Angle of arrival estimation using a single receive chain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12248079-B2
Application number	US-202318140283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2023
Priority date	May 19, 2021
Publication date	Mar 11, 2025
Grant date	Mar 11, 2025

Abstract

Techniques for determining an angle-of-arrival of a wireless transmission are provided, including receiving, with a first antenna, at least a first portion of a wireless transmission, determining when a second portion of the wireless transmission will be received, switching to the second antenna to receive the second portion of the wireless transmission, determining an angle of arrival of the wireless transmission based on the first portion and the second portion of the wireless transmission, and outputting the angle of arrival of the wireless transmission.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless device comprising:
a first switch comprising a first terminal coupled to a first antenna terminal that is configured to be coupled to a first antenna, a second terminal coupled to a second antenna terminal that is configured to be coupled to a second antenna, and a third terminal;
a second switch comprising a first terminal coupled to the third terminal of the first switch, a second terminal, and a third terminal;
a transmitter chain coupled to the second terminal of the second switch;
a receiver chain coupled to the third terminal of the second switch, wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive a first portion of a wireless transmission via the first antenna, and a second portion of the wireless transmission via the second antenna; and
a processor configured to:
determine an angle of arrival of the wireless transmission based on the first and second portions, and
output the angle of arrival.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive, after receiving the second portion via the second antenna, a remainder of the wireless transmission.

3. The wireless device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to decode the remainder of the wireless transmission.

4. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive a remainder of the wireless transmission via the first antenna.

5. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein after the angle of arrival is determined, the receiver chain is configured to stop receiving a remainder of the wireless transmission.

6. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a preamble, wherein the first portion comprises a first symbol of the preamble, and wherein the second portion comprises a second symbol of the preamble.

7. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) preamble, and wherein the first and second portions are first and second portions of the PLCP preamble.

8. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a preamble, wherein the first portion comprises a first portion of a legacy long training field of the preamble, and wherein the second portion comprises a second portion of the legacy long training field.

9. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a preamble, wherein the first portion comprises a first high efficiency long training field of the preamble, and wherein the second portion comprises a second high efficiency long training field of the preamble.

10. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a plurality of pilot subcarriers at predefined intervals, wherein the first portion comprises a first pilot subcarrier of the plurality of pilot subcarriers, and wherein the second portion comprises a second pilot subcarrier of the plurality of pilot subcarriers.

11. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion is stored in a memory, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the angle of arrival of the wireless transmission based on the stored first portion.

12. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine when to switch the first switch based on a modulation coding scheme (MCS) and bandwidth of the wireless transmission.

13. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause switching of the first switch during reception of a body of the wireless transmission.

14. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission is addressed to another wireless device.

15. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

16. A wireless device comprising:
a first antenna terminal configured to be coupled to a first antenna;
a second antenna terminal configured to be coupled to a second antenna;
a receiver chain coupled to the first and second antenna terminals, wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive a first portion of a wireless transmission via the first antenna, and a second portion of the wireless transmission via the second antenna; and
a processor configured to:
determine an angle of arrival of the wireless transmission based on the first and second portions, and
output the angle of arrival, wherein the wireless transmission is addressed to another wireless device.

17. The wireless device of claim 16 , wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive, after receiving the second portion via the second antenna, a remainder of the wireless transmission via the first antenna.

18. The wireless device of claim 16 , wherein the wireless transmission comprises a plurality of pilot subcarriers at predefined intervals, wherein the first portion comprises a first pilot subcarrier of the plurality of pilot subcarriers, and wherein the second portion comprises a second pilot subcarrier of the plurality of pilot subcarriers.

19. The wireless device of claim 16 , further comprising a switch having a first terminal coupled to the first antenna terminal, a second terminal coupled to the second antenna terminal, and a third terminal coupled to the receiver chain.

20. A wireless device comprising:
a first antenna terminal configured to be coupled to a first antenna;
a second antenna terminal configured to be coupled to a second antenna;
a receiver chain coupled to the first and second antenna terminals, wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive a first portion of a wireless transmission via the first antenna, and a second portion of the wireless transmission via the second antenna; and
a processor configured to:
determine an angle of arrival of the wireless transmission based on the first and second portions, and
output the angle of arrival, wherein the wireless transmission is addressed to another wireless device, wherein the receiver chain is configured to receive, after receiving the second portion via the second antenna, a remainder of the wireless transmission via the first antenna.

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Ben-Shachar Matan
• Shani Oren
• Alpert Yaron
• Jakira Yuval

Classifications

• G01S3/48

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

• G01S3/72

  Diversity systems specially adapted for direction-finding · CPC title

• G01S3/50

  the waves arriving at the antennas being pulse modulated and the time difference of their arrival being measured · CPC title

• G01S3/465

  the waves arriving at the aerials being frequency modulated and the frequency difference of signals therefrom being measured · CPC title

• G01S3/043

  Receivers · CPC title