Method and system for ensuring reception of a communications signal

• US 6,061,555 A
• Filed: 10/21/1998
• Issued: 05/09/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ParkerVision, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ParkerVision, Inc.
• Inventors: Cook, Robert W., Bultman, Michael J., Sorrells, David F., Moses, Charley D. Jr., Looke, Richard C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US09/176,415
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 455/61, 455/102, 455/103, 455/137, 455/59, 455/63, 455/180.1, 455/296, 455/302, 370/203, 370/204, 370/295, 370/464, 370/497, 375/260, 375/278, 375/295, 375/296
• US Class Current: 455/313
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 7/00 Transference of modulation from one carrier to another, e.g. frequency-changing H03D9/00, H03D11/00 take precedence; dielectric amplifiers, magnetic amplifiers, parametric amplifiers used as a frequency-changers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/12 Frequency diversity

Abstract

The present invention includes a system and method for ensuring reception of a communications signal. A modulating baseband signal with desired information is accepted, and a plurality of redundant spectrums is generated. Each redundant spectrum comprises the necessary amplitude, phase, and frequency information to substantially reconstruct the modulating baseband signal. It is expected but not required that the redundant spectrums will be generated at a first location and sent to a second location over a communications medium. At the second location, the redundant spectrums are independently processed to recover a demodulating baseband signal for each of the redundant spectrums. In one embodiment, an error detection process is employed at the second location to detect and eliminate those demodulated baseband signals that have been corrupted during transmission. An error-free demodulated baseband signal is selected from the remaining demodulated baseband signals. The error-free demodulated baseband signal is representative of the modulating baseband signal sent over the communications medium.

Claims

1. A method of generating a communications signal, comprising the steps of:

(1) modulating a first oscillating signal with a modulating baseband signal to generate a modulated signal having an associated modulated spectrum;

(2) modulating the modulated signal with a second oscillating signal to generate a plurality of redundant spectrums, wherein each of the redundant spectrums contains information that is representative of the modulating baseband signal;

(3) adjusting the frequency of the second oscillating signal to tune the frequency bandwidth occupied by the redundant spectrums; and

(4) transmitting the plurality of redundant spectrums;

whereby the redundant spectrums are received according to the process of;

(a) down-converting the redundant spectrums using a control signal to generate a plurality of down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein said control signal comprises a plurality of pulses having a frequency equal to (Freq_input +/-Freq_IF)/n, where Freq_input is the center frequency of the received redundant spectrums, Freq_IF is the center frequency of the down-converted redundant spectrums, and n represents a harmonic or sub-harmonic of Freq_input ;

(b) isolating at least a subset of the down-converted redundant spectrums, to generate a plurality of isolated redundant spectrums; and

(c) extracting a demodulated baseband signal from at least one of the isolated redundant spectrums, wherein the extracted demodulated baseband signal is representative of the modulating baseband signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first oscillating signal has a frequency of f₁ Hz and the second oscillating signal has a frequency of f₂ Hz, such that the plurality of redundant spectrums are centered on f₁ Hz, and are offset from each other by f₂ Hz.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein f₂ is substantially less than f₁.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

(a) modulating the first oscillating signal with the modulating baseband signal using at least one of amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:

(a) phase modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal, comprising the step of shifting the phase of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:

(a) frequency modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal, comprising the step of shifting the frequency of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:

(a) amplitude modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal, comprising the step of shifting the amplitude of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(5) selecting a subset of the redundant spectrums; and

(6) up-converting the selected redundant spectrums to a higher frequency.

9. A method for recovering a demodulated baseband signal from a plurality of received redundant spectrums, wherein each of the redundant spectrums contains information that is representative of a modulating baseband signal, the method comprising the steps of:

(1) down-converting the received redundant spectrums using a control signal to generate a plurality of down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein the control signal comprises a plurality of pulses having apertures established to improve energy transfer to the down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein a frequency of the plurality of pulses is equal to (Freq_input +/-Freq_IF)/n, where Freq_input is a center frequency of the received redundant spectrums, Freq_IF is the center frequency of the down-converted redundant spectrums, and n represents a harmonic or sub-harmonic of Freq_input ;

(2) isolating at least a subset of the down-converted redundant spectrums, to generate a plurality of isolated redundant spectrums; and

(3) extracting the demodulated baseband signal from at least one of the isolated redundant spectrums, wherein the extracted demodulated baseband signal is representative of the modulating baseband signal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the step of sampling the received redundant spectrums using said control signal.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said apertures are:

(a) non-negligible; and

(b) approximately less than 1/2 of a period that is associated with the received redundant spectrums.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said apertures are between approximately 1/4 and 1/2 of said period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said period is associated with the center frequency of the redundant spectrums.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein step (2) comprises the step of filtering the down-converted redundant spectrums into separate channels.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein step (3) comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting at least one of the demodulated baseband signals that is determined in step (b) to be substantially error-free.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the demodulated baseband signals is a digital signal, and wherein said step (b) comprises the step of executing at least one of a parity check and a cyclic redundancy check.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the demodulated baseband signals is an analog signal, and wherein said step (b) comprises the steps of:

(i) determining the level of the out-of-band high frequency components that is associated with each of the demodulated baseband signals; and

(ii) setting an error flag for each of the demodulated baseband signals that has an associated level of out-of-band high frequency components that exceeds a threshold level.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein step (3) comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting a demodulated baseband signal that has the least amount of errors based on step (b).

30. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the steps of:

sampling the received redundant spectrums using the control signal, resulting in under-samples that charge and discharge a storage module according to the pulses of the control signal.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the apertures are non-negligible and approximately less than 1/2 of a period associated with the redundant spectrums.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the apertures are approximately between 1/4 and 1/2 of a period associated with the redundant spectrums.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the apertures are between 1/10 and 1/4 of a period associated with the redundant spectrums.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein step (2) comprises the step of filtering the redundant spectrums into channels.

37. The method of claim 30, wherein step (3) comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting at least one of the demodulated baseband signals that is determined to have the least amount of errors.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein at least one of the demodulated baseband signals is a digital signal, and wherein said step (b) comprises the step of executing at least one of a parity check or a cyclic redundancy check.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein each at least one of the demodulated baseband signals is an analog signal, and wherein said step (b) comprises the steps of:

(i) determining the level of the out-of-band high frequency components that is associated with each of the demodulated baseband signals; and

(ii) setting an error flag for each of the demodulated baseband signals that has an associated level of out-of-band high frequency components that exceeds a threshold level.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein step (c) comprises the step of selecting a demodulated baseband signal that does not have an associated error flag set.

41. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of amplifying the received redundant spectrums.

42. The method of claim 9, wherein the step (1) comprises the steps of:

(a) generating the control signal; and

(b) operating a switch with the control signal to transfer energy from the received redundant spectrums to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

43. The method claim 42, wherein step (b) comprises the step of opening and closing the switch according to the pulses of the control signal.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein step (a) comprises the step of widening apertures of the pulses of the control signal by a non-negligible amount that tends away from zero time in duration to extend the time that said switch is closed in step (b) to thereby increase energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the apertures of the pulses are one of (i) or (ii):

(i) a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums;

or

(ii) one or more periods associated with the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums is sufficient to drive loads without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein widening the apertures of the pulses by non-negligible amounts that tend away from zero in duration to extend the time that the switch is closed prevents substantial voltage reproduction of the received redundant spectrums, and increases energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

48. The method of claim 44, wherein step (a) comprises the step of establishing the apertures of the pulses to increase the time the switch is closed, resulting in a lower impedance for the switch.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising the step of matching an input impedance of the switch to a source impedance to increase energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums.

50. The method of claim 48, further comprising the step of matching an output impedance of the switch to a load impedance to increase energy transfer to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

51. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

transferring the received redundant spectrums to the switch via a resonant circuit, the resonant circuit storing energy from components of the redundant spectrums while the switch is open, and wherein energy stored in the resonant circuit is discharged through the switch while the switch is closed, to thereby increase energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums.

52. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

(a) generating the control signal comprising the train of pulses, the pulses controlling opening and closing of a switch to transfer energy from the received redundant spectrums;

wherein step (a) comprises the step of establishing apertures of the pulses to increase the time that the switch is closed for a purpose of reducing an impedance of the switch;

wherein step (a) further comprises the step of widening apertures of the pulses of the control signal by a non-negligible amount that tends away from zero time in duration to extend the time that the switch is closed to increase energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums;

wherein the apertures of the pulses of the control signal are one of (I) or (II);

(I) a non-zero fraction of a period of the received redundant spectrums signal;

or

(II) one or more periods of the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period of the received redundant spectrums;

wherein energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums is sufficient to drive loads without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of:

matching an input impedance of the switch to a source impedance.

54. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of:

matching an output impedance of the switch to a load impedance.

55. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of:

transferring the received redundant spectrums to the switch via a resonant circuit, the resonant circuit storing energy from components of the received redundant spectrums while the switch is open, and wherein energy stored in the resonant circuit is discharged via the switch while the switch is closed, to thereby increase energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein the switch is a FET, and wherein the control signal is coupled to the gate of the FET, and wherein the FET samples the received redundant spectrums in response to the control signal.

57. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the redundant spectrums via a communications medium.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the communications medium is a wireless medium.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the communication medium is a wired medium.

60. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the steps of:

(a) charging a storage module according to the pulses of the control signal, the apertures of the pulses being established to increase energy transfer to the storage module during the pulses of the control signal; and

(b) discharging energy from the storage module according to the control signal, wherein the energy discharged from the storage module comprises the down-converted redundant spectrums.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein step (b) comprises the step of discharging the energy from the storage module into an external load.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein step (b) comprises the step of discharging the energy from the storage module at a rate determined by the size of the storage module and the size of the external load.

63. The method of claim 60, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

64. The method of claim 60, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

65. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the steps of:

(a) operating a switch with the control signal to transfer energy from the received redundant spectrums through the switch, wherein the switch is opened and closed in accordance with the control signal, wherein the apertures of the pulses are designed to increase the energy transferred through the switch;

(b) charging a storage module with the energy transferred through the switch; and

(c) discharging the energy in the storage module to produce the down-converted redundant spectrums.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein step (c) comprises the step of discharging the energy in the storage module at a rate based on the size of the storage module and the size of an external load.

67. The method of claim 65, wherein the switch is a FET, and wherein the control signal is coupled to a gate of the FET.

68. The method of claim 65, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the storage module is sufficiently large to store the energy transferred through the switch when the switch is closed.

70. The method of claim 65, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

71. The method of claim 65, wherein the apertures are established to increase the time the switch is closed, resulting in a lower impedance of the switch.

72. The method of claim 71, further comprising the step of matching an input impedance of the switch to a source impedance.

73. The method of claim 71, further comprising the step of matching an output impedance of the switch to a load impedance.

74. The method of claim 65, wherein the energy discharged from the storage module is sufficient to drive loads coupled to the storage module without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

75. The method of claim 65, wherein the energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums when the switch is closed in response to the control signal prevents substantial voltage reproduction of the received redundant spectrums.

76. The method of claim 9, wherein step (1) comprises the steps of:

(a) operating a gate of a FET with the control signal, wherein the FET conducts during the pulses of the control signal and the FET is cutoff in between the pulses of the control signal, wherein the apertures of the pulses are established to increase the energy transferred through the FET when the FET conducts;

(b) storing energy transferred through the FET in a capacitor coupled to the FET; and

(c) discharging the energy stored in the capacitor when the FET is cutoff to produce the down-converted redundant spectrums.

77. The method of claim 76, wherein the apertures are established to increase the time the FET is conducting, resulting in a lower impedance for the FET.

78. The method of claim 77, further comprising the step of matching an input impedance of the FET.

79. The method of claim 77, further comprising the step of matching an output impedance of the FET.

80. The method of claim 76, wherein the apertures in step (a) are one of (i) or (ii):

(i) a non-zero fraction of a period of the received redundant spectrums signal;

or

(ii) one or more periods of the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period of the received redundant spectrums.

81. The method of claim 80, wherein the fraction is less than 1/2 the period associated with the redundant spectrums.

82. The method of claim 80, wherein the fraction is approximately between 1/4 and 1/2 of the period associated with the redundant spectrums.

83. The method of claim 80, wherein the fraction is approximately between 1/10 and 1/4 of the period associated with the redundant spectrums.

84. The method of claim 76, wherein the energy discharged from the capacitor in step (c) is sufficient to drive loads coupled to the capacitor without adding buffering or amplification.

85. The method of claim 76, wherein the capacitor in step (b) is sufficiently large to store the energy transferred through the FET.

86. The method of claim 76, wherein the energy stored in the capacitor is discharged in step (c) at a rate that is determined by the capacitance of the capacitor.

87. The method of claim 76, wherein energy stored in the capacitor in step (b) during a first pulse of the control signal is not completely discharged in step (c) before a second pulse of the control signal.

88. The method of claim 76, wherein step (2) comprises the step of filtering the redundant spectrums into separate channels.

89. The method of claim 76, wherein step (3), comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting at least one of the demodulated baseband signals that is determined to have the least amount of errors.

90. The method of claim 89, wherein each of the demodulated baseband signals is a digital signal, and wherein the step (b) of checking comprises the step of executing at least one of a parity check or a cyclic redundancy check.

91. The method of claim 90, further comprising the step of setting an error flag if the parity check or the cyclic redundancy check indicates an error for one of the demodulated baseband signals.

92. The method of claim 89, wherein each of the demodulated baseband signals is an analog signal, and wherein the step (b) of checking comprises the steps of:

(i) determining the level of the out-of-band high frequency components that is associated with each of the demodulated baseband signals; and

(ii) setting an error flag for each demodulated baseband signal that has an associated level of out-of-band high frequency components that exceeds a threshold level.

19. A method of communicating a modulating baseband signal from a first location to a second location, comprising the steps of:

(1) modulating a first oscillating signal with a modulating baseband signal to generate a modulated signal having an associated modulated spectrum;

(2) modulating the modulated signal with a second oscillating signal to generate a plurality of redundant spectrums, wherein each of the redundant spectrums contains information that is representative of the modulating baseband signal;

(3) transmitting at least a subset of the plurality of redundant spectrums from the first location to the second location;

(4a) receiving the transmitted redundant spectrums at the second location;

(4b) down-converting the received redundant spectrums using a control signal comprising a plurality of pulses having apertures so as to generate down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein the frequency of the plurality of pulses is equal to (Freq_input +/-Freq_IF)/n, where Freq_input is the center frequency of the received redundant spectrums, Freq_IF is the center frequency of the down-converted redundant spectrums, and n represents a harmonic or sub-harmonic of Freq_input ;

(5) isolating at least a subset of the down-converted redundant spectrums; and

(6) extracting a demodulated baseband signal from the isolated redundant spectrums, whereby the extracted demodulated baseband signal is representative of the modulating baseband signal.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

(7) adjusting the frequency of the second oscillating signal prior to step (3) to tune the frequency bandwidth occupied by the transmitted redundant spectrums.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said step (5) comprises the step of filtering the isolated redundant spectrums into separate channels.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein step (6) comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting at least one of the demodulated baseband signals that is determined in step (b) to be substantially error-free.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein step (6) comprises the steps of:

(a) demodulating each of the isolated redundant spectrums to obtain a plurality of demodulated baseband signals;

(b) checking each of the demodulated baseband signals for errors; and

(c) selecting one of the demodulated baseband signals that has the least amount of errors based on step (b).

93. The method of claim 19, wherein the first oscillating signal has a frequency of f₁ Hz and the second oscillating signal has a frequency of f₂ Hz, such that the plurality of transmitted redundant spectrums are centered on f₁ Hz, and are offset from each other by f₂ Hz.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein f₂ is substantially less than f₁.

95. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

(7) adjusting the frequency of the second oscillating signal prior to step (3) to tune the frequency bandwidth occupied by the transmitted redundant spectrums.

96. The method of claim 19, wherein step (2) comprises the step of phase modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal.

97. The method of claim 96, wherein the step of phase modulating comprises the step of shifting the phase of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

98. The method of claim 96, wherein step (1) comprises the step of modulating the first oscillating signal with the modulating baseband signal using at least one of:

amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

99. The method of claim 19, wherein step (2) comprises the step of frequency modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal.

100. The method of claim 99, wherein the step of frequency modulating comprises the step of shifting the frequency of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

101. The method of claim 99, wherein step (1) comprises the step of modulating the first oscillating signal with the modulating baseband signal using at least one of:

amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

102. The method of claim 19, wherein step (2) comprises the step of amplitude modulating the modulated signal with the second oscillating signal.

103. The method of claim 102, wherein the step of amplitude modulating comprises the step of shifting the amplitude of the modulated signal as a function of the second oscillating signal so that the information in the modulated spectrum is substantially replicated to produce the plurality of redundant spectrums.

104. The method of claim 102, wherein step (1) comprises the step of modulating the first oscillating signal with the modulating baseband signal using at least one of:

amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

105. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

(7) up-converting the redundant spectrums to a higher frequency prior to step (4).

106. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

(7) selecting a subset of the redundant spectrums prior to step (3).

107. The method of claim 106, further comprising the step of filtering the redundant spectrums to select a subset of the redundant spectrums.

108. The method of claim 107, wherein the step of filtering comprises at least one of:

low pass filtering, highpass filtering, and bandpass filtering.

109. The method of claim 19, wherein in step (3), the redundant spectrums are transmitted from the first location to the second location over a communications medium.

110. The method of claim 109, wherein the communications medium is a wireless medium.

111. The method of claim 109, wherein the communication medium is a wireline medium.

112. The method of claim 19, wherein step (4b) comprises the steps of:

(a) sampling the received redundant spectrums during the pulses of the control signal, resulting in undersamples;

(b) charging a storage module with the undersamples, wherein the energy transferred to the storage module by the undersamples is based on the apertures of the pulses of the control signal; and

(c) discharging the storage module in between the pulses of the control signal, resulting in the down-converted redundant spectrums.

113. The method of claim 112, wherein the apertures of the pulses are one of (i) and (ii):

(i) a non-zero fraction of a period associated with received redundant spectrums;

or

(ii) one or more periods associated with the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

114. The method of claim 113, wherein the non-zero fraction is approximately less than 1/2 of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

115. The method of claim 113, wherein the non-zero fraction is between 1/4 and 1/2 of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

116. The method of claim 113, wherein the non-zero fraction is between 1/10 and 1/4 of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

117. The method of claim 112, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

118. The method of claim 117, wherein the capacitor is sufficiently large to store the energy transferred by an undersample.

119. The method of claim 112, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

120. The method of claim 112, wherein the rate of discharge of the storage module in step (c) is based on the size of the storage module.

121. The method of claim 19, wherein the step (4b) comprises the steps of:

(a) generating the control signal; and

(b) operating a switch with the control signal to transfer energy from the received redundant spectrums to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

122. The method claim 121, wherein step (b) comprises the step of opening and closing the switch according to pulses of the control signal.

123. The method of claim 121, wherein step (a) comprises the step of widening apertures of the pulses of the control signal by a non-negligible amount that tends away from zero time in duration to extend the time that the switch is closed in step (b) for a purpose of increasing energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

124. The method of claim 123, wherein the apertures of the pulses are one of (i) or (ii):

(i) a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums;

or

(ii) one or more periods associated with the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

125. The method of claim 123, wherein energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums is sufficient to drive loads without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

126. The method of claim 123, wherein widening the apertures of the pulses by non-negligible amounts that tend away from zero in duration to extend the time that the switch is closed prevents substantial voltage reproduction of the redundant spectrums, and increases the energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

127. The method of claim 123, wherein the step (a) comprises the step of establishing the apertures of the pulses to increase the time the switch is closed in step (b), resulting in a lower impedance for the switch.

128. The method of claim 127, further comprising the step of matching an input impedance of the switch to a source impedance to increase energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums.

129. The method of claim 127, further comprising the step of matching an impedance of the switch to a load impedance to increase energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums.

130. The method of claim 121, further comprising the step of:

transferring the received redundant spectrums to the switch via a resonant circuit, the resonant circuit storing energy from components of the redundant spectrums while the switch is open, and wherein energy stored in the resonant circuit is discharged through the switch while the switch is closed, to thereby increase energy transfer from the received redundant spectrums.

131. The method of claim 19, wherein step (4b) comprises the steps of:

(a) charging a storage module according to the control signal, the storage module charging during the pulses of the control signal, the apertures of the pulses being established to increase energy transfer to the storage module during the pulses of the control signal;

(b) discharging energy in the storage module in between the pulses of the control signal, wherein the energy discharged comprises the down-converted redundant spectrums.

132. The method of claim 131, wherein the energy stored in the storage module is discharged in step (b) at a rate based on the size of the storage module.

133. The method of claim 131, wherein the energy stored in the storage module is discharged into an external load.

134. The method of claim 131, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

135. The method of claim 131, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

136. The method of claim 19, wherein the step (4b) comprises the steps of:

(a) operating a switch with the control signal to transfer energy from the received redundant spectrums through the switch, wherein the switch is closed during the pulses of the control signal and the switch is open in between the pulses of the control signal, wherein the apertures of the pulses are designed to increase the energy transferred through the switch;

(b) charging a storage module with the energy transferred through the switch; and

(c) discharging the energy in the storage module when the switch is open to produce the down-converted redundant spectrums.

137. The method of claim 136, wherein the storage module discharges at a rate that is based on a storage capacity of the storage module.

138. The method of claim 136, wherein the switch is a FET, and wherein the control signal is coupled to a gate of the FET.

139. The method of claim 136, wherein the storage module is a capacitor.

140. The method of claim 139, wherein the capacitor is sufficiently large to store the energy transferred through the switch.

141. The method of claim 136, wherein the storage module is an inductor.

142. The method of claim 136, wherein the apertures are established to increase the time the switch is closed, resulting in a lower impedance of the switch.

143. The method of claim 142, further comprising the step of matching an input impedance of the switch to a source impedance.

144. The method of claim 142, further comprising the step of matching an output impedance of the switch to a load impedance.

145. The method of claim 136, wherein the energy discharged from the storage module is sufficient to drive loads coupled to the storage module without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

146. The method of claim 136, wherein the energy transferred from the received redundant spectrums when the switch is closed prevents the voltage reproduction of the received redundant spectrums.

24. A system for generating a communications signal that is representative of a modulating baseband signal, comprising:

a first stage modulator that generates a modulated signal using the modulating baseband signal and a first oscillating signal;

a second stage modulator coupled to said first stage modulator that generates a plurality of redundant spectrums using said modulated signal and a second oscillating signal, wherein each of said redundant spectrums contains information that is representative of the modulating baseband signal;

means for adjusting said second oscillating signal to tune the frequency bandwidth occupied by said redundant spectrums; and

means for transmitting a plurality of said redundant spectrums;

whereby the redundant spectrums are received according to the process of;

(a) down-converting the redundant spectrums using a control signal to generate a plurality of down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein the control signal comprises a plurality of pulses having apertures established to improve energy transfer to the down-converted redundant spectrums, wherein the frequency of the plurality of pulses is equal to (Freq_input +/-Freq_IF)/n, where Freq_input is the center frequency of the received redundant spectrums, Freq_IF is the center frequency of the down-converted redundant spectrums, and n represents a harmonic or sub-harmonic of the Freq_input ;

(b) isolating at least a subset of the down-converted redundant spectrums; and

(c) extracting a demodulated baseband signal from at least one of the isolated redundant spectrums, wherein the extracted demodulated baseband signal is representative of the modulating baseband signal.

25. A system for recovering a demodulated baseband signal from a plurality of received redundant spectrums, comprising:

an aliasing module for down-converting the received redundant spectrums to generate down-converted redundant spectrums;

a filter bank coupled to said aliasing module for isolating the down-converted redundant spectrums; and

a signal extraction module coupled to said filter bank for extracting the demodulated baseband signal from at least one of the isolated redundant spectrums;

wherein said aliasing module samples said received redundant spectrums according to a control signal, said control signal comprising a plurality of pulses having a frequency equal to (Freq_input +/-Freq_IF)/n, where Freq_input is the center frequency of the received redundant spectrums, Freq_IF is the center frequency of the down-converted redundant spectrums, and n represents a harmonic or sub-harmonic of Freq_input.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said aliasing module comprises a switch module coupled to a storage module.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said switch module is controlled by a control signal comprising a plurality of pulses having apertures established to improve energy transfer to the down-converted redundant spectrums.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein said storage module is one of a capacitor and an inductor.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein said signal extraction module comprises:

a plurality of demodulators coupled to said filter bank;

a plurality of error check modules coupled to said plurality of demodulators; and

an arbitration module coupled to said plurality of error check modules.

147. The system of claim 25, wherein said aliasing module comprises:

a switch operated by said control signal; and

a storage module coupled to said switch.

148. The system of claim 147, further comprising a pulse generator that generates said control signal comprising a train of pulses that control opening and closing of said switch, said pulse generator establishing apertures of said pulses to increase the time that said switch is closed, and thereby increasing energy transfer from said received redundant spectrums to said storage module.

149. The system of claim 148, wherein said apertures of said pulses are one of (i) or (ii):

(i) a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums;

or

(ii) one or more periods associated with the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

150. The system of claim 149, wherein said fraction is less than 1/2 said period associated with said redundant spectrums.

151. The system of claim 149, wherein said fraction is between 1/4 and 1/2 said period associated with said redundant spectrums.

152. The system of claim 149, wherein said fraction is between 1/10 and 1/4 said period associated with said redundant spectrums.

153. The system of claim 148, wherein energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums is sufficient to drive loads without additional buffering or amplification.

154. The system of claim 148, wherein said storage module is of a size sufficient to accommodate energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums via said switch.

155. The system of claim 148, wherein said storage module discharges said transferred energy according to said control signal, resulting in said down-converted redundant spectrums.

156. The system of claim 155, wherein said storage module discharges at a rate based on a storage capacity of the storage module.

157. The system of claim 148, wherein said storage module is a capacitor that is of sufficient size to store energy transferred to said capacitor.

158. The system of claim 148, wherein said storage module is an inductor that is of sufficient size to store energy transferred to said inductor.

159. The system of claim 147, further comprising an input impedance matching circuit, electrically coupled to said switch, that matches a source impedance to an input impedance of said switch thereby increasing energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums to said storage module via said switch.

160. The system of claim 147, further comprising an output impedance matching circuit, electrically coupled to said storage module, that matches a load impedance to an output impedance of said switch so as to increase energy discharged from said storage module to a load when said switch is open in response to said control signal.

161. The system of claim 147, further comprising a resonant circuit coupled between said switch and a source of said redundant spectrums, wherein said resonant circuit stores energy from said received redundant spectrums while said switch is open in response to the control signal, and wherein energy stored in said resonant circuit is discharged to said storage module through said switch while said switch is closed in response to said control signal, said storage module being of sufficient size to accommodate energy transferred via said switch including energy discharged from said resonant circuit.

162. The system of claim 25, wherein said aliasing module comprises:

a switch operated by said control signal;

a storage module electrically coupled to said switch; and

a pulse generator that generates said control signal comprising a train of pulses controlling opening and closing of said switch, said pulse generator establishing apertures of said pulses.

163. The system of claim 162, wherein said storage module is a capacitor.

164. The system of claim 163, wherein said capacitor is sufficiently large to store energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums.

165. The system of claim 162, wherein said storage module is an inductor.

166. The system of claim 165, wherein said inductor is sufficiently large to store energy transferred from said redundant spectrums.

167. The system of claim 162, wherein said switch is a FET, and wherein said control signal is coupled to the gate of said FET.

168. The system of claim 162, further comprising an input impedance matching circuit, electrically coupled to said switch, that matches a source impedance to an input impedance of said switch.

169. The system of claim 162, further comprising an output impedance matching circuit, electrically coupled to said storage module, that matches a load impedance to an output impedance of said switch.

170. The system of claim 162, further comprising a resonant circuit coupled between said switch and a source of said redundant spectrums.

171. The system of claim 25, wherein said aliasing module comprises:

a FET operated by said control signal;

a capacitor electrically coupled to said FET; and

a pulse generator that generates said control signal comprising a train of pulses controlling a gate of said FET, said pulse generator establishing apertures of said pulses to increase the time that said FET is conducting.

172. The system of claim 171, wherein said FET conducts during the pulses of said control signal and transfers energy to said capacitor, and does not substantially conduct in between the pulses of said control signal.

173. The system of claim 172, wherein said capacitor charges and stores energy when said FET conducts, and discharges when said FET does not substantially conduct, resulting in said down-converted redundant spectrums.

174. The system of claim 173, wherein said capacitor discharges at a rate based on the capacitance of the capacitor.

175. The system of claim 172, wherein energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums is non-negligible.

176. The system of claim 171, wherein energy transferred from said received redundant spectrums is sufficient to drive loads without additional buffering or amplification, including high impedance loads and low impedance loads.

177. The system of claim 171, wherein said apertures of said pulses are one of the following:

a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums;

or

one or more periods associated with the received redundant spectrums plus or minus a non-zero fraction of a period associated with the received redundant spectrums.

178. The system of claim 177, wherein said fraction is less than 1/2 said period associated with said received redundant spectrums.

179. The system of claim 177, wherein said fraction is approximately between 1/4 and 1/2 said period associated with said received redundant spectrums.

180. The system of claim 177, wherein said fraction is approximately between 1/10 and 1/4 of said period associated with said received redundant spectrums.

181. The system of claim 171, wherein said apertures are established to lower an input impedance of said FET, the system further comprising an input matching circuit electrically coupled to said FET for matching said input impedance to a source impedance that is associated with said received redundant spectrums.

182. The system of claim 171, wherein said apertures are established to lower an output impedance of said FET, the system further comprising an output matching circuit electrically coupled to said FET for matching said output impedance to a load impedance.

183. The system of claim 171, further comprising a resonant circuit coupled between said switch and a source of said redundant spectrums, wherein said resonant circuit stores energy from components of said received redundant spectrums while said FET does not substantially conduct in response to said control signal, and wherein said energy stored in said resonant circuits is discharged to said capacitor via said FET while said FET is conducting in response to said control signal.

184. The system of claim 25, wherein said signal extraction module comprises:

a plurality of demodulators coupled to said filter bank, each demodulator corresponding to one of said isolated redundant spectrums;

a plurality of error check modules coupled to said respective demodulators; and

an arbitration module coupled to said error check modules.

185. The system of claim 184, wherein said demodulators are one of:

an amplitude demodulator, a frequency demodulator, or a phase demodulator.

186. The system of claim 184, wherein each of said error check modules comprises:

means for performing at least a parity check on each of said demodulated baseband signals; and

means for setting an error flag for each of said demodulated baseband signals that fails said parity check.

187. The system of claim 184, wherein each of said error check modules comprises:

means for performing at least a cyclic redundancy check on each of said demodulated baseband signals; and

means for setting an error flag for each of said demodulated baseband signals that fails said cyclic redundancy check.

188. The system of claim 184, wherein each of said error check modules comprises:

means for determining a level of out-of-band high frequency components in each of said demodulated baseband signals; and

means for setting an error flag for each of said demodulated baseband signals that has high frequency components that exceed a threshold.

189. The system of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises a means for selecting a demodulated baseband signal that is substantially error free.

190. The system of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises a means for selecting a demodulated baseband signal that has the least amount of errors.

191. The system of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises:

means for selecting a demodulated baseband signal that does not have an associated error flag set.

192. The method of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises a means for selecting a first demodulated baseband signal that does not have an error flag set.

193. The method of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises:

means for reading an error flag associated with at least one of the demodulated baseband signals; and

means for selecting a demodulated baseband signal that does not have an error flag set.

194. The method of claim 184, wherein said arbitration module comprises:

means for reading an error flag associated with at least one of the demodulated baseband signals; and

means for selecting a first demodulated baseband signal that does not have an error flag set.