Automatically adjustable radiofrequency link

• US 10,136,437 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2017
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Bowers, Jeffrey A., Chan, Alistair K., Hannigan, Russell J., Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Kundtz, Nathan, Myhrvold, Nathan P., Pendry, John Brian, Smith, David R., Tegreene, Clarence T., Tuckerman, David B., Whitmer, Charles, Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Nhan
• Application Number:
  US15/818,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20180077711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/02 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1081 Reduction of multipath noise by equalising H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/1072 by tuning the receiver frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

An automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system includes a radiofrequency transmitter configured to transmit a signal at a frequency of transmission within an extremely high frequency (EHF) band. The system further includes a receiving device configured to receive the transmitted signal and provide feedback to a processing circuit communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiving device, wherein the feedback is related to the received signal. The processing circuit is configured to determine required signal properties based on the feedback and determine signal loss properties including an effect of atmospheric absorption, as a function of frequency; determine a modification to the transmitted signal using the signal loss properties and the required signal properties; and adjust the frequency of transmission to obtain a desired transmission signal using the modification.

Claims

1. An automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system, comprising:

a radiofrequency transmitter configured to;

transmit a first signal at a first frequency of transmission within an extremely high frequency (EHF) band to establish an initial connection with a receiving device;

receive feedback from the receiving device or a remote source regarding the first signal, the feedback indicating a desired operating mode for the radiofrequency transmitter;

determine signal loss properties including an effect of atmospheric absorption as a function of frequency;

determine a modification to the first signal using the feedback and the signal loss properties; and

transmit a second signal at a second frequency of transmission within the EHF band based on the determined modification to the first signal.

2. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the feedback indicates whether there is a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, and the radiofrequency transmitter is configured to determine the modification to the first signal by:

responsive to the feedback indicating that there is not a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, at least one of (1) adjusting the first signal to operate at a frequency corresponding to relatively low or minimum absorption or (2) optimizing a power usage by the radiofrequency transmitter; and

responsive to the feedback indicating that there is a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, at least one of (1) adjusting the first signal to operate at a frequency corresponding to relatively high or maximum absorption or (2) minimizing a range of the first signal so that the receiving device is located at a maximum range of the second signal.

3. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the desired operating mode for the radiofrequency transmitter is a low power mode in which the radiofrequency transmitter determines the modification to be a decrease in strength of the first signal.

4. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the signal loss properties are determined in part from a model of atmospheric absorption properties versus frequency.

5. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 4, wherein the atmospheric absorption properties are based on absorption due to oxygen molecules in the atmosphere.

6. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the feedback indicates an error rate associated with the first signal or a signal strength of the first signal.

7. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein determining the modification includes maintaining or optimizing at least one of a data transmission rate, a signal bandwidth, an error rate, a signal to noise ratio, or a signal to interference ration, while staying within a power usage range.

8. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the radiofrequency transmitter determines the modification further based on a sensed environmental condition received from a sensor.

9. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein the radiofrequency transmitter is further configured to transmit a supervisory signal via a supervisory channel.

10. The automatically adjustable radiofrequency link system of claim 1, wherein EHF band includes frequencies from 57 GHz to 64 GHz.

11. A method, comprising:

transmitting a first signal at a first frequency of transmission within an extremely high frequency (EHF) band to establish an initial connection with a receiving device;

receiving feedback from the receiving device or a remote source regarding the first signal, the feedback indicating a desired operating mode for the radiofrequency transmitter;

determining signal loss properties including an effect of atmospheric absorption as a function of frequency;

determining a modification to the first signal using the feedback and the signal loss properties; and

transmitting a second signal at a second frequency of transmission within the EHF band based on the determined modification to the first signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the feedback indicates whether there is a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, and determining the modification to the first signal includes:

responsive to the feedback indicating that there is not a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, at least one of (1) adjusting the first signal to operate at a frequency corresponding to relatively low or minimum absorption or (2) optimizing a power usage by the radiofrequency transmitter; and

responsive to the feedback indicating that there is a risk of communications being intercepted or otherwise compromised, at least one of (1) adjusting the first signal to operate at a frequency corresponding to relatively high or maximum absorption or (2) minimizing a range of the first signal so that the receiving device is located at a maximum range of the second signal.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the desired operating mode for the radiofrequency transmitter is a low power mode in which the modification is a decrease in strength of the first signal.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal loss properties are determined in part from a model of atmospheric absorption properties versus frequency.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the atmospheric absorption properties are based on absorption due to oxygen molecules in the atmosphere.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the feedback indicates an error rate associated with the first signal or a signal strength of the first signal.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the modification includes maintaining or optimizing at least one of a data transmission rate, a signal bandwidth, an error rate, a signal to noise ratio, or a signal to interference ration, while staying within a power usage range.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting a supervisory signal via a supervisory channel.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising received a sensed environmental condition from a sensor and determining the modification based on the sensed environmental condition.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein EHF band includes frequencies from 57 GHz to 64 GHz.