Noise reduction system and method thereof

• US 8,238,817 B1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Anuvu IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: EMC Satcom Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Avellan, Abel, Godoy, Sergio, Jayasimha, Sriram, Paladugula, Jyothendar
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jain, Ankur
• Application Number:
  US12/124,379
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: 455/12.1
• US Class Current: 455/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18543 for adaptation of transmission parameters, e.g. power control for detecting or preventing errors in the information received H04L1/00

Abstract

The reduction of echo noise in satellite communications includes receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a transmit signal, whose bandwidth is in the range of 0.1 MHz to 66 MHz, is previously sent from a hub to the multiple receiving stations, computing a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal and using the replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise interference from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations.

Claims

1. A method for reducing echo noise in satellite communications, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a transmit signal from a hub to multiple remote stations, where the transmit signal contains at least one carrier;

storing a replica of the transmit signal;

distorting the replica according to satellite transponder nonlinearities;

determining a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal to provide a compensated distorted replica of the transmit signal;

using the compensated distorted replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations;

wherein the determining step further comprises applying a block conversion to the transmit signal to form the distorted replica occupying a predetermined frequency range;

wherein the determining step further comprises correcting means for correcting for distortion in the aggregate signal by determining normalized gain and phase error in the aggregate signal to compute the replica of an echo noise signal; and

wherein the determining step further comprises second means for determining a delay in the aggregate signal by computing a least mean square fractional sample of the aggregate signal and tracking changes therein to determine the delay.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of applying the block conversion comprises reformulating the replica such that it occupies a 70 MHz frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a series of filtering and decimation steps depending on a bandwith of the transmit signal in the received aggregate signal.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the transmit signal is present in the aggregate signal; and

performing the determining a scaled, delayed and distorted replica step when it is determined that the transmit signal is present.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises performing Doppler tracking by determining a conjugate of the aggregate signal to determine a Doppler shift and applying the Doppler shift to compute the replica.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining a delay in the aggregate signal step further comprises performing a two step delay evaluation by determining a coarse timing delay and then a finer timing delay to provide the delay.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting a transmit signal step comprises transmitting a transmit signal having a bandwidth between 0.1 MHz to 66 MHz.

8. A system for reducing echo noise in satellite communications comprising:

receiving means for receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a distorted version of a transmit signal previously sent from a hub to the multiple remote stations;

storing a replica of the transmit signal;

distorting the replica according to satellite transponder nonlinearities;

determining means for determining a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal to provide a compensated distorted replica of the transmit signal;

echo noise reduction means for using the compensated distorted replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations;

wherein the determining means further comprises means for applying a block conversion to the transmit signal to form the distorted replica occupying a predetermined frequency range;

wherein the determining means further comprises correcting means for correcting for distortion in the aggregate signal by determining normalized gain and phase error in the aggregate signal to compute the replica of an echo noise signal; and

wherein the determining means further comprises second means for determining a delay in the aggregate signal by computing a least mean square fractional sample of the aggregate signal and tracking changes therein to determine the delay.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the means for applying the block conversion is configured to reformulate the replica such that it occupies a 70 MHz frequency.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining means further comprises decimating means for decimating the received aggregate signal through a series of filters that are dependent on a bandwidth of the transmit signal in the received aggregate signal.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining means further comprises Doppler tracking means for performing Doppler tracking by determining a conjugate of the aggregate signal to determine a Doppler shift and applying the Doppler shift to compute the replica of the echo noise signal.

12. An article of manufacture, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for echo noise in satellite communications, said instructions which, when performed by a processor, cause the processor to execute the steps comprising the steps of:

receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a distorted version of a transmit signal previously sent from a hub to the multiple remote stations;

storing a replica of the transmit signal;

distorting the replica according to satellite transponder nonlinearities;

determining a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal to provide a compensated distorted replica of the transmit signal;

using the compensated distorted replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations;

wherein the determining step further comprises applying a block conversion to the transmit signal to form the distorted replica occupying a predetermined frequency range;

wherein the determining step further comprises correcting means for correcting for distortion in the aggregate signal by determining normalized gain and phase error in the aggregate signal to compute the replica of an echo noise signal; and

wherein the determining step further comprises second means for determining a delay in the aggregate signal by computing a least mean square fractional sample of the aggregate signal and tracking changes therein to determine the delay.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein the step of applying the block conversion comprises reformulating the replica such that it occupies a 70 MHz frequency.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein the determining step further comprises decimating the received aggregate signal through a series of filters that are dependent on a bandwidth of the the transmit signal in the received aggregate signal.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 12, further comprising instructions which, when performed by a processor, cause the processor to execute the steps of:

determining whether the transmit signal is present in the aggregate signal; and

performing the determining a scaled, delayed and distorted replica step when it is determined that the transmit signal is present.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein the determining step further comprises performing Doppler tracking by determining a conjugate of the aggregate signal to determine a Doppler shift and applying the Doppler shift to compute the replica of the echo noise signal.