Systems and methods for estimating angle of arrival in a wireless device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11378642-B2
Application number	US-201916597743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2019
Priority date	Mar 15, 2017
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

An example method of a wireless device includes, determining a first attribute value of a first radio frequency (RF) signal received through a first antenna during a first period, determining a first attribute value of a second RF signal received through the first antenna during a second period, determining a second attribute value of the first RF signal received through a second antenna during the first period, and determining a second attribute value of the second RF signal received through a third antenna during the second period. The method further includes compensating for a determined difference between a first offset introduced by a first oscillator and a second offset introduced by a second oscillator and then estimating an angle of arrival associated with the first and second RF signals, based on attribute values of the first RF signal and the second RF signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of a wireless device, the method comprising:
based on a first signal from a first oscillator of the wireless device, determining a first phase value of a first radio frequency (RF) signal received through a first antenna during a first period, and determining a first phase value of a second RF signal received through the first antenna during a second period;
based on a second signal from a second oscillator of the wireless device, determining a second phase value of the first RF signal received through a second antenna during the first period, and determining a second phase value of the second RF signal received through a third antenna during the second period; and
determining a difference between a first offset introduced by the first oscillator and a second offset introduced by the second oscillator;
compensating for the determined difference; and
estimating an angle of arrival associated with the first and second RF signals, based on the first and second phase values of the first RF signal, and the first and second phase values of the second RF signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the estimating of the angle of arrival comprises determining a first phase difference and a second phase difference, wherein the first phase difference is between the first and second phase values of the first RF signal and the second phase difference is between the first and second phase values of the second RF signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the estimating of the angle of arrival comprises adjusting the second phase value of the second RF signal to estimate a third phase value of the first RF signal received through the third antenna during the first period, said adjusting comprising determining a phase difference between the first phase value of the first RF signal and the first phase value of the second RF signal, and subtracting the phase difference from the second phase value of the second RF signal.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising using a first receiver coupled to the first antenna, processing the first RF signal and the second RF signal received through the first antenna, and using a second receiver configured to be coupled to the second and third antenna through a switching circuit, processing the first RF signal received through the second antenna and the second RF signal received through the second antenna.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compensating for the determined difference is prior to estimating the angle of arrival, said compensating comprising synchronizing to within a predetermined range of synchronization the first offset introduced by the first oscillator and the second offset introduced by the second oscillator.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the difference between the first offset and the second offset comprises determining a phase difference between a first phase offset introduced by the first oscillator and a second phase offset introduced by the second oscillator.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the phase difference comprises concurrently coupling the first antenna to a first receiver coupled to the first oscillator and to a second receiver coupled to the second oscillator and deducing the phase difference between the first signal from the first oscillator and the second signal from the second oscillator.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first RF signal and the second RF signal is modulated with respect to at least one of frequency and phase.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second phase value of the first RF signal and the second phase value of the second RF signal comprises performing calculations using at least one of I and Q values associated with the first RF signal and the second RF signal.

10. An apparatus comprising:
a first receiver to provide a first phase value of a first radio frequency (RF) signal received through a first antenna during a first period and provide a first phase value of a second RF signal received through the first antenna during a second period;
a second receiver configured to provide a second phase value of the first RF signal received through the second antenna during the first period and provide a second phase value of the second RF signal received through a third antenna during a second period;
a direction estimator coupled to the first receiver and the second receiver, the direction estimator configured to estimate an angle of arrival associated with the first RF signal and the second RF signal based on the first and second phase values of the first RF signal and the first and second phase values of the second RF signal; and
a regulator coupled to the first receiver, the second receiver, and the direction estimator, the regulator to determine a difference between a first offset introduced by a first oscillator coupled to the first receiver and a second offset introduced by a second oscillator coupled to the second receiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the direction estimator is configured to compensate for the determined difference to estimate the angle of arrival, wherein the direction estimator is configured to estimate the angle of arrival based on a first phase difference and a second phase difference, wherein the first phase difference is between the first phase value and the second phase value of the first RF signal and the second phase difference is between the first phase value and the second phase value of the second RF signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the direction estimator is configured to determine a phase difference between the first phase value of the first RF signal and the first phase value of the second RF signal and subtract the phase difference from the second phase value of the second RF signal to estimate a third phase value of the first RF signal received through the third antenna during the first period, wherein the direction estimator is configured to use the estimated third phase value to estimate the angle of arrival.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said regulator is configured to concurrently couple the first antenna to the first receiver and the second receiver to determine a phase difference between the first phase offset introduced by the first oscillator and the second phase offset introduced by the second oscillator.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each RF signal has a frequency within the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band and encodes at least a portion of a Bluetooth packet or a ZigBee packet, and wherein at least one of the first RF signal and the second RF signal is modulated with respect to at least one of frequency and phase.

15. A wireless device comprising:
an antenna array including a first antenna, a second antenna, and a third antenna;
a first receive path coupled to a first oscillator and to the first antenna;
a coupling circuitry configured to alternately couple to the second antenna and the third antenna;
a second receive path coupled to a second oscillator and to the coupling circuitry, the second receive path to provide phase values associated with RF signals received through the second antenna and the third antenna;
a regulator coupled to the first oscillator and the second oscillator and configured to synchronize a first offset introduced by the first oscillator with a second offset introduced by the second oscillator; and
processing circuitry configured to estimate a direction of a source of first RF signals and second RF signals relative to the antenna array, based on a first phase difference of the first RF signal between the first antenna

Assignees

• Cypress Semiconductor Corp

Inventors

• Simileysky Victor

Classifications

• G01S3/48 Primary

  the waves arriving at the antennas being continuous or intermittent and the phase difference of signals derived therefrom being measured · CPC title

• G01S3/12

  Means for determining sense of direction, e.g. by combining signals from directional antenna or goniometer search coil with those from non-directional antenna (determining direction by amplitude comparison of signals derived by combining directional and non-directional signals G01S3/24, G01S3/34) · CPC title

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/026

  using orientation information, e.g. compass · CPC title