Ultra-wideband antenna array

• US 20030090435A1
• Filed: 11/08/2002
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Holding 73 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Pulse-Link Incorporated
• Inventors: Santhoff, John H., Harmuth, Henning F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,042,417 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/893
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/50 the waves arriving at the antennas being pulse modulated and the time difference of their arrival being measured
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/205 providing an omnidirectional coverage turnstile aerials H01Q21/26
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/2682 Time delay steered arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71635 Transmitter aspects H04B1/7174 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71637 Receiver aspects H04B1/7183 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/086 using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming

Abstract

An ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array is provided. One embodiment of the present invention employs a multi-element antenna for UWB beam forming and also for time-of-arrival vector processing to resolve multi-path problems in an UWB communication system. Another embodiment of the present invention recovers the energy contained in the multi-path reflections to increase signal-to-noise ratios of received UWB pulses.

Claims

1. An ultra-wideband antenna array, comprising:

a first antenna element;

a second antenna element positioned at an angle relative to the first antenna element;

a third antenna element positioned at an angle relative to the second antenna element; and

a fourth antenna element positioned at an angle relative to the third antenna element.

2. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 1, wherein the antennas determine a time of arrival of a received ultra-wideband signal.

3. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 2, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises an impulse radio pulse.

4. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 1, further including a correlator structured determine a direction of a received ultra-wideband signal.

5. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 1, further including a digital signal processor structured to determine a direction of a received ultra-wideband signal.

6. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 1, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

7. The ultra-wideband antenna array of claim 1, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds and a power that can range between about +30 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

8. An ultra-wideband antenna, comprising:

at least two antenna elements arranged to determine a direction of a received ultra-wideband signal.

9. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, wherein the at least two antennas also determine a time of arrival of the received ultra-wideband signal.

10. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, further including a correlator structured determine the direction of the received ultra-wideband signal.

11. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, further including a digital signal processor structured to determine the direction of the received ultra-wideband signal.

12. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, wherein the ultra-wideband antenna is comprised of antenna elements selected from a group consisting of:

three antenna elements, four antenna elements, five antenna elements, and six antenna elements.

13. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, where the direction of the received ultra-wideband signal is a horizontal angle between the ultra-wideband antenna and the ultra-wideband signal, as measured from a reference.

14. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises an impulse radio pulse.

15. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

16. The ultra-wideband antenna of claim 8, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds and a power that can range between about +30 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

17. A method of receiving an ultra-wideband signal, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an antenna comprising at least two ultra-wideband signal receiving elements;

receiving a plurality of ultra-wideband signals; and

synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

18. The method of claim 17, where in the step of synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals comprises the step of summing an energy of the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

19. The method of claim 17, where in the step of synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals increases a signal-to-noise ratio of the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

20. The method of claim 17, where in the step of synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals decreases a bit-error-rate of the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises an impulse radio pulse.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds and a power that can range between about +30 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

24. A method of transmitting an ultra-wideband signal, comprising the steps of:

providing an antenna comprising at least two antenna elements;

obtaining a location of a target; and

transmitting an ultra-wideband signal toward the target.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of transmitting the ultra-wideband signal toward the target comprises emitting an ultra-wideband signal in a target direction, where the target direction is a horizontal angle between the antenna and the target, as measured from a reference.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of obtaining the location of the target comprises determining a target azimuth.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of determining the target azimuth comprises the steps of:

receiving an ultra-wideband signal on each of the at least two antenna elements; and

determining a time difference between the received ultra-wideband signal on each of the at least two antenna elements.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the antenna is comprised of antenna elements selected from a group consisting of:

three antenna elements, four antenna elements, five antenna elements, and six antenna elements.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the target is an ultra-wideband antenna.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises an impulse radio pulse.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the ultra-wideband signal comprises a burst of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds and a power that can range between about +30 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

33. A system for receiving an ultra-wideband signal, comprising:

providing an antenna comprising at least two ultra-wideband signal receiving elements;

logic for receiving a plurality of ultra-wideband signals; and

logic comprising computer code for synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

34. A system for transmitting an ultra-wideband signal, comprising:

providing an antenna comprising at least two antenna elements;

logic comprising computer code for obtaining a location of a target; and

transmitting an ultra-wideband signal toward the target.

35. A method of receiving an ultra-wideband signal, the method comprising the steps of:

means for providing an antenna comprising at least two ultra-wideband signal receiving elements;

means for receiving a plurality of ultra-wideband signals; and

means for synchronizing the plurality of ultra-wideband signals.

36. A method of transmitting an ultra-wideband signal, comprising the steps of:

means for providing an antenna comprising at least two antenna elements;

means for obtaining a location of a target; and

means for transmitting an ultra-wideband signal toward the target.