Abstract:
Methods and systems for reducing a leakage component of a received-signal are disclosed. A transmit antenna of a radar system transmits a transmit-signal including a transmit component. A receive antenna of the radar system receives a received-signal including a leakage component and a target component. The received-signal corresponds to the transmit-signal. An overlap determination is made to determine whether the target component overlaps the leakage component and/or is received during a time when the leakage component is expected to be received. If overlap exists, a reduction leakage component (e.g., a previously determined reduction leakage component) is subtracted from the received-signal so as to produce a modified received-signal, the modified received-signal including the target component and substantially excluding the leakage component. If overlap does not exist, an estimate of the leakage component is produced and a reduction leakage component, based at least in part on the leakage component, is produced.
Abstract:
A method of detecting interference noise at a radar altimeter. The method comprises periodically emitting a pulse from the pulsed radar altimeter, periodically detecting a noise level in a noise gate, and determining if the noise level detected during each noise-level-detection period exceeds a noise threshold. The period of emitting the pulse is a pulse repetition interval and the noise gate is offset from other gates in the altimeter. If the noise level detected during a noise-level-detection period is greater than the noise threshold, a counter value is incremented by a selected incremental value for that noise-level-detection period and it is determined if the counter value is greater than a count threshold.
Abstract:
A method of detecting interference noise at a radar altimeter. The method comprises periodically emitting a pulse from the pulsed radar altimeter, periodically detecting a noise level in a noise gate, and determining if the noise level detected during each noise-level-detection period exceeds a noise threshold. The period of emitting the pulse is a pulse repetition interval and the noise gate is offset from other gates in the altimeter. If the noise level detected during a noise-level-detection period is greater than the noise threshold, a counter value is incremented by a selected incremental value for that noise-level-detection period and it is determined if the counter value is greater than a count threshold.
Abstract:
A method for distinguishing a signal of interest from one or more interference signals in a received analog signal comprises receiving an analog signal at a radio front end, and transmitting the received analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter to sample data in the received analog signal and output a digital signal. A sub-channel Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is performed on the digital signal, and sub-channel FFT bin magnitudes are averaged over a set period of time to determine a shape of the received signal. The shape of the received signal is compared to one or more signal reference patterns by computing a metric for the shape of the received signal, and computing a metric for the one more signal reference patterns. The computed metrics are then compared to a predetermined threshold value to determine the presence, or lack thereof, of a signal of interest in the received signal.
Abstract:
Methods and systems for reducing a leakage component of a received-signal are disclosed. A transmit antenna of a radar system transmits a transmit-signal including a transmit component. A receive antenna of the radar system receives a received-signal including a leakage component and a target component. The received-signal corresponds to the transmit-signal. An overlap determination is made to determine whether the target component overlaps the leakage component and/or is received during a time when the leakage component is expected to be received. If overlap exists, a reduction leakage component (e.g., a previously determined reduction leakage component) is subtracted from the received-signal so as to produce a modified received-signal, the modified received-signal including the target component and substantially excluding the leakage component. If overlap does not exist, an estimate of the leakage component is produced and a reduction leakage component, based at least in part on the leakage component, is produced.
Abstract:
A method of obtaining in-phase and quadrature phase components for a narrowband signal is provided. The method includes digitally sampling a narrowband signal at a digital sampling rate to obtain a number of data points. The method subtracts a first portion of the data points corresponding to a first half of one period of the signal from a second portion of the data points corresponding to a second half of the one period of the signal to obtain a number of output data points which is less than the number of data points obtained from sampling the narrowband signal.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for Doppler beam sharpening in a radar altimeter are provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a return signal at a radar altimeter receiver and applying a first gate to the return signal to select at least a first component of the return signal. Spectral analysis is performed on the first component of the return signal to generate a plurality of frequency bins, wherein each frequency bin is centered around a different frequency across a Doppler shift frequency spectrum for the first component of the return signal. The method further comprises tracking the first component of the return signal, selecting a first frequency bin of the plurality of frequency bins based on the Doppler shift frequency of the first component of the return signal, and outputting a portion of the first component of the return signal falling within the first frequency bin for further processing.
Abstract:
A false lock filter circuit for a pulsed altimeter is provided. The circuit includes a low pass filter having a relatively low bandwidth (LBW LPF), a low pass filter having a relatively high bandwidth (HBW LPF) and a false lock controller. The LBW LPF has an input that is coupled to receive a detector output. The HBW LPF has an input that is coupled to receive the detector output. The false lock controller is coupled to receive outputs from the LBW LPF and HBW LPF. Moreover, the false lock controller is configured to sample an output of the HBW LPF and apply a statistical analysis on the samples to determine if a valid target has been detected.
Abstract:
A radar sensor is described that includes a radar transmitter, a radar receiver configured to receive reflected returns of signals output by the radar transmitter, and a signal processing unit configured to process signals received by the radar receiver. The signal processing unit includes a comparator, a first filter comprising an output coupled to a reference input of the comparator, and a second filter comprising an output coupled to a signal input of the comparator. The first and second filters are configured to receive a common input related to the reflected returns. The first filter is configured to have a time constant such that a rise time of the first filter output is faster than a rise time of the second filter output.