Discrete fourier transform direction finding apparatus

• US 4,876,549 A
• Filed: 03/07/1988
• Issued: 10/24/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: E-Systems Incorporated (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: E-Systems Incorporated (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Masheff, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Issing, Gregory C.
• Application Number:
  US07/165,003
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: 342/194-196, 342/417, 342/432, 342/444
• US Class Current: 342/417
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/46 using antennas spaced apart and measuring phase or time difference between signals therefrom, i.e. path-difference systems

Abstract

A discrete fourier transform direction finding apparatus for performing a direction finding function on signals received through two antennae separated by a known distance. The outputs of the respective antennae are connected to first and second receiver channels which convert the received signals down to baseband and provide orthogonal I and Q channel outputs. A common local oscillator is used to maintain phase coherency between the channels and AGC signals are provided to maintain identical delays in the receiver RF paths. The processed signals from each receiver channel are than fed into a respective charge coupled device Chirp-Z transform (discrete fourier transform) circuit to produce real and imaginary components of the received signals. These signals are then converted to digital form and are used by subsequent circuitry to determine the angle of arrival of the received signal.

Claims

1. A circuit for finding the direction of an RF signal received on two antennae separated by a known distance "d" comprising:

an RF signal receiver coupled to each antenna for receiving the antenna signals and generating orthogonal I and Q baseband signal outputs

a CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit coupled to each receiver for receiving, sampling and separating said I and Q baseband signals into components by frequency and amplitude,

a control circuit coupled to said CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit for controlling the sampling rate at which the I and Q signal components are sampled and separated to adjust frequency resolution, and

means coupled to the CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit for utilizing the sampled and separated baseband I and Q signal components to obtain the direction of propagation of the RF signal.

2. A circuit as in claim 1 wherein said control circuit for controlling the sampling rate of the CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit is a clock having a variable output frequency.

3. A circuit as in claim 2 wherein said means for obtaining the propagation direction of the RF signal further comprises:

separate means coupled to each charge coupled device for converting the separated components of each I and Q signal to a digital format,

a separate arctangent lookup table coupled to each converting means for using the digital format to provide a corresponding phase angle, θ

in digital form,

means coupled to each arctangent lookup table for algebraically summing the digital format phase angles to determine the phase difference, Δ

θ

between the signals received by the two antennae,

means for dividing the phase difference, Δ

θ

, by the frequency of interest, f, to obtain a corresponding time of arrival difference, Δ

t,

means for dividing the antenna separation distance, d, by the speed of light, c, to obtain antenna separation in time units, and

means for dividing the difference in time of arrival signal, Δ

t, by the antenna separation in time units, d/c, and calculating the arcsin of the result to obtain the direction angle, φ

of the incoming RF signal.

4. A circuit for finding the direction of an RF signal received on two antennae separated by known distance comprising:

an RF signal receiver coupled to each antenna for receiving the antenna signals and generating orthogonal I and Q baseband signal outputs;

a means for sampling said orthogonal I and Q baseband signal outputs;

means for varying the sampling rate of said means for sampling;

means, including a CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit, coupled to said means for sampling, for generating real and imaginary coefficients of the Discrete Fourier transform of said sampled baseband signal; and

means coupled to said transform circuit for utilizing said real and imaginary coefficients to obtain the direction of propagation of the RF signal.

5. A method of finding the direction of an RF signal received on two antennae separated by a known distance "d" comprising the steps of:

providing orthogonal I and Q baseband signal outputs from an RF receiver coupled to each antenna,

sampling and separating the I and Q baseband signals into components by frequency and amplitude using a CCD Chip-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit,

controlling the sampling rate at which the CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit generates the separated I and Q signal components to adjust frequency resolution, and

calculating the direction in which the RF signal is propagated utilizing the sampled and separated baseband I and Q signal components.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the step of sampling and separating said I and Q component signals with said CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit further comprises the steps of:

receiving and sampling the baseband I and Q signals from each RF receiver with a separate CCD Chirp-Z transform discrete fourier transform circuit, and

separating the components of each I and Q signal by frequency and amplitude said Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit with.

7. A method as in claim 6 wherein the step of controlling the sampling rate of the CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform further comprises the steps of:

applying a clock signal to said CCD Chirp-Z Discrete Fourier transform circuit delay line, and

varying the output frequency of the clock signal to the desired sampling rate.

8. A method as in claim 7 wherein the step of calculating the RF signal propagation direction further comprises the steps of:

converting the separated components of each I and Q signal from each charge coupled device to a digital format,

using the digital format from each charge coupled device in an arctangent lookup table to provide a corresponding phase angle, θ

, in digital form,

algebraically summing the digital form phase angles from the arctangent lookup tables to determine the phase difference, Δ

θ

between the signals received by the two antennae,

dividing the phase difference, Δ

θ

, by the frequency, f, to obtain a corresponding time of arrival difference, Δ

t,

dividing the antenna separation distance, d, by the speed of light, c, to obtain antenna separation in time units, and

dividing the difference in time of arrival signal, Δ

t, by the antenna separation, d/c, and calculating the arcsin of the result to obtain the direction angle φ

, of the incoming RF signal.