Apparatuses and methods involving radio configurability for adapting to radio-frequency systems

• US 10,516,421 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2018
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Landis+Gyr Inc. (Landis+Gyr Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Landis+Gyr Inc. (Landis+Gyr Group AG)
• Inventors: Bonicatto, Damian, Haug, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Odom, Curtis B
• Application Number:
  US16/135,971
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0014 using DSP [Digital Signal Processor] quadrature modulation and demodulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0017 Digital filtering H04B1/001 takes precedence; digital filters per se H03H17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0021 Decimation, i.e. data rate reduction techniques H04B1/0025 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0032 with analogue quadrature frequency conversion to and from the baseband quadrature modulators and demodulators per se H03D3/007, H03C3/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H

Abstract

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are directed to communications apparatuses and methods thereof that includes a radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry and RF back-end circuitry. The RF front-end circuit receives sets of RF signals concurrently and as transmitted from at least two disparate communication networks. The front-end circuitry includes a tunable radio having at least one antenna feeding signal conditioning and down conversion circuitry, and decimation circuitry. The decimation circuitry filters and decimates data associated with the RF signals into a plurality of digital data streams. The RF back-end circuitry includes a plurality of digital-signal processors (DSPs) that extract raw data packets from the digital data streams and a microprocessor. The microprocessor transmits the plurality of digital data streams to the plurality of DSPs and transmits the extracted raw data packets, received from the plurality of DSPs, to an end-user device.

Claims

1. A communications apparatus, comprising:

radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry configured and arranged to receive sets of RF signals concurrently as the RF signals are transmitted from at least two disparate communication networks across a wide frequency band, the RF front-end circuitry including;

a tunable radio including at least one antenna feeding signal conditioning and down conversion circuitry; and

decimation circuitry coupled to the tunable radio, the decimation circuitry configured and arranged to filter and decimate data associated with the RF signals into a plurality of digital data streams; and

RF back-end circuitry including;

a plurality of digital-signal processors (DSPs) configured and arranged to extract raw data packets from the plurality of digital data streams;

a microprocessor coupled to the decimation circuitry, the microprocessor configured and arranged to;

transmit the plurality of digital data streams to the plurality of DSPs; and

transmit the extracted raw data packets, received from the plurality of DSPs, to an end-user device.

2. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the decimation circuitry is configured and arranged to decimate the data corresponding to the RF signals and in response, output data in a plurality of at least sixteen digital data streams including I and Q data streams.

3. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the decimation circuitry is configured and arranged to decimate data associated with the RF signals by decimating the data into sixteen narrower band digital data streams,

the microprocessor is configured and arranged to transmit two of the sixteen narrower band digital data streams to each of the plurality of DSPs; and

the plurality of DSPs are configured and arranged to extract raw data packets from the two digital data streams.

4. The communications apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a remote storage device coupled to the plurality of DSPs and configured and arranged to store the extracted raw data packets.

5. The communications apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) transceiver coupled to the microprocessor, and wherein the microprocessor is further configured and arranged to associate GPS coordinates with the extracted raw data packets.

6. The communications apparatus of claim 1, further including the end-user device configured and arranged to generate a report using the extracted raw data packets.

7. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the end-user device is configured and arranged to set parameters for the communications apparatus including parameters selected from the group consisting of:

RF frequency, bandwidth of streams, modulation, baud rate, and combinations thereof.

8. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RF front-end circuitry is configured and arranged to receive RF communications over at least thirty-two channels, and the communications apparatus includes multiple DSPs.

9. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RF front-end circuitry is configured and arranged to receive RF communications over at least sixty-four channels, and the communications apparatus includes multiple DSPs.

10. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RF front-end circuitry is configured and arranged to receive RF communications over at least sixteen channels, and the communications apparatus includes multiple DSPs.

11. The communications apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of DSPs are configured and arranged to extract raw data packets from the plurality of digital data streams by:

decimating one of the plurality of digital data streams received from the microprocessor into two narrower bandwidth digital data streams via a first one of the plurality of DSPs;

decimating the two data streams received from the first one of the plurality of DSPs into four narrower bandwidth digital data streams via a second one of the plurality of DSPs;

decimating the four data streams received from the second one of the plurality of DSPs into eight narrower bandwidth digital data streams via a third one of the plurality of DSPs;

extracting raw data packets from a first two of the eight data streams received from the third one of the plurality of DSPs via a fourth one of the plurality of DSPs;

extracting raw data packets from a second two of the eight data streams received from the third one of the plurality of DSPs via a fifth one of the plurality of DSPs;

extracting raw data packets from a third two of the eight data streams received from the third one of the plurality of DSPs via a sixth one of the plurality of DSPs; and

extracting raw data packets from a fourth two of the eight data streams received from the third one of the plurality of DSPs via a seventh one of the plurality of DSPs.

12. A communications apparatus, comprising:

radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry including at least one antenna feeding signal conditioning and down conversion circuitry and including decimation circuitry, the RF front-end circuitry configured and arranged to receive sets of RF signals concurrently as the RF signals are transmitted from disparate communication networks across a wide frequency band, decimation circuitry configured and arranged to filter and decimate data associated with the RF signals into a plurality of digital data streams and in response, to output data in a plurality of digital data streams;

RF back-end circuitry including;

digital-signal processors (DSPs) configured and arranged to decode discernible data in at least two of the plurality of digital data streams; and

microprocessor configured and arranged to transmit data streams from the plurality of digital data streams to the DSPs and to transmit decoded discernible data to circuitry; and

the circuitry configured and arranged to generate a report which identifies at least one set of decoded RF signals received from among the disparate communication networks using the transmitted decoded discernible data.

13. The communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is part of an end-user device configured and arranged to reconfigure the decimation circuitry and the RF back-end circuitry, wherein during operation of the communications apparatus, at least one of the decimation circuitry and the RF back-end circuit is optimized for receiving and decoding the RF signals received from the disparate communication networks.

14. The communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the decimation circuitry is configured and arranged to output the data in at least sixteen digital data streams including I and Q data streams.

15. The communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the RF front-end circuitry includes a tunable radio coupled to the decimation circuitry, the tunable radio having a plurality of antennas that are optimized for reception of RF signals from the disparate communication networks and that provide the RF signals to the at least one antenna feeding signal conditioning and down conversion circuitry.

16. The communications apparatus of claim 12, wherein the decimation circuitry includes a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

17. The communications apparatus of claim 12, further including a communications interface that couples the RF front-end circuitry to the RF back-end circuitry.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, via a radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry, sets of RF signals concurrently as the RF signals are transmitted from at least two disparate communication networks across a wide frequency band; and

filtering and decimating, via decimation circuitry of the RF front-end circuitry, data associated with the RF signals into a plurality of digital data streams and in response, outputting data in the plurality of digital data streams by;

transmitting the digital data streams from the RF front-end circuitry to a microprocessor in a RF back-end circuitry;

transmitting, by the microprocessor, the digital data streams to decimation circuitry of the RF back-end circuitry;

decoding, via the decimation circuitry of the RF back-end circuitry, discernible data in at least two of the plurality of digital data streams; and

transmitting, by the microprocessor, decoded discernible data from the decimation circuitry of the RF back-end circuitry to circuitry of an end-user device.

19. The method of claim 18, further including generating, by the circuitry of the end-user device, a report which identifies at least one set of decoded RF signals received from among the disparate communication networks using the transmitted decoded discernible data.

20. The method of claim 18, further including reconfiguring at least one of the decimation circuitry of the RF front-end circuitry and the RF back-end circuitry to optimize, during operation, the at least one of the decimation circuitry of the RF front-end circuitry and the RF back-end circuitry for receiving and decoding the RF signals received from the disparate communication networks.