Interference detection, characterization and location in a wireless communications or broadcast system
First Claim
1. A method for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) emitters in a wide area wireless communications network comprising one or more software defined radios, comprising:
- maintaining a historical database of RF signal information, the RF signal information representing RF signals received by said one or more software defined radios for a predetermined duration over a predetermined bandwidth at a plurality of locations within said wide area wireless communications network;
detecting a presence of an interfering RF signal;
characterizing a received power of said interfering RF signal;
determining a bandwidth of said interfering RF signal; and
locating the source of said interfering RF signal via a network-based wireless location technique.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Wide Area Sensor Network (WASN) is disclosed that utilizes wideband software defined radios (SDRs) to monitor RF energy over a wide frequency range, detect when critical frequencies are being jammed or otherwise interfered with, and locate the source of the interference so that the interference can be eliminated. The WASN may use one or more geolocation techniques In addition, the WASN may detect and locate unauthorized transmitters as well as estimate the transmitted power of authorized transmitters to assure they are not transmitting more power than authorized.
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Citations
102 Claims
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1. A method for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) emitters in a wide area wireless communications network comprising one or more software defined radios, comprising:
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maintaining a historical database of RF signal information, the RF signal information representing RF signals received by said one or more software defined radios for a predetermined duration over a predetermined bandwidth at a plurality of locations within said wide area wireless communications network; detecting a presence of an interfering RF signal; characterizing a received power of said interfering RF signal; determining a bandwidth of said interfering RF signal; and locating the source of said interfering RF signal via a network-based wireless location technique. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) emitters, comprising:
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receiving time domain RF data corresponding to a signal to be monitored, said RF data representing said signal during a predetermined duration and over a predetermined bandwidth; associating the received time domain RF data with a plurality of equal time intervals spanning said predetermined duration; converting the time domain RF data associated with said equal time intervals into frequency domain data corresponding to a plurality of frequency bins; determining at least one power characteristic for each of said frequency bins and for said signal to be monitored; for each of said frequency bins, determining that a source of interference is present when the at least one power characteristic for the frequency bin substantially differs from the at least one power characteristic of said signal to be monitored; and locating the source of interference using a geolocation determination algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) signals in a wide area wireless communications network comprising one or more software defined radios, comprising:
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receiving time domain RF data corresponding to a signal to be monitored, said RF data representing said signal during a predetermined duration and over a predetermined bandwidth; associating the received time domain RF data with a plurality of equal time intervals spanning said predetermined duration; converting the time domain RF data associated with said equal time intervals into frequency domain data corresponding to a plurality of frequency bins; determining at least one power characteristic for each of said frequency bins and for said signal to be monitored; identifying frequency bins with at least one power characteristic above a noise floor; for each of the identified frequency bins with at least one power characteristic above said noise floor, characterizing signals in the frequency bin; and locating the characterized signals using a geolocation determination algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A system for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) emitters in a wide area wireless communications network, the system comprising one or more software defined radios with a wide instantaneous bandwidth and tuning range, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the one or more software defined radios, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to said at least one processor, the at least one memory storing therein computer readable instructions capable of configuring the system to perform the following method:
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receiving time domain RF data corresponding to a signal to be monitored, said RF data representing said signal during a predetermined duration and over a predetermined bandwidth; associating the received time domain RF data with a plurality of equal time intervals spanning said predetermined duration; converting the time domain RF data associated with said equal time intervals into frequency domain data corresponding to a plurality of frequency bins; determining at least one power characteristic for each of said frequency bins and for said signal to be monitored; for each of said frequency bins, determining that a source of interference is present when the at least one power characteristic for the frequency bin substantially differs from the at least one power characteristic of said signal to be monitored; and locating the source of interference using a geolocation determination algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. A system for detecting, classifying and locating radio frequency (RF) signals in a wide area wireless communications network the system comprising one or more software defined radios with a wide instantaneous bandwidth and tuning range, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the one or more software defined radios, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to said at least one processor, the at least one memory storing therein computer readable instructions capable of configuring the system to perform the following method:
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receiving time domain RF data corresponding to a signal to be monitored, said RF data representing said signal during a predetermined duration and over a predetermined bandwidth; associating the received time domain RF data with a plurality of equal time intervals spanning said predetermined duration; converting the time domain RF data associated with said equal time intervals into frequency domain data corresponding to a plurality of frequency bins; determining at least one power characteristic for each of said frequency bins and for said signal to be monitored; identifying frequency bins with at least one power characteristic above a noise floor; for each of the identified frequency bins with at least one power characteristic above said noise floor, characterizing signals in the frequency bin; and locating the characterized signals using a geolocation determination algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102)
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Specification