Systems, Methods, and Devices for Electronic Spectrum Management with Remote Access to Data in a Virtual Computing Network

• US 20150189528A1
• Filed: 03/03/2015
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DGS Global Systems, Inc., Digital Global Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DGS Global Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Carbajal, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,537,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for automated geolocation of a signal using automated identification of baseline data and changes in state in a wireless communications spectrum, by identifying sources of signal emission in the spectrum by automatically detecting signals, analyzing signals, comparing signal data to historical and reference data, creating corresponding signal profiles, and determining information about the baseline data and changes in state based upon the measured and analyzed data in near real time.

Claims

1. A system for providing advanced analytics relating to a wireless communications spectrum comprising:

at least three apparatus units, wherein each of the at least one apparatus unit is operable for network-based communication with at least one server computer including a database, or with at least one other apparatus unit, but does not require a connection to the at least one server computer to be operable for identifying signal emitting devices;

wherein each of the at least three apparatus unit is operable for sensing or measuring signals related to signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications including;

a housing, at least one processor and memory, at least one receiver, and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from the signal emitting devices in the spectrum associated with wireless communications;

wherein each of the apparatus unit is operable to automatically analyze the sensed and measured data, including determination of changes in state from a baseline dataset in near real time;

each of the at least three apparatus unit including hardware parameters, environment parameters and terrain data to calculate signal degradation data the combined data from the at least three apparatus unit is used to generate a geolocation of a signal from at least one signal emitting device; and

at least one remote communications device operable to access the at least one apparatus unit or the at least one server computer via the network for remote viewing or remote access the sensed and measured data or analyzed data stored on the at least one apparatus unit, including the geolocation of the signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one remote communications device operable to access the at least one apparatus unit and/or the at least one server computer via the network for remote viewing and/or remote access the sensed and measured data and/or analyzed data and/or aggregated data from more than one apparatus unit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the baseline dataset includes indications of signal activity, power, bandwidth, frequency, duration, at least one time, at least one day, and combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the baseline dataset and the changes in state are identified for predetermined frequencies, ISM bands, or user-defined frequencies.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one apparatus unit is operable for automatically determining the baseline dataset and the changes in state in near real time, based upon measured frequency, bandwidth, and duration.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one apparatus is operable for automatically visually indicating or listing the baseline dataset and the changes in state stored in memory on the at least one apparatus unit.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one apparatus unit is operable for automatically scanning a target environment to identify the baseline dataset and the changes in state for an allotted amount of time between a minimum of about 15 minutes up to about 30 days.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification of the baseline dataset and the changes in state within the spectrum is accurate to a predetermined degree of confidence between about 80 and about 100 percent.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one apparatus unit is operable for automatically scanning the frequency span, wherein a default scan includes a frequency span between about 54 MHz and about 804 MHz.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one apparatus is operable for scanning the frequency span, including an ISM scan between about 900 MHz and about 2.5 GHz.

11. An apparatus for providing advanced analytics relating to a wireless communications spectrum comprising:

a housing, at least one processor and memory, and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals, including baseline data and changes in state from the baseline data from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications;

wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically and independently analyze sensed and measured data to identify the baseline data and changes in state in near real time, without requiring connection to a remote server computer or a remote database;

hardware parameters, environment parameters and terrain data to calculate signal degradation data for identifying the signal emitting devices and for determining a geolocation of at least one signal when data is used in combination with at least two other apparatus units with triangulation methods; and

wherein the apparatus is operable to provide remote access to the sensed and measured data or analyzed data stored in a memory of the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the characteristics of signals and measured data from signal emitting devices within the spectrum include frequency, power, bandwidth, duration, modulation, and combinations thereof.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identification of the baseline data and changes in state within the spectrum provides for minimized data storage on the apparatus units, and for providing the near real time results from comparing the baseline data and changes in state from the baseline data.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identification of the baseline data and changes in state includes at least two sample sets, including a first and second sample sets, from which the delta is generated.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the baseline data and the changes in state are automatically stored in memory on the apparatus for predetermined times and frequencies.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for automatically determining the baseline data and the changes in state in near real time, based upon measured frequency, bandwidth, and duration.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for storing information corresponding to the identified the baseline data and the changes in state within the spectrum to a database in memory on the apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for automatically visually indicating and/or listing the baseline data and changes in state information stored in memory.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the baseline data and changes in state information further includes indications of signal activity, power, bandwidth, frequency, duration, at least one time, at least one day, and combinations thereof.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for automatically scanning to identify the baseline data and the changes in state for an allotted amount of time between a minimum of about 15 minutes up to about 30 days.

21. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for automatically scanning a frequency span, wherein a default scan includes a frequency span between about 54 MHz and about 804 MHz.

22. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable for scanning a frequency span, wherein a default scan includes an ISM scan between about 5 GHz and about 5.8 GHz and/or a frequency range based upon inputs provided by a user.

23. A method for providing advanced analytics relating to a wireless communications spectrum comprising the steps of:

providing at least three apparatus units, wherein each of the apparatus units includes a housing, at least one processor and memory, and sensors and at least one receiver, constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications;

wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically and independently analyze the sensed and measured data to identify the baseline data and changes in state in near real time, without requiring connection to a remote server computer or a remote database;

the apparatus automatically scanning the spectrum to identify open space for an allotted amount of time between a minimum of about 15 minutes up to about 30 days automatically obtaining information in the form of a listing or a report of all frequencies in a frequency range associated with a wireless communications spectrum;

the apparatus automatically determining a power threshold above which signals are detectable in the spectrum;

the apparatus setting frequencies based on frequency rules actionable by the at least one processor so that only predetermined frequencies are plotted;

the apparatus generating a file including the average value of power or aggregated values of power, bandwidth and frequency for each of the predetermined frequencies from the foregoing step;

the apparatus automatically identifying the baseline data and the changes in state within the spectrum based upon activity over time and frequency, hardware parameters, environment parameters and terrain data to calculate signal degradation data for identifying the signal emitting devices and determining geolocation of at least one signal using data from the at least three apparatus units.

24. The method of claim 23, further including the step of automatically comparing the measured data, including the baseline data and changes in state with historical data or reference data.

25. The method of claim 23, further including the steps of:

measuring characteristics of signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications, with measured data characteristics including frequency, power, bandwidth, duration, modulation, and combinations thereof;

assessing whether the measured data characteristics are associated with known signals;

determining a best fit comparing the measured data characteristics with an historical or a reference database, if the measured data characteristics are designated in an historical or a reference database(s) for frequency ranges;

automatically determining a category for the measured data characteristics, based on power and sideband combined with frequency allocation; and

storing an identification corresponding to an identified at least one signal emitting device, and storing baseline data and changes in state for each of the identifications.

26. The method of claim 23, further including the step of determining the open space for predetermined times and days, based upon the measured and analyzed data.

27. The method of claim 23, further including the steps of:

storing an identification of open space in memory on the apparatus, wherein the identification of the baseline data and changes in state further includes information about signal activity, power, bandwidth, frequency, duration, at least one time, at least one day, and combinations thereof.