Multiple channel data link system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A communications system comprising in combination:
- a transmitter further comprising;
means for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of coherently related carrier signals in a like plurality of signal channels, said plurality of signal channels being one of contiguous and non-contiguous; and
means for modulating at least two of said plurality of carrier signals with an identical information bearing modulation signal;
a receiver further comprising;
means for receiving said plurality of coherently related carrier signals;
a single dynamic, carrier tracking, phase locked loop coupled to said receiving means for maintaining all of the received signals coherent;
means coupled into said phase locked loop for coherently combining said plurality of coherently related carrier signals; and
means coupled into said phase locked loop for detecting said coherently combined signals.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A coherent communications link for simultaneously transmitting intelligence on a plurality of non-contiguous frequency channels by means of a plurality of coherent carrier signals which are connected to a single composite intermediate frequency signal upon reception by a fully coherent receiver. The local oscillator signals in the receiver are maintained coherent with respect to the transmitted carrier signals responsive to the composite IF signal while each of the local oscillator signals is adjusted to maintain coherence of each received carrier in the face of relatively long term drift due to thermal shifts, path effects and hardware drift.
206 Citations
32 Claims
-
1. A communications system comprising in combination:
-
a transmitter further comprising; means for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of coherently related carrier signals in a like plurality of signal channels, said plurality of signal channels being one of contiguous and non-contiguous; and means for modulating at least two of said plurality of carrier signals with an identical information bearing modulation signal; a receiver further comprising; means for receiving said plurality of coherently related carrier signals; a single dynamic, carrier tracking, phase locked loop coupled to said receiving means for maintaining all of the received signals coherent; means coupled into said phase locked loop for coherently combining said plurality of coherently related carrier signals; and means coupled into said phase locked loop for detecting said coherently combined signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A receiver for receiving a plurality of coherently related radio frequency signals, the plurality of radio frequency signals being one of contiguous and non-contiguous, the radio frequency signals each being modulated with an information bearing signal, said information bearing signals being identical each to every other information bearing signal, the receiver comprising:
-
a single dynamic, carrier tracking, phase locked loop for maintaining all of the received signals coherent; means coupled into said phase locked loop for coherently and simultaneously combining at least two of the received radio frequency signals; and means coupled into said phase locked loop for detecting said combined signals, said means for detecting being responsive to said combined radio frequency signals subsequent to said combining. - View Dependent Claims (24)
-
-
25. A receiver for receiving a plurality of radio frequency signals, the plurality of radio frequency signals being one of contiguous and non-contiguous, the radio frequency signals being modulated with spectrum spreading signals, each of said spectrum spreading signals being unique but related in a predetermined way to a master spectrum spreading signal, said received plurality of spread spectrum radio frequency signals being modulated with an information bearing signal, each of said information bearing signals being identical to every other information bearing signal, the receiver comporising:
-
means for simultaneously and coherently despreading said plurality of spread spectrum modulated radio frequency signals; means coupled to said despreading means for coherently and simultaneously combining at least two of the received radio frequency signals; and means for detecting said combined signals, said means for detecting being operable on said combined radio frequency signals subsequent to said combining.
-
-
26. A receiver for receiving a plurality of radio frequency signals, the plurality of radio frequency signals being one of contiguous and non-contiguous, the receiver comprising:
-
a single dynamic, carrier tracking, phase locked loop for maintaining all of the received signals coherent; means coupled into said phase locked loop for simultaneously and coherently combining said plurality of radio frequency signals; and means coupled into said phase locked loop for coherently controlling phases of a plurality of different local oscillator signals responsive to an average long term phase shift in the plurality of radio frequency signals such as shifts due to thermal, aging and dispersion effects.
-
-
27. A communications method comprising the steps of:
-
generating a plurality of coherently related radio frequency signals, said plurality of radio frequency signals being one of contiguous and non-contiguous; modulating said plurality of radio frequency signals with a like plurality of information bearing signals, every one of said like plurality of information bearing signals being identical with every other one of said like plurality of information bearing signals; combining said plurality of modulated radio frequency signals into a composite signal; transmitting said composite signal to a receiver; receiving said composite signal; splitting said composite signal into a plurality of composite signals; generating a like plurality of coherently related local oscillator signals, each of said plurality of local oscillator signals being offset in frequency by a predetermined intermediate frequency from a corresponding one of said plurality of radio frequency signals; mixing each of said plurality of local oscillator signals with a different one of said plurality of composite signals to produce a plurality of converted composite signals; summing said plurality of converted composite signals coherently; amplifying and filtering said plurality of summed signals in an intermediate amplifier to produce a single information bearing signal; and detecting said information bearing signal coherently. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A communications method comprising the steps of:
-
generating a plurality of radio frequency signals, said radio frequency signals being one of contiguous and non-contiguous; modulating said plurality of radio frequency signals with a like plurality of spectrum spreading signals, all of said like plurality of spectrum spreading signals being different from every other one of said plurality of spectrum spreading signals, each of said plurality of spectrum spreading signals being modified from a master spectrum spreading signal in a predetermined way; combining said plurality of modulated radio frequency signals into a composite signal; transmitting said composite signal to a receiver; receiving said composite signal; splitting said composite signal into a plurality of composite signals; generating a like plurality of coherent local oscillator signals, each of said plurality of local oscillator signals being offset in frequency by a predetermined frequency from a corresponding one of said plurality of radio frequency signals; mixing each of said plurality of local oscillator signals with a different one of said plurality of composite signals to produce a plurality of converted composite signals; amplifying and filtering said plurality of converted composite signals in an intermediate amplifier; generating a plurality of spectrum despreading signals which are each identical, respectively, to each of said plurality of spectrum spreading signals; applying each of said plurality of despreading signals to each corresponding one of said plurality of local oscillator signals for producing a plurality of local oscillator signals for despreading said plurality of spread spectrum signals; despreading said plurality of spectrum spread radio frequency signals by means of said plurality of local oscillator despreading signals; and detecting said composite despread signals coherently.
-
-
32. A method for coherently combining a plurality of first coherently related signals comprising the steps of:
-
generating a first plurality of coherently related local oscillator signals; generating an offset reference signal; mixing each of said plurality of said first local oscillator signals in a mixer with said offset reference signal to produce a plurality of second local oscillator signals; multiplying, coherently, each of said second local oscillator signals by a factor of k to produce a third plurality of local oscillator signals, said third plurality of local oscillator signals being coherently related to the first coherently related signals; and mixing each of said third plurality of local oscillator signals each with a corresponding one of said first plurality of coherently related signals to produce a plurality of coherent intermediate signals.
-
Specification