of a vehicle includes: detecting vehicle motion using an accelerometer during a period of time in which a GPS tracking device is unable to determine a location of the vehicle due to loss of GPS signal; determining a first location of the vehicle corresponding to the last known GPS location data point stored in memory; determining a second location of the vehicle corresponding to a point at which the GPS signal is reacquired; and calculating the distance between the first and second locations based on a straight-line distance calculation between the first and second locations, or based on the use of geospatial mapping data to plot a roadway route between the first and second locations.

A method for compensating for the absence of GPS data during a period of GPS signal loss in determining travel mileage of a vehicle includes: detecting vehicle motion using an accelerometer during a period of time in which a GPS tracking device is unable to determine a location of the vehicle due to loss of GPS signal; determining a first location of the vehicle corresponding to the last known GPS location data point stored in memory; determining a second location of the vehicle corresponding to a point at which the GPS signal is reacquired; and calculating the distance between the first and second locations based on a straight-line distance calculation between the first and second locations, or based on the use of geospatial mapping data to plot a roadway route between the first and second locations.

Techniques are provided for determining a location of a mobile device based on visual positioning solution (VPS). An example method for determining a position estimate of a mobile device includes obtaining sensor information, detecting one or more identifiable features in the sensor information, determining a range to at least one of the one or more identifiable features, obtaining coarse map information, determining a location of the at least one of the one or more identifiable features based on the coarse map information, and determining the position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the range to the at least one of the one or more identifiable features.

Techniques are provided for determining a location of a mobile device based on visual positioning solution (VPS). An example method for determining a position estimate of a mobile device includes obtaining sensor information, detecting one or more identifiable features in the sensor information, determining a range to at least one of the one or more identifiable features, obtaining coarse map information, determining a location of the at least one of the one or more identifiable features based on the coarse map information, and determining the position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the range to the at least one of the one or more identifiable features.

Techniques are disclosed relating to determining whether geographic locations of a user computing device satisfy a location consensus threshold. A computer system receives results of a plurality of location determination operations, each of which specifies a geographic location of a computing device initiating an action. The computer system then makes a determination whether the received results satisfy a consensus threshold as to geographic location of the computing device. In some embodiments, the determination is usable to select, from a plurality of sets of rules for different geographic regions, a particular set of rules for processing the action. In some cases, the particular set of rules is usable to determine whether to process the action. Such techniques may advantageously allow a processing system to understand how to process actions initiated by a computing device associated with different geographic locations.

Techniques are disclosed relating to determining whether geographic locations of a user computing device satisfy a location consensus threshold. A computer system receives results of a plurality of location determination operations, each of which specifies a geographic location of a computing device initiating an action. The computer system then makes a determination whether the received results satisfy a consensus threshold as to geographic location of the computing device. In some embodiments, the determination is usable to select, from a plurality of sets of rules for different geographic regions, a particular set of rules for processing the action. In some cases, the particular set of rules is usable to determine whether to process the action. Such techniques may advantageously allow a processing system to understand how to process actions initiated by a computing device associated with different geographic locations.

Provided is a positioning method performed by a user equipment, the positioning method including receiving a first reference signal from a first transmitter and a second reference signal from a second transmitter, extracting a first sample vector based on received data of the first reference signal measured at a plurality of sample times and a second sample vector based on received data of the second reference signal measured at the plurality of sample times, calculating a first phase vector and a second phase vector by performing an inner product operation of a DFT coefficient vector for DFT operation with respect to each of the first and second sample vectors, and calculating a difference between a travel distance of the first reference signal and a travel distance of the second reference signal based on phase information of components included in a conjugate multiplication of the first and second phase vectors.

Provided is a positioning method performed by a user equipment, the positioning method including receiving a first reference signal from a first transmitter and a second reference signal from a second transmitter, extracting a first sample vector based on received data of the first reference signal measured at a plurality of sample times and a second sample vector based on received data of the second reference signal measured at the plurality of sample times, calculating a first phase vector and a second phase vector by performing an inner product operation of a DFT coefficient vector for DFT operation with respect to each of the first and second sample vectors, and calculating a difference between a travel distance of the first reference signal and a travel distance of the second reference signal based on phase information of components included in a conjugate multiplication of the first and second phase vectors.