Electronic apparatus, angle estimation system, and signal processing method

• US 11,585,885 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2019
• Issued: 02/21/2023
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Tomioka, Tazuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Galt, Cassi J
• Application Number:
  US16/556,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20200132798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/043 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/10 Means for reducing or compensating for quadrantal, site, or like errors
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/50 the waves arriving at the antennas being pulse modulated and the time difference of their arrival being measured
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/74 Multi-channel systems specially adapted for direction-finding, i.e. having a single antenna system capable of giving simultaneous indications of the directions of different signals systems in which the directions of different signals are determined sequentially and displayed simultaneously G01S3/04, G01S3/14
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 23/00 Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry estimates a first AoA of an arrival wave corresponding to a received signal from a receiving element array. The processing circuitry determines whether the estimated first AoA is an outlier or not. The processing circuitry outputs the first AoA as a second AoA, when the first AoA is not to be an outlier. The processing circuitry acquires one or more main-lobe angles assuming that the first AoA is a side-lobe angle of the receiving element array, when the first AoA is to be an outlier. The processing circuitry determines whether the main-lobe angle is an outlier or not. The processing circuitry outputs the main-lobe angle as the second AoA, when the main-lobe angle is not to be an outlier.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

a receiving element array configured to receive a signal radiated from a transmitter; and

processing circuitry configured to;

estimate a first angle of arrival (AoA) of an arrival wave corresponding to a received signal from the receiving element array, based on the received signal;

determine whether the estimated first AoA is an outlier or not, based on a first criterion;

output the first AoA as a second AoA, when the first AoA is not to be an outlier;

acquire one or more main-lobe angles assuming that the first AoA is a side-lobe angle of the receiving element array, when the first AoA is to be an outlier;

determine whether at least one of the main-lobe angles is an outlier or not, based on a second criterion; and

output a main-lobe angle that is determined not to be an outlier as the second AoA.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving element array is an antenna array.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry comprises a memory configured to store a side-lobe/main-lobe correspondence table that is a table indicating correspondence between the side-lobe angles and the main-lobe angles.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of the main-lobe angles corresponding to the first AoA are present, the processing circuitry determines whether at least one of the plurality of main-lobe angles is an outlier or not, based on the second criterion, and selects one of the plurality of main-lobe angles having a minimum probability of being an outlier as the second AoA.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry outputs the second AoA to a filter.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the filter outputs a predicted value of an AoA of the arrival wave, based on the input second AoA, and

the second criterion is set to an absolute value of a difference between the at least one of the main-lobe angles and the predicted value, the predicted value being acquired by predicting the AoA at a time when the received signal is received.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the filter is an adaptive tracking filter.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to output a predicted value of an AoA of the arrival wave, based on the second AoA.

8. An AoA estimation system, comprising:

a transmitter configured to radiate a signal;

a receiving element array configured to receive the signal radiated from the transmitter; and

a processor configured to;

estimate a first AoA of arrival wave corresponding to a received signal from the receiving element array, based on the received signal;

determine whether the estimated first AoA is an outlier or not, based on a first criterion;

output the first AoA as a second AoA, when the first AoA is not to be an outlier;

acquire one or more main-lobe angles assuming that the first AoA is a side-lobe angle of the receiving element array, when the first AoA is to be an outlier;

determine whether at least one of the main-lobe angles is an outlier or not, based on a second criterion; and

output a main-lobe angle determined not to be an outlier as the second AoA.

10. The AoA estimation system according to claim 8, further comprising a tracking filter configured to output a predicted value of an AoA of the transmitter arrival wave, based on the second AoA.