System for providing spatial awareness of transmissions of energy in an environment

• US 8,681,218 B1
• Filed: 07/03/2008
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Jensen, Dana J., Koenck, Steven E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Drabik, Sarah
• Application Number:
  US12/217,411
• Time in Patent Office: 2,091 Days
• Field of Search: 348/81, 348115-119, 348135-137, 348/143, 348/152, 342 14- 15, 342/25.R, 342/25.A, 342 32- 33, 342/37, 342/55, 342 63- 66, 342/118, 342/176, 342/191
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/02 Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/021 Auxiliary means for detecting or identifying radar signals or the like, e.g. radar jamming signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters

Abstract

A system for providing RF spatial awareness of an environment includes an RF detection system and a control system. The RF detection system includes an antenna array for receiving RF signals from a plurality of RF sources; and, a receiver system operatively connected to the antenna array using digital beamforming (DBF) techniques for processing the received RF signals and providing measurements of the RF signals as output. The control system receives the measurements of the RF signals and displays a plurality of indicia indicating the RF sources, thereby providing a visual survey of the environment.

Claims

1. A system for providing RF spatial awareness of an environment, comprising:

a) a passive RF detection system operational in a receive-only fashion, comprising;

i) an antenna array for receiving RF signals originating from each of a plurality of RF sources; and

,

ii) a receiver system operatively connected to said antenna array using digital beamforming (DBF) techniques for processing said RF signals and providing measurements of said RF signals as output, wherein a scan pattern is variably controlled; and

,

b) a control system for receiving said measurements of said RF signals and displaying a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources on a see through display, thereby providing a visualization of the otherwise invisible RF sources in the field of view,

wherein said plurality of indicia convey information regarding the detected sources by their appearance and,

wherein said control system allows selection of a subset of RF sources to display as said indicia and allows selection of a related display format.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said control system, comprises:

a) a see through display processing unit operatively connected to said receiver system for receiving said measurements of said RF signals and controlling said receiver system with DBF commands;

b) a pointing device for accepting interactive user inputs to said see through display processing unit for operating said see through display processing unit; and

,

c) a see through display unit operatively connected to said see through display processing unit for displaying a plurality of interactive commands with said measurements, said measurements being displayed as a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources, thereby providing a visualization of the otherwise invisible RF sources in the field of view.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said control system comprises a plurality of interactive commands, including a popup window for displaying additional information when said pointing device is being hovered over one of said indicia.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said plurality of interactive commands comprises a popup window for displaying options when said pointing device is being hovered over one of said indicia, said options allowing a user to select them to conduct additional analysis.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said plurality of interactive commands comprises a plurality of menus allowing a variety of settings to be controlled, said variety of settings being of a group of settings comprising:

averaging, update rates, scan times, and bandwidths.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said plurality of interactive commands comprises a plurality of menus containing a list of signal signatures that can be targeted, and the ability to save a time slice of an RF source for further analysis.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein said RF detection system, said see through display processing unit, and said see through display unit are operatively connected via ethernet connection.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein said RF detection system scans said RF signals in a selected direction by applying a weight vector to combine said RF signals arriving from said antenna array to point said antenna array in said selected direction.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein said RF detection system scans said RF signals in multiple directions simultaneously by applying multiple weight vectors to combine said RF signals arriving from said antenna array to point said antenna array in said multiple directions.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein said RF detection system receives RF signals and correlates them against a known sequence to estimate direction of arrival (DOA) of said RF signals.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of indicia comprises a plurality of dots in a grid for identifying peaks of said RF sources, the size of each of said dots for indicating relative power of said RF sources and the color of each said dots for identifying the frequency bandwidth of said RF sources.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said DBF techniques comprise scanning a field of view of the antenna array utilizing weight vectors to focus the antenna array in multiple directions simultaneously.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said control system comprises a see through display unit including a display surface having a sensing array mounted thereon on, obviating the need for any video camera.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a see through display operatively connected to said control system.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the scan pattern is variably controlled for coarse and fine scanning.

16. A method for providing RF spatial awareness of an environment, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving RF signals originating from each of a plurality of RF sources using an antenna array operational in a receive-only fashion;

b) processing said received RF signals utilizing a passive receiver system operatively connected to said antenna array using digital beamforming techniques and providing measurements of said RF signals as output, wherein a scan pattern is variably controlled; and

,

c) receiving said measurements of said RF signals and displaying a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources on a see through display utilizing a control system, thereby providing a visualization of the otherwise invisible RF sources in the field of view,

wherein said plurality of indicia convey information regarding the detected sources by their appearance and,

wherein said control system allows selection of a subset of RF sources to display as said indicia and allows selection of a related display format.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of receiving said measurements of said RF signals and displaying a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources utilizing a control system, comprises the steps of:

a) receiving said measurements of said RF signals and controlling said receiver system with DBF commands utilizing a video-display processing unit operatively connected to said receiver system;

b) accepting interactive user inputs to said see through display processing unit for operating said see through display processing unit using a pointing device; and

,

c) displaying a plurality of interactive commands with said measurements using a display unit operatively connected to said see through display processing unit, said measurements being displayed as a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources, thereby providing a visualization of the otherwise invisible RF sources in the field of view.

18. A system for providing RF spatial awareness of an environment, comprising:

a) a passive RF detection system operational in a receive-only fashion, comprising;

i) an antenna array for receiving RF signals originating from each of a plurality of RF sources; and

,

ii) a receiver system operatively connected to said antenna array using digital beamforming (DBF) techniques for processing said RF signals and providing measurements of said RF signals as output, wherein a scan pattern is variably controlled; and

,

b) a control system for receiving said measurements of said RF signals and displaying a plurality of indicia indicating said RF sources on a see through display, thereby providing visualization of the otherwise invisible RF sources in the field of view,

wherein said plurality of indicia comprises a plurality of dots in a grid for identifying peaks of said RF sources, the size of each of said dots for indicating relative power of said RF sources and the color of each said dots for identifying the frequency bandwidth of said RF sources,

wherein said control system comprises a see through display unit including a display surface having a sensing array mounted thereon on, obviating the need for any video camera and wherein said control system allows selection of a subset of RF sources to display as said indicia and allows selection of a related display format.