Method and apparatus for detecting and classifying signals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9467317-B2
Application number	US-201514717589-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2015
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

A method and apparatus for detecting signals. According to an embodiment, energy waves are received at a first receiver system and a second receiver system. The first receiver system generates first information using the energy waves received at the first receiver system. The first receiver system receives second information generated using the energy waves received at the second receiver system from the second receiver system. The first receiver system identifies desired information about a repetitive portion of a signal carried in the energy waves received at the first receiver system using the first information and the second information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detecting and classifying a signal, the method comprising:
converting, using a transducer, energy waves in which the signal is carried into an electrical signal;
generating, by a receiver in a receiver system, information in response to receiving the electrical signal using pulses and pulse information comprising values for a number of parameters for the pulses, wherein the information is generated using a complex ambiguity function to form a correlation with respect at least one of a differential time offset or a differential frequency offset between information generated and information received by another receiver, and wherein a repetitive portion of the signal carried in the energy waves is detected using the correlation;
generating, by the receiver, a number of stochastic histograms using the information generated;
accumulating a circular stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms for a parameter in the number of parameters using values for the parameter for the pulses, wherein the parameter is a circular parameter selected from one of an angle of arrival, a phase difference of arrival, or a longitude; and
detecting and classifying, by the receiver, the signal using the number of stochastic histograms and the parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating, by the receiver in the receiver system, the information in response to receiving the energy waves at the receiver system comprises:
responsive to receiving the energy waves at the receiver system, converting the energy waves into an electrical signal;
sampling the electrical signal to generate samples; and
wherein the pulses and the pulse information about the pulses are identified using the samples.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of generating, by the receiver, the number of stochastic histograms using the information generated comprises:
accumulating the number of stochastic histograms for the number of parameters for the pulses using the pulse information, wherein each stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms is for the parameter in the number of parameters; and
detecting a number of events using the number of stochastic histograms in which each of the number of events is detected in a corresponding stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of detecting and classifying, by the receiver, the signal using the number of stochastic histograms comprises:
identifying a pulse train that corresponds to the number of events detected using the number of stochastic histograms, wherein the pulse train belongs to the signal.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of generating, by the receiver, the number of stochastic histograms using the information generated comprises:
accumulating the stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms for the parameter in the number of parameters using the pulse information about the parameter for the pulses;
detecting an event using an accumulation of the stochastic histogram in which the event corresponds to a number of pulses in the pulses; and
extracting data points corresponding to the number of pulses from a number of bins in the stochastic histogram at which the event occurs.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of generating, by the receiver, the number of stochastic histograms using the information generated comprises:
accumulating another stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms using the pulse information about another parameter in the number of parameters for the number of pulses corresponding to the event.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of accumulating the stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms for the parameter in the number of parameters using the pulse information about the parameter for the pulses comprises:
accumulating a consecutive stochastic diffogram in the number of stochastic histograms for the parameter in the number of parameters using values for the parameter for the pulses, wherein the parameter is a pulse repetition interval.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of detecting and classifying, by the receiver, the signal using the number of stochastic histograms comprises:
identifying a pulse train using the number of stochastic histograms in which the pulse train comprises a sequence of pulses from the identified pulses and in which the pulse train belongs to the signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the receiver system is a first receiver system, the receiver is a first receiver, and the pulse train is a first pulse train and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a second pulse train identified by a second receiver in a second receiver system at the first receiver system; and
matching the first pulse train and the second pulse train within selected tolerances to cooperatively classify the first pulse train and the second pulse train using at least one of a parameter matching process, a pulse repetition interval matching process, a phase matching process, a geometric matching and filtering process, and a bias estimation process.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first pulse train is a first train group and the second pulse train is a second train group and wherein the step of matching the first pulse train and the second pulse train within the selected tolerances to cooperatively classify the first pulse train and the second pulse train using the phase matching process comprises:
creating a phase matrix using base pairs of pulse trains selected from the first train group and the second train group and lineup pairs of pulse trains selected from the first train group and the second train group; and
identifying which lineups of the base pairs of pulse trains and the lineup pairs of pulse trains have a matching figure of merit greater than a selected threshold.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiver system is for a system selected from one of a global positioning system, a weather radar system, a radar system, a radio system, and a sonar system.

12. A receiver system comprising:
a transducer system configured to receive energy waves and convert the received energy waves into an electrical signal; and
a receiver configured to:
generate information using the electrical signal;
wherein the information is generated using pulses and pulse information comprising values for a number of parameters for the pulses, and wherein the information is generated using a complex ambiguity function to form a correlation with respect at least one of a differential time offset or a differential frequency offset between information generated and information received by another receiver, and wherein a repetitive portion of the signal carried in the energy waves is detected using the correlation;

generate a number of stochastic histograms using the information generated;
accumulate a circular stochastic histogram in the number of stochastic histograms for a parameter in the number of parameters using values for the parameter for the pulses;
wherein the parameter is a circular parameter selected from one of an angle of arrival, a phase difference of arrival, or a longitude; and

detect and classify the signal using the number of stochastic histograms and the parameter.

13. The receiver system of claim 12 , wherein in being configured to generate the information using the electrical signal, the receiver system is configured to:
sample the electrical signal to generate samples of the electrical signal; and
identify the pulses and the pulse information about

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Ray Gary Alan
• Baker James Bryan
• Summers Daniel Stewart

Classifications

• G01S13/34

  using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal · CPC title

• H04B1/16

  Circuits · CPC title

• G01S7/34

  Gain of receiver varied automatically during pulse-recurrence period, e.g. anti-clutter gain control · CPC title

• H04L27/22 Primary

  Demodulator circuits; Receiver circuits · CPC title

• G01S7/021 Primary

  Auxiliary means for detecting or identifying radar signals or the like, e.g. radar jamming signals · CPC title