Systems, methods, and devices for electronic spectrum management

• US 20180070253A1
• Filed: 08/25/2017
• Published: 03/08/2018
• 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: Kleinbeck, David William, Dzierwa, Ronald C., Garcia, Gabriel R., Carbajal, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 10,299,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/20 of receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/3911 Fading models or fading generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices enable spectrum management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements. In an embodiment, signals and the parameters of the signals may be identified and indications of available frequencies may be presented to a user. In another embodiment, the protocols of signals may also be identified. In a further embodiment, the modulation of signals, data types carried by the signals, and estimated signal origins may be identified.

Claims

1. A system for managing spectrum data for a radio frequency (RF) environment, comprising:

at least one node device; and

at least one remote device;

wherein the at least one node device comprises at least one receiver, an automatic signal detection (ASD) module, and a learning and conflict detection engine;

wherein the at least one node device is at an edge of a communication network;

wherein the at least one receiver is operable to process RF energy received from the RF environment, thereby generating processed data;

wherein the processed data includes In-Phase and Quadrature (I/Q) data for at least one target bandwidth;

wherein the learning and conflict detection engine is configured for conflict recognition and anomaly identification based on the processed data; and

wherein the at least one node device is operable to communicate at least one report for the RF environment to the at least one remote device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the at least one node device is fixed.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the at least one node device is mobile, and wherein the one or more of the at least one node device is installed on a drone, a vehicle, and/or a convoy.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one receiver comprises a primary receiver and a secondary receiver, wherein the primary receiver is configured to generate the I/Q data for the at least one target bandwidth, and wherein the secondary receiver is configured to perform a fast Fourier transform (FFT) based on a wideband sweeping of the RF environment.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one node device further comprises an I/Q buffer, wherein the learning and conflict detection engine is operable to determine whether to keep the I/Q data in the I/Q buffer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one node device further comprises a demodulator configured to distill the I/Q data and store actionable I/Q data, wherein the actionable I/Q data comprises signal metrics, protocol data, radio identification (ID), network ID and layer 3 data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the learning and conflict detection engine is operable to tune the ASD module automatically.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one report comprises a correlated event report, an alert, an alarm, meta data, channelized data, actionable I/Q data, coverage, capacity, or conflict analysis.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the ASD module is configured to extract meta data and detect anomalies based on the processed data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the ASD module is operable for signal recognition based on temporal feature extraction.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the ASD module is operable to detect a narrow band signal with a bandwidth from 1 kHz to 60 kHz inside a wideband signal with a bandwidth up to 100 MHz across a 6 GHz spectrum.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the ASD module is operable to detect a second wideband signal within a first wideband signal, wherein the first wideband signal is an aggregation of the second wideband signal and a third wideband signal.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one node device is operable for audio recognition.

14. An apparatus for spectrum data management for a radio frequency (RF) environment, comprising:

at least one receiver, an automatic signal detection (ASD) module, and a learning and conflict detection engine;

wherein the apparatus is at an edge of a communication network;

wherein the at least one receiver is operable to process RF energy received from the RF environment, thereby generating processed data;

wherein the processed data includes In-Phase and Quadrature (I/Q) data for at least one target bandwidth;

wherein the learning and conflict detection engine is configured for conflict recognition and anomaly identification based on the processed data; and

wherein the apparatus is operable to communicate at least one report for the RF environment to at least one remote device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is mobile, and wherein the apparatus is installed on a drone, a vehicle, and/or a convoy.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one receiver comprises a primary receiver and a secondary receiver, wherein the primary receiver is configured to generate the I/Q data for at least one target bandwidth, and wherein the secondary receiver is configured to perform fast Fourier transform (FFT) based on a wideband sweeping of the RF environment.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising an I/Q buffer, wherein the learning and conflict detection engine is operable to determine whether to keep the I/Q data in the I/Q buffer.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a demodulator configured to distill the I/Q data and store actionable I/Q data, wherein the actionable I/Q data comprises signal metrics, protocol data, radio identification (ID), network ID and layer 3 data.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the ASD module is configured to extract meta data and detect anomalies based on the processed data.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one report comprises a correlated event report, an alert, an alarm, meta data, channelized data, actionable I/Q data, coverage, capacity, or conflict analysis.