Techniques for implementing a portable spectrum analyzer

• US 10,313,164 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2017
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Mody, Apurva N., Chuang, Jack, Lawrence, Ronald, Spooner, Chad M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassa, Zewdu A
• Application Number:
  US15/588,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20180091336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 375257, 375219, 375295, 375316
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 23/02 Arrangements for measuring frequency, e.g. pulse repetition rate; Arrangements for measuring period of current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 23/16 Spectrum analysis; Fourier analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3833 Hand-held transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/391 Modelling the propagation channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0006 Assessment of spectral gaps suitable for allocating digitally modulated signals, e.g. for carrier allocation in cognitive radio for spectrum sharing between different networks H04W16/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/185 Improving the rigidity of the casing or resistance to shocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724092 Interfacing with an external cover providing additional functionalities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment

Abstract

Techniques are provided for implementing a portable spectrum analyzer. An example system, according to an embodiment, includes a signal analyzer including an RF receiver to receive RF signals from an antenna, an analog-to-digital converter to generate a sampled signal based on the received RF signals, and a signal analysis co-processor to perform cognitive scanning analysis of the sampled signal. The cognitive scanning analysis includes detection, identification, and characterization of digital/analog signal(s) embedded in the sampled signal. The system may further include a communications interface circuit to provide communication between the signal analyzer and an associated mobile host platform (e.g., smartphone). The communication includes transmitting results of the cognitive scanning analysis to the mobile host and receiving parameters from the mobile host to control the operation of the cognitive scanning analysis. The signal analyzer and mobile host are coupled through a shared enclosure such as a hinged case, sleeve, or wallet.

Claims

1. A portable spectrum analyzer, comprising:

an interface circuit including a first connector and a second connector;

a signal analyzer connected to the first connector, the signal analyzer including

a radio frequency (RF) receiver to receive an RF signal from an antenna, the antenna being coupled to the RF receiver,

an analog to digital (A/D) converter circuit to generate a sampled signal based on the received RF signal, and

a signal processing system to perform a cognitive scanning analysis of the sampled signal, the cognitive scanning analysis including detection, identification, and characterization of one or more digital signals embedded in the sampled signal, based on Tunnelized Cyclo-Stationary Processing; and

a mobile host platform detachably connected to the second connector;

wherein the interface circuit is configured to provide communication between the signal analyzer and the mobile host platform through the first and second connectors; and

wherein the communication includes transmitting of results of the cognitive scanning analysis from the signal analyzer to the mobile host platform, and receiving of parameters by the signal analyzer from the mobile host platform, the parameters being to control operation of the cognitive scanning analysis.

2. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the mobile host platform comprises:

a user interface; and

a host processor to execute a cognitive scanning application to present the results of the cognitive scanning analysis on the user interface and to receive control parameters from a user through the user interface.

3. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the interface circuit is a serial interface circuit to support at least one of a universal serial bus (USB) communications link, a micro-USB communications link, and an Ethernet communications link.

4. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the results of the cognitive scanning analysis comprise at least one of a power spectral density plot of the detected one or more digital signals, a labeled identification of the detected one or more digital signals, and a list of characteristic parameters associated with the detected one or more digital signals.

5. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the signal processing system comprises:

a scheduling circuit to control a tuning frequency and bandwidth of the RF receiver;

a processing circuit to perform the detection of the one or more digital signals; and

a backend processing circuit to classify the detected one or more digital signals based on at least one of Tunnelized Cyclo-Stationary Processing, Exhaustive Cyclo-Stationary Processing, Strip Spectral Correlation Analysis (SSCA), Clustering Analysis, Support Vector Machine (SVM) techniques, Linear Discrimination Analysis, Time Frequency Pattern Analysis, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), Deep Neural Networks (DNN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and Bayesian Networks (BN).

6. The spectrum analyzer of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit comprises a low complexity processing circuit to perform Higher-Order Statistics Analysis to perform the detection of the one or more digital signals.

7. The spectrum analyzer of claim 5, wherein the backend processing circuit classifies the detected one or more digital signals based on the Time Frequency Pattern Analysis, and the Time Frequency Pattern Analysis employs at least one of Artificial Neural Networks, Bayesian Networks (BN), Deep Neural Networks (DNN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and Hidden Markov Models (HMM).

20. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the mobile host platform and the signal analyzer are included in different sides of a folding case connected by a hinge, and the interface circuit comprises a cable that routes through the hinge of the folding case.

21. The spectrum analyzer of claim 1, wherein the mobile host platform is one of a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop.

8. A portable spectrum analyzer, comprising:

an interface circuit including a first connector and a second connector;

a mobile host platform detachably connected to the first connector, the mobile host platform including a host processor to perform a cognitive scanning analysis of a sampled signal, the cognitive scanning analysis including detection, identification, and characterization of one or more digital signals embedded in the sampled signal, based on Tunnelized Cyclo-Stationary Processing; and

a co-processing circuit card connected to the second connector, the co-processing circuit card including

a radio frequency (RF) receiver to receive an RF signal from an antenna, the antenna being coupled to the RF receiver, and

an analog to digital (A/D) converter circuit to generate the sampled signal based on the received RF signal;

wherein the interface circuit is configured to provide communication between the mobile host platform and the co-processing circuit card through the first and second connectors; and

wherein the communication includes transmitting of the sampled signal from the co-processing circuit card to the mobile host platform, and receiving of parameters by the co-processing circuit card from the mobile host platform, the parameters being to control at least one of acquisition and processing of the RF signal.

9. The spectrum analyzer of claim 8, wherein the mobile host platform further includes a user interface, and the host processor is further to execute a cognitive scanning application to present results of the cognitive scanning analysis on the user interface and to receive control parameters from a user through the user interface.

10. The spectrum analyzer of claim 8, wherein the interface circuit is a serial interface circuit to support at least one of a universal serial bus (USB) communications link, a micro-USB communications link, and an Ethernet communications link.

11. The spectrum analyzer of claim 8, wherein the mobile host platform is one of a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop.

12. The spectrum analyzer of claim 8, wherein results of the cognitive scanning analysis comprise at least one of a power spectral density plot of the detected one or more digital signals, a labeled identification of the detected one or more digital signals, and a list of characteristic parameters associated with the detected one or more digital signals.

22. The spectrum analyzer of claim 8, wherein the mobile host platform and the co-processing circuit card are included in a protective case having an outer surface and defining an inner volume, the co-processing circuit card being contained in the inner volume, and the outer surface being configured to allow the mobile host platform to slide in and out of engagement with the protective case.

13. A method for signal analysis, the method comprising:

controlling, by a signal processor, a tuning frequency and bandwidth of an RF receiver, wherein the signal processor and the RF receiver are integrated on a co-processor circuit card;

performing, by the signal processor, a cognitive scanning analysis of an RF signal provided by the RF receiver, the cognitive scanning analysis including detection, identification, and characterization of one or more digital signals embedded in the provided RF signal, based on Tunnelized Cyclo-Stationary Processing;

transmitting, by a serial interface, results of the cognitive scanning analysis to a host platform, wherein the host platform is a mobile platform detachably connected to the co-processor circuit card via the serial interface; and

receiving, by the serial interface from the host platform, parameters to control operation of the cognitive scanning analysis.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the serial interface supports at least one of a universal serial bus (USB) communications link, a micro-USB communications link, and an Ethernet communications link.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the host platform is one of a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising executing, by a host processor of the host platform, a cognitive scanning application to present the results of the cognitive scanning analysis on a user interface of the host platform, and to receive control parameters from a user through the user interface.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the results of the cognitive scanning analysis comprise at least one of a power spectral density plot of the detected one or more digital signals, a labeled identification of the detected one or more digital signals, and a list of characteristic parameters associated with the detected one or more digital signals.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising performing, by the signal processor, higher-order statistics analysis to perform the detection of the one or more digital signals.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein performing the cognitive scanning analysis comprises classifying, by the signal processor, the detected one or more digital signals based on at least one of Exhaustive Cyclo-Stationary Processing, Clustering Analysis, Support Vector Machine (SVM) techniques, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), Linear Discrimination Analysis, and Time Frequency Pattern Analysis.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the host platform and the co-processor circuit card are included in a protective sleeve, the co-processor circuit card being integrated inside the protective sleeve and the host platform being configured to slide in and out of an outside of the protective sleeve.