Apparatus and methods of accessing all channels of a superheterodyne receiver simultaneously

• US 9,748,980 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Original Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Inventors: Whitaker, George, Maas, Jeff, Christianson, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US14/845,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20150381213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 455323-324, 455334, 455336, 455431, 342 30, 342 37, 342118, 342418
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0053 with common antenna for more than one band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/28 the receiver comprising at least one semiconductor device having three or more electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method associated with exploiting a characteristic in super-heterodyne receivers such that a modulated signal will be received on all channels simultaneously regardless of the channel selected on the receiver.

Claims

1. An energy output apparatus adapted for bypassing channel selection for a superheterodyne communication system, comprising:

a first and second transmitter sections configured to selectively bypass channel selection for a superheterodyne receiver coupled to or mounted within a moving aircraft, wherein said first transmitter section is adapted to output a plurality of one or more first signals comprising frequencies that are continuous wave un-modulated signals, said second transmitter section is adapted to output a plurality of second signals with a frequency that is modulated with a tone, a recording, or live audio, wherein one of said first or second transmitter sections is adapted to produce an omnidirectional output signal and the other transmitter section is adapted to produce a directional output signal aimed at said moving aircraft that comprises said superheterodyne receiver, wherein said first and said second transmitter sections are adapted to selectively transmit said first and second signals each having a selected carrier frequency within or very near corner frequencies of a pass band filter of said superheterodyne receiver such that said pass band filter passes both said omnidirectional and said directional signal output, wherein said selected carrier frequency is within or very near corner frequencies of said pass band filter such that negligible or manageable attenuation occurs;

wherein said plurality of continuous wave signal'"'"'s frequencies and the one modulated frequency combine in the superheterodyne receiver'"'"'s mixer at an intersection of said first and second signals at said vehicle'"'"'s location as sums and differences of all possible combinations resulting an intermediate frequency product which is passed through the pass band of said superheterodyne receiver;

wherein said all frequencies are selected such that one combination of sums and differences is equal to the intermediate frequency of the superheterodyne receiver;

wherein nonlinear components in said superheterodyne receivers perform frequency conversion on said all frequencies.

2. An energy output system as in claim 1, wherein said energy output apparatus is adapted to transmit both the continuous wave signals and the modulated signal from one or more antennas respectively coupled to said first and second sections to generate coverage sufficient to orient on said superheterodyne receiver upon activation.

3. An energy output system as in claim 1, wherein any said superheterodyne receiver with the intermediate frequency and the pass band that is in a range of the continuous wave receiver'"'"'s signal frequencies and the modulated frequency will output the modulated audio on all channels of said superheterodyne receiver regardless where the receiver'"'"'s radio tuner is set.

4. The energy output system as in claim 1, wherein the modulation is other than AM modulation such as frequency, phase or any of the other digital or analog modulation schemes such as phase shift key or asymmetric phase shift key.

5. The energy output system as in claim 1, wherein said second transmitter comprises a directional transmission antenna that is configured to transmit said second signal towards said vehicle.

6. The energy output system as in claim 1, wherein said vehicle comprises an aircraft mounting said superheterodyne communication system.

7. An apparatus for communicating with an entity having an unknown selection of radio communication channel settings, comprising:

a control section comprising non-transitory library storing a plurality of different first intermediate frequencies (IF) and a plurality of frequency pairs in a non-transitory machine readable format within said control section, wherein said plurality of different first IFs are each respectively associated with one of a plurality of different superheterodyne communication architecture systems that may be installed in an aircraft, each of said plurality of superheterodyne communication architecture systems comprising a band pass frequency type with a first frequency range that allows a plurality of aircraft communications frequencies to pass through each of the band pass filter types, wherein said plurality of frequency pairs each comprising a respective F1 and F2 frequency value, wherein each of said respective F1 and F2 frequency values respectively associated with each of said frequency pairs is within the plurality of aircraft communication frequencies that will pass through the band pass filter types, wherein each said frequency pairs are each further defined so that when any two F1, F2 pairs are respectively differenced, the differenced product for each pair is respectively equal to one of the plurality of different first IFs;

an omnidirectional antenna coupled with said control section;

a narrow beam directional antenna coupled with said control section, wherein said controls section;

detecting a first aircraft entering a predetermined restricted airspace;

an aircraft location detection system configured to determine a first aircraft'"'"'s location and bearing from a point within a frame of reference;

wherein said control section has control logic that, in response to an operator or other control input, selects one of said plurality of frequency pairs each comprising a respective F1, F2, selects at a first and second transmission frequency each respectively equal to said one of said plurality of frequency pairs F1, F2, transmits an unmodulated omnidirectional first transmission signal at said first transmission frequency from said omnidirectional antenna, orients a beampath of said narrow beam directional antenna from said point within said frame of reference the directional antenna is located at along said bearing towards said first aircraft comprising one of said plurality of superheterodyne communication architecture systems, said control section further is adapted to selectively maintain said first aircraft within said beampath during a first time period, wherein said control system further selectively modulates and transmits a second transmission signal from said narrow beam antenna within said beampath with a message during said first time period so as to mix said first transmission signal and said second transmission signal at said first aircraft'"'"'s location as it transits during said first period, wherein said control section further is configured to optionally select a different first and second transmission frequency each respectively equal to a different one of said plurality of frequency pairs F1, F2 if an operator in said first aircraft does not respond to said message and repeating said transmitting orienting, modulating and transmitting steps using the different first and second transmission frequency.

8. An apparatus as in claim 7, wherein said library comprising said plurality of frequency pairs each associated with one of said plurality of different IFs that are each respectively associated with one of said plurality of different superheterodyne communication architecture systems, wherein said step of selecting first and second transmission frequencies further comprises selecting said first and second transmission frequencies from said library based on a retrieval of one or more said frequency pairs from said library.

9. An apparatus as in claim 7, wherein said message comprises a tone, a recorded message, or live audio from a microphone.