Method and apparatus for reducing the amount of shipboard-collected calibration data

• US 6,720,911 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2002
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Callahan Cellular LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Saucier, Norman E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E.
• Application Number:
  US10/218,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20040032364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 608 Days
• Field of Search: 342/165-175, 342/195, 342/368, 342/369-384, 342/417-449, 342/147-158
• US Class Current: 342/174
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/0218 Very long range radars, e.g. surface wave radar, over-the-horizon or ionospheric propagation systems for meteorological use G01S13/95
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/023 Monitoring or calibrating
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4026 Antenna boresight
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/403 in azimuth, i.e. in the horizontal plane
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4034 in elevation, i.e. in the vertical plane

Abstract

A system is provided for reducing the time that a ship must be maintained on station to collect calibration data by reducing the frequencies at which calibration data is to be collected. Since it is impractical to consider calibrating over elevation angle and polarization on the full-scale ship, an accurate scale model and test facility are utilized, with surface wave data being collected from the ship before model-based data can be utilized. In the subject system, the number of calibration frequencies used aboard ship is dramatically reduced by as much as 80%, thus reducing the time the ship must be on station when doing a calibration run. In one embodiment, the shipboard surface wave data for one elevation and one polarization is combined with surface wave and sky wave data from the scale model to generate an array manifold or database used in subsequent direction finding activities. In order to minimize the frequencies at which shipboard data is collected, the set of frequencies used for shipboard calibration is limited to a subset of all the original calibration frequencies. The number of frequencies used for shipboard calibration is reduced by selecting frequencies which generate adjustment, or weighting factors which are valid over a wide bandwidth.

Claims

1. A method for reducing the time a ship must be maintained on station during a run to gather data for the calibration of an array of direction finding antennas located on the ship and coupled to a direction finding system, comprising the steps of:

determining an optimal set of calibration frequencies for the calibration of the array; and

,

using a reduced set of the optimal set of calibration frequencies for gathering the shipboard data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimal and set of calibration frequencies has more dense and less dense numbers of calibration frequencies in selected regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and wherein the number of calibration frequencies of this reduced set are more numerous in the more dense regions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the more dense calibration frequency regions are regions where the antenna array characteristics change rapidly with azimuth angle of received signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the array characteristics changes are due to resonance phenomena.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reduced set of calibration frequencies is used for shipboard data collection of surface waves.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the calibration process includes using shipboard collected surface wave data in combination with data collected from a scale model of the ship to produce an array manifold of data used to compensate the output of the array.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data in the manifold for compensating the array includes complex weights.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the complex weights are valid over a number of calibration frequencies, whereby the complex weights have broadband characteristics.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the surface wave data from the ship is combined with surface wave and sky wave data from the model to generate the array manifold.

10. A method for selecting calibration frequencies for calibrating an antenna array aboard a ship coupled to a direction finding system in which an optimal set of calibration frequencies for the array has been specified, comprising the steps of:

determining in what regions of the electromagnetic spectrum there are higher densities of the calibration frequencies in the optimal set; and

,

using a reduced set of the optimal set of calibration frequencies to calibrate the antenna array, the reduced set having more calibration frequencies where there are higher densities of the calibration frequencies in the optimal set and less calibration frequencies where there are lower densities of the calibration frequencies in the optimal set, whereby the calibration frequencies in the reduced set are chosen based on measured response characteristics of the antenna array.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein shipboard data collected is used to generate an array manifold used to compensate the output of the array, the array manifold including complex weights, the complex weights being broad banded to be valid for more than one calibration frequency in the reduced set.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bandwidth of a weight is dependent upon how quickly the antenna array output changes with azimuth of an incoming signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the array output changes is at least in part due to resonance phenomena.