Coded aperture beam analysis method and apparatus
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G01S-003/72
G01S-003/46
G01S-013/66
G01S-013/02
출원번호
US-0725621
(2012-12-21)
등록번호
US-9535151
(2017-01-03)
발명자
/ 주소
Lynch, Jonathan J.
출원인 / 주소
HRL Laboratories, LLc
대리인 / 주소
Ladas & Parry
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
0인용 특허 :
9
초록▼
A method and apparatus for determining the range, radial velocity, and bearing angles of scattering objects reflecting RF signals or for determining the range, radial velocity, and bearing angles of sources RF signals. An array of antenna elements is utilized, the array of antenna elements each havi
A method and apparatus for determining the range, radial velocity, and bearing angles of scattering objects reflecting RF signals or for determining the range, radial velocity, and bearing angles of sources RF signals. An array of antenna elements is utilized, the array of antenna elements each having an associated two state modulator wherein transmitted and/or received energy is phase encoded according to a sequence of multibit codes, the bits of the multibit codes each preferably having two states with approximately a 50% probability for each of the two states occurring within each given multibit code in said sequence of multibit codes, thereby allowing the determination of range, radial velocity, and bearing angles through digital computation after the scattered signals have been received.
대표청구항▼
1. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal, the apparatus comprising: an array of antenna elements for receiving the at least one RF signal;an array of modulators, each modulator in said array of modulators
1. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal, the apparatus comprising: an array of antenna elements for receiving the at least one RF signal;an array of modulators, each modulator in said array of modulators being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements and each modulator in said array of modulators modulating the signal from each corresponding antenna element during a predetermined number of successive time periods according to a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods;a mixer;a summation network for applying a summation of signals from the array of modulators to said mixer, the mixer converting the summation of signals either to baseband or to intermediate frequency analog signals;an analog to digital convertor for detecting and converting the baseband or intermediate frequency analog signals from the mixer to corresponding digital signals; andmeans for analyzing the corresponding digital signals to determine the direction of arrival of the at least one RF signal from the at least one emitting source of the at least one RF signal. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the array of modulators comprise an array of two state phase shifters. 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the means for analyzing the corresponding digital signals comprises at least a programmable gate array. 4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the means for analyzing the corresponding digital signals comprises at least a digital signal processor. 5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the means for analyzing the corresponding digital signals comprises at least a digital signal processor and a CPU. 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the digital signal processor provides emitting source signal strength estimates in a direction coordinate system and the CPU (i) compares the emitting source signal strength estimates to locate one or more signal peaks which exceed some threshold and (ii) provides corresponding direction coordinates corresponding to the one or more signal peaks to define the direction of arrival of the at least one RF signal from the at least one emitting source. 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one source of the at least one RF signal is a reflection of the at least one RF signal off of an object whose direction relative to the array of antenna elements is to be determined. 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the apparatus also includes a transmitter for transmitting the at least one RF signal which is reflected from said object. 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the transmitter is coupled to said array of antenna elements, the array of antenna elements receiving the at least one RF signal during a first reception interval and the array of antenna elements transmitting the at least one RF signal during a second reception interval. 10. The apparatus of claim 9 including a circulator and wherein the array of antenna elements is coupled with said array of modulators via said circulator and wherein the array of antenna elements is also coupled with said transmitter via said circulator. 11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the transmitter is coupled with a second array of antenna elements, the second array of antenna elements transmitting the at least one RF signal during a first reception interval and the first mentioned array of antenna elements transmitting the at least one RF signal during a second reception interval. 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the transmitter is coupled with the second array of antenna elements via a second array of modulators, each modulator in said second array of modulators being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said second array of antenna elements for modulating signals for the corresponding antenna elements according to a single bit of a second aperture code. 13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the second aperture code used a transmission interval and the first aperture code used during an immediately following reception interval are identical codes. 14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the second aperture code is utilized during a transmission interval and the first aperture code is utilized during an immediately following reception interval. 15. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the at least one source of the at least one RF signal is an RF transmission source whose direction relative to the array of antenna elements is to be determined. 16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the array of modulators comprises an array of single bit modulators. 17. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal reflected from an object, the apparatus comprising: a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna, at least one of the receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna comprising an array of antenna elements for transmitting or receiving the at least one RF signal; andat least one array of single bit modulators, each single bit modulator in said at least one array of single bit modulators being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements for modulating the signal for or from each corresponding antenna element during a predetermined number of successive time periods according to a state of a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods, the aperture codes each having two states with approximately a 50% probability for either of the two states occurring in each given aperture code in said sequence of said aperture codes. 18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein transmitted and/or received energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element in the array of antenna elements by a corresponding single bit modulator in said at least one array of single bit modulators according to the sequence of aperture codes supplied to said at least one array of single bit modulators. 19. A method for determining the range, radial velocity, and bearing angles of scattering objects reflecting signals or for determining the range and bearing angle of sources of signals, the method comprising: utilizing an array of antenna elements, the array of antenna elements each having an associated two state modulator,during a predetermined number of successive time periods, coding each transmitted and/or received energy according to a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods,thereby allowing the determination of range, radial velocity, and bearing angles through digital computation after the scattered signals have been received. 20. The method of claim 19 wherein transmitted and/or received energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element of the array of antenna elements according to the aperture codes associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 21. The method of claim 19 wherein the bits of the aperture codes each have two states with approximately a 50% probability for each of the two states occurring in each given aperture code in a sequence of aperture codes. 22. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal reflected and/or emitted from an object, the apparatus comprising: a receiving antenna comprising an array of antenna elements for receiving the at least one RF signal; andat least one array of phase modulators, each phase modulator in said at least one array of modulators being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements for modulating the signal from each corresponding antenna element during a predetermined number of successive time periods according to a state of a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods, each bit of the aperture codes having two states with approximately a 50% probability for either of the two states occurring in each given aperture code associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein received RF signal energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element in the array of antenna elements by a corresponding modulator in said at least one array of modulators according to the state of said bit of the aperture codes corresponding thereto supplied to said at least one array of modulators. 24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the phase modulators in said at least one array of phase modulators are each single bit phase modulators. 25. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal reflected and/or emitted from an object, the apparatus comprising: a receiving antenna comprising an array of antenna elements for receiving the at least one RF signal; andat least one array of phase modulators, each phase modulator in said at least one array of modulators being operated as a single bit modulator and being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements for, during a predetermined number of successive time periods, modulating the signal from each corresponding antenna element element according to a state of a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein received RF signal energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element in the array of antenna elements by a corresponding modulator in said at least one array of modulators according to the state of said bit of the aperture code supplied to said at least one array of modulators. 27. An apparatus for transmitting at least one RF signal, the apparatus comprising: a transmitting antenna comprising an array of antenna elements for transmitting the at least one RF signal; andat least one array of phase modulators, each phase modulator in said at least one array of modulators being operated as a single bit modulator and being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements for, during a predetermined number of successive time periods, modulating transmission signal supplied to each corresponding antenna element according to a state of a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein transmitted RF signal energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element in the array of antenna elements by a corresponding modulator in said at least one array of modulators according to the state of said bit of the aperture code supplied to said at least one array of modulators. 29. An apparatus for determining a direction of arrival of at least one RF signal from at least one source of the at least one RF signal reflected and/or emitted from an object, the apparatus comprising: a receiving antenna comprising an array of antenna elements for receiving the at least one RF signal; andat least one array of single bit phase modulators, each single bit phase modulator in said at least one array of single bit modulators being coupled with a corresponding antenna element in said array of antenna elements for, during a predetermined number of successive time periods, modulating the signal from each corresponding antenna element according to a state of a different associated bit of a single aperture code, a different aperture code being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the aperture codes each have two states with approximately a 50% probability for either of the two states occurring in each given aperture code in said different aperture codes being associated to each of said predetermined number of time periods. 31. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein received RF signal energy is 0/180 degree phase encoded with respect to each element in the array of antenna elements by a corresponding single bit modulator in said at least one array of single bit modulators according to the state of said bit of the aperture code supplied to said at least one array of single bit modulators.
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