Compact beacon radar and full ATC services system

• US 8,884,810 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Saab Sensis Corp. (Saab AB)
• Original Assignee: Saab Sensis Corp. (Saab AB)
• Inventors: Perl, Elyahu
• Primary Examiner(s): BYTHROW, PETER M
• Application Number:
  US13/121,270
• Publication Number:
  US 20110215963A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 342 33- 51, 342147-164, 342/175
• US Class Current: 342/36
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/781 Secondary Surveillance Radar [SSR] in general
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/30 derived directly from separate directional systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/04 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/40 Means for monitoring or calibrating
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/004 providing two or four symmetrical beams for Janus application
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00

Abstract

A system and method for a single site beacon transceiver including an omni-directional transceiver, a plurality of directional receiving antennas for receiving a signal, and a digital receiver for processing the signal to determine an azimuth to the source of the received signal. The digital receiver includes a plurality of receiver channels that are calibrated periodically and at least one processor that estimates a coarse signal azimuth for the signal by calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for the signal using the two directional receiving antennas receiving the highest amplitude signal, and estimates a final signal azimuth for the signal using an interferometer baseline between the two directional receiving antennas or, alternately, subtracts the complex ratio of the measurements from the complex ratio of the antenna array RF model to determine the angle corresponding to the minimum of the absolute value of the difference.

Claims

1. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

an omni-directional transceiver;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving a signal; and

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein the plurality of receivers are calibrated periodically and said processor estimates a coarse signal azimuth for said signal by calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal using two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas receiving the highest amplitude signal, and estimates a final signal azimuth for said signal using the estimated coarse signal azimuth and an interferometer baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

2. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein the digital receiver estimates the final signal azimuth using the equation:

3. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 2, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

4. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 2, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

5. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 2, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

6. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein the omni-directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, and wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

7. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein the digital receiver calculates an interferometric azimuth deviation from an interferometric phase difference between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

8. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

9. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein said signals are converted to a numerical representation of their complex envelope using a Hilbert Transform.

10. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

59. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

11. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

an omni-directional transceiver, wherein the omni-directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving a signal;

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein the processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal;

calculating a coarse signal azimuth angle for said signal by converting said signal amplitude monopulse ratio to an azimuth angle relative to the interferometric baseline;

calculating an interferometric phase difference for said signal relative to the interferometric baseline;

estimating an interferometric azimuth deviation from the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle; and

determining a final signal azimuth for said signal using the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle and the estimated interferometric azimuth deviation.

12. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein the digital receiver estimates the final signal azimuth using the equation:

13. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 12, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

14. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 12, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

15. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein the omni-directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal, and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

16. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein the digital receiver calculates an interferometric azimuth deviation from an interferometric phase difference between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

17. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

18. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein said signals are converted to the numerical representation of the complex envelope using a Hilbert Transform.

19. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

60. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

20. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

an omni-directional transceiver;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving signals;

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of directional receiving antennas periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

wherein the processing of said signal uses the following equation to determine an azimuth angle with respect to an interferometer baseline;

21. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 20, wherein the omni-directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

22. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 20, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

23. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 20, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

61. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 20, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

24. A method of localizing targets using a single site compact beacon transceiver, the method comprising:

transmitting an interrogation signal from an omni-directional transceiver;

receiving a reply signal at a plurality of directional receiving antennas providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving a signal; and

processing the received reply signals in a digital receiver, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor;

wherein the processing comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of the signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal;

calculating a coarse signal azimuth angle for said signal by converting said signal amplitude monopulse ratio to an azimuth angle relative to the interferometric baseline;

calculating an interferometric phase difference for said signal relative to the interferometric baseline;

estimating an interferometric azimuth deviation from the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle; and

determining a final signal azimuth angle for said signal using the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle and the estimated interferometric azimuth deviation.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein determining the final signal azimuth angle uses the equation:

26. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) uses an amplitude monopulse table and the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

27. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) uses an amplitude monopulse table and the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising calculating a range to the target transmitting the reply signal based on the round trip delay time, wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein calibrating the plurality of receiver channels comprises the steps of:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

62. The method of claim 24, wherein calibrating each of the plurality of receiver channels further comprises:

injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler periodically to each of the plurality of receiver channels;

determining a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels;

storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels; and

removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

30. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas located along a periphery of said single site beacon transceiver providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving said signal; and

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein said digital receiver periodically calibrates each of the plurality of receiver channels, estimates a coarse signal azimuth for said signal by calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal using two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas that receive the highest amplitude signal, and estimates a final signal azimuth for said signal using the estimated coarse signal azimuth and an interferometer baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

31. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein the digital receiver estimates the final signal azimuth using the equation:

32. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 31, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

33. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 31, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

34. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 31, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

35. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein said at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver transmits an interrogation signal, and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, and wherein said at least one directional transceiver and the plurality of directional antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

36. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein the digital receiver calculates an interferometric azimuth deviation from an interferometric phase difference between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

37. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

38. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein said signals are converted to a numerical representation of a complex envelope using a Hilbert Transform.

39. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

63. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 30, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

40. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver for transmitting a signal and receiving a signal, wherein said at least one directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas located along a periphery of said single site beacon transceiver providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving signals; and

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein the processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal;

calculating a coarse signal azimuth angle for said signal by converting said signal amplitude monopulse ratio to an azimuth angle relative to the interferometric baseline;

calculating an interferometric phase difference for said signal relative to the interferometric baseline;

estimating an interferometric azimuth deviation from the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle; and

determining a final signal azimuth for said signal using the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle and the estimated interferometric azimuth deviation.

41. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein the digital receiver estimates the final signal azimuth using the equation:

42. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 41, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

43. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 41, wherein the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) is determined from an amplitude monopulse table using the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

44. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 41, wherein said at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver transmits an interrogation signal, and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, and wherein said at least one directional transceiver and the plurality of directional antennas provides at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

45. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein the digital receiver calculates an interferometric azimuth deviation from an interferometric phase difference between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas.

46. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

47. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein said signals are converted to a numerical representation of a complex envelope using a Hilbert Transform.

48. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

64. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 40, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

49. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas located along a periphery of said single site beacon transceiver providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving said signal; and

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

wherein the processing of said signal uses the following equation to determine an azimuth angle with respect to an interferometer baseline;

50. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 49, wherein said at least one directional transceiver transmits an interrogation signal and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, wherein the plurality of directional transceivers and the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

51. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 49, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

52. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 49, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

65. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 49, wherein each of the plurality of receiver channels is calibrated by periodically injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler to determine a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels, and removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

53. A method of localizing targets using a single site beacon transceiver, the method comprising:

transmitting an interrogation signal from at least one of the at least one directional transceivers located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver;

receiving a reply signal at a plurality of directional receiving antennas providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving signals; and

processing the received reply signals in a digital receiver, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor;

wherein the processing comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of the signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude a signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

calculating an amplitude monopulse ratio for said signal;

calculating a coarse signal azimuth angle for said signal by converting said signal amplitude monopulse ratio to an azimuth angle relative to the interferometric baseline;

calculating an interferometric phase difference for said signal relative to the interferometric baseline;

estimating an interferometric azimuth deviation from the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle; and

determining a final signal azimuth angle for said signal using the calculated coarse signal azimuth angle and the estimated interferometric azimuth deviation.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein determining the final signal azimuth angle uses the equation:

55. The method of claim 54, wherein determining the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) uses an amplitude monopulse table and the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

56. The method of claim 54, wherein determining the coarse azimuth (coarse_az) uses an amplitude monopulse table and the amplitude monopulse ratio equation,

57. The method of claim 54 further comprising calculating the range to the target transmitting the reply signal based on the round trip delay time, wherein said at least one directional transceiver and the plurality of directional receiving antennas provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

58. The method of claim 53, wherein calibrating the plurality of receiver channels comprises the steps of:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

66. The method of claim 53, wherein calibrating each of the plurality of receiver channels further comprises:

injecting a calibration signal through a directional coupler periodically to each of the plurality of receiver channels;

determining a calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels;

storing the calibration coefficient for each of the plurality of receiver channels; and

removing the calibration coefficient from said signal before estimating a coarse signal azimuth.

67. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

an omni-directional transceiver;

at least one directional receiving antenna;

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of receiver channels periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

wherein the processing of said signal uses two interferometer baselines in the following equation to determine an azimuth angle with respect to an interferometer baseline;

68. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 67, wherein at least one of said at least one directional receiving antenna transmits an interrogation signal and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas and at least one directional transceiver provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

69. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 67, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

70. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 67, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

75. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 67, wherein W1, W2 and W3 are determined by adaptive algorithms in the time domain to mitigate multipath.

76. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 67, wherein W1, W2 and W3 are determined by:

examining the received signal pulse shape and determining a leading edge and a trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape, wherein a multipath signal is visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape;

creating a new synthetic pulse shape for the received signal having a trailing edge adjusted to overlap the multipath signal visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape;

processing said synthetic pulse shape through the digital receiver processing;

selecting a sample from the area of overlap with the multipath signal visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape; and

calculating an adaptive weight W using the following equation;

77. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 76, wherein the adaptive weight W is used to calculate the cancelled complex envelope using the following equation:

Vcancelled=Vsignal−

W·

Vsynthetic

where;

Vsignal is the complex envelope of the signal;

Vsynthetic is the complex envelope of the synthetic signal; and

W is the adaptive weight value.

71. A single site beacon transceiver, comprising:

at least one directional transceiver located at a central position in said single site beacon transceiver;

a plurality of directional receiving antennas located along a periphery of said single site beacon transceiver providing 360 degrees of coverage for receiving said signal; and

a digital receiver for processing said signal, said digital receiver comprising a plurality of receiver channels and at least one processor, wherein processing of said signal comprises;

calibrating the plurality of directional receiving antennas periodically before estimating the angle of arrival of said signal;

determining which two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas received the highest amplitude signal;

determining an interferometric baseline between said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

downconverting, digitizing and transforming said signal at each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas into a numerical representation of said signal;

calculating a numerical representation of a complex envelope from the numerical representation of said signal for each of said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas;

wherein the processing of said signal uses two interferometer baselines and the following equation to determine an azimuth angle with respect to an interferometer baseline;

72. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 71, wherein at least one of said at least one directional receiving antenna transmits an interrogation signal and said signal is a reply signal to the interrogation signal or an unsolicited beacon squit transmission, wherein the omni-directional transceiver and said two of the plurality of directional receiving antennas and at least one directional transceiver provide at least two interferometer baselines to resolve azimuth ambiguities.

73. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 71, wherein said signal is downconverted to an intermediate frequency and digitized prior to being transformed into a numerical representation of said signal.

74. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 71, wherein the calibration of the plurality of receiver channels comprises:

receiving a calibration signal at each of the plurality of receiver channels;

downconverting the calibration signal to an intermediate frequency;

digitizing the downconverted calibration signal;

transforming the calibration signal into a numerical representation of a complex envelope of the calibration signal using a Hilbert Transform and

calculating an insertion phase difference and an insertion amplitude difference between said plurality of receiver channels, associating each antenna of said plurality of antennas with one of said plurality of receiver channels, combining said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference calculated for each receiver channel with a stored insertion amplitude difference and a stored insertion phase difference for said antenna associated with said receiver channel;

storing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference for each receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel, and then removing said insertion amplitude difference and said insertion phase difference of said receiver channel and said antenna associated with said receiver channel from said signal before estimating the azimuth.

78. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 71, wherein W1, W2 and W3 are determined by adaptive algorithms in the time domain to mitigate multipath.

79. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 71, wherein W1, W2 and W3 are determined by:

examining the received signal pulse shape and determining a leading edge and a trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape, wherein a multipath signal is visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape;

creating a new synthetic pulse shape for the received signal having a trailing edge adjusted to overlap the multipath signal visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape;

processing said synthetic pulse shape through the digital receiver processing;

selecting a sample from the area of overlap with the multipath signal visible near the trailing edge of the received signal pulse shape; and

calculating an adaptive weight W using the following equation;

80. The single site beacon transceiver of claim 79, wherein the adaptive weight W is used to calculate the cancelled complex envelope using the following equation:

Vcancelled=Vsignal−

W·

Vsynthetic

where;

Vsignal is the complex envelope of the signal;

Vsynthetic is the complex envelope of the synthetic signal; and

W is the adaptive weight value.