Systems, methods, and devices for electronic spectrum management

• US 8,780,968 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2013
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DGS Global Systems, Inc., Digital Global Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DGS Global Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Carbajal, Daniel, Garcia, Gabriel R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Chieh M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cadeau, Wednel
• Application Number:
  US14/082,916
• Time in Patent Office: 239 Days
• US Class Current: 375/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/3911 Fading models or fading generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices enable spectrum management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements. In an embodiment, signals and the parameters of the signals may be identified and indications of available frequencies may be presented to a user. In another embodiment, the protocols of signals may also be identified. In a further embodiment, the modulation of signals, data types carried by the signals, and estimated signal origins may be identified.

Claims

1. A spectrum analysis and management device, comprising:

a device within a housing including a radio frequency (RF) receiver coupled with at least one processor, a non-volatile memory, a display, and a location receiver;

wherein the at least one processor is operable to;

provide parallel processing;

receive location input data from the location receiver and RF energy measurements from the RF receiver, both corresponding to at least one signal of interest;

automatically determine a geographic location of the at least one signal of interest based on the received location input data;

automatically determine a time associated with the RF energy measurements and convert the received RF energy measurements into spectral representation data;

automatically process spectrum power density data as received and process in-phase quadrature (I/Q) data by fast parallel adaptive filter processes to generate a power spectrum;

analyze the spectral representation data to identify the at least one signal of interest above a power threshold and determine at least one signal parameter of the signal of interest;

compare the at least one signal parameter of the at least one signal of interest to signal characteristic listing data in the non-volatile memory to determine whether the at least one signal parameter of the at least one signal of interest matches corresponding signal parameters in the signal characteristic listing data;

automatically identify the signal(s) of interest in near real-time for the received location input data and RF energy measurements based upon whether the signal parameter(s) of the signal(s) of interest matches any signal parameters in the signal characteristic listing data;

automatically generate a free space loss degradation value and degradation data associated with the at least one signal of interest, and signal optimization parameters indicating steps for a user to optimize the at least one signal of interest;

wherein the signal parameter data, the location of the device, degradation data, and the time associated with the RF energy measurements are automatically stored in a history database in the non-volatile memory; and

wherein the display is operable to provide a visual representation of the signal(s) of interest and the corresponding identification, the degradation data, and steps for optimizing the signal(s) of interest.

2. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the device is operable to collect data from known signals or unknown signals and time space the data.

3. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the RF receiver and processor are configured to sample the received RF data by fast analog down-conversion of the RF signals received.

4. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the received or measured data is processed to provide attributes of the at least one signal of interest within a spectrum of interest.

5. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the power spectrum includes signal power, bandwidth, center frequency, and time of arrival (TOA) measurement data for the signal(s) of interest.

6. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, further including a spectrum analysis module within the housing for evaluating all data to automatically determine the spectral components of each of the at least one signal of interest and an optimization module that uses degradation data with measured terrain data of geographic locations stored in the static database to perform pattern distortion, generate propagation and/or next neighbor interference models, determine interference variables, and perform best fit modeling for signal optimization.

7. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, further including a multi-core processor for near-real time analysis and identification of the at least one signal of interest and for analyzing degradation data compared with measured terrain data of geographic locations stored in the static database to perform pattern distortion, generate propagation and/or next neighbor interference models, determine interference variables, and perform best fit modeling for optimization of the at least one signal of interest.

8. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the signal power threshold and the frequency range are user-selectable via a device interface.

9. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the parallel processing includes determining a mean correlation value of a spectral decomposition of each signal and/or signals mean averaging to analyze the signal data, where more than two signals of interest are detected in a spectrum of interest, to determine if the signals are interrelated.

10. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 1, wherein the parallel processing provides near real-time analysis of a plurality of signal parameters at one time for each of the at least one signal of interest.

11. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 3, wherein the down-converted RF signals are automatically digitally converted and processed by fast convolution filters to obtain the power spectrum including translated spectral data including measured values of signal energy, frequency, and time for each of the at least one signal of interest.

12. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 6, wherein the spectrum analysis module automatically generates a query to a static database to classify each of the at least one signal of interest based upon its attributes.

13. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 10, wherein the parallel processing includes cyclic processes that average and correlate information from the at least one signal of interest by extracting the changes associated with the at least one signal of interest.

14. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 12, wherein the static database includes information used to automatically determine spectral density, center frequency, bandwidth, baud rate, modulation type, protocol, system or carrier using licensed spectrum, location of the signal source, and timestamp corresponding to the at least one signal of interest.

15. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 13, wherein the changes include a combination of amplitude and frequency changes that are averaged over bandwidth and time to compute a modulation type, changes in frequency offsets, orthogonal frequency division modulation, changes in time, and/or changes in I/Q phase rotation.

16. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 13, wherein the changes are stored in the memory of the device.

17. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 13, wherein the changes are used for automatic analysis of the signal data to determine the identification of the at least one signal of interest in the spectrum of interest.

18. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 15, wherein the changes are included in the at least one signal parameter.

19. A spectrum analysis and management device comprising:

at least one processor and a non-volatile memory operable for parallel processing by modules included within a device housing, the modules including;

a signal detection module including a radio frequency (RF) receiver and a location receiver for receiving signal data;

a spectrum analysis module operable to automatically determine the spectral components of at least one signal of interest, and provide them to a data extraction module, which automatically determines initial signal characteristics including modulation type, bandwidth, communication protocol, and symbol information;

a spectrum management module operable to automatically generate queries to a static database to classify the at least one signal of interest based upon its spectral components in comparison to static data in the static database, and to historical data stored on the non-volatile memory;

wherein the historical data includes the signal components, a device location, and the time associated with the signal data;

a comparison module operable to match data generated by the signal detection module with the historical data, the static data, and/or the characteristic listing data; and

an optimization module operable to automatically generate a free space loss degradation value and degradation data associated with noise parameters, hardware parameters and environmental parameters for the at least one signal of interest, and signal optimization parameters selected from protocol data, symbol information, environment data, and noise data, wherein the signal optimization parameters indicate steps for a user to optimize the at least one signal of interest;

wherein the modules are configured for receiving, processing, analyzing and comparing the data received from the at least one signal of interest in a spectrum of interest and automatically conducting near-real time analysis for identification of the at least one signal of interest and steps for improving characteristics of the signal(s) of interest.

20. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the signal optimization parameters and analysis of degradation data provide an indication of changes to initial characteristics of the at least one signal of interest for optimizing the at least one signal of interest.

21. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the parallel processing provides near real-time analysis of a plurality of signal parameters at one time for each of the at least one signal of interest.

22. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the parallel processing includes cyclic processes that average and correlate information from the at least one signal of interest by extracting the changes associated with the at least one signal of interest.

23. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, further including a multi-core processor for near-real time analysis and identification of the at least one signal of interest and analysis of the degradation data to generate near real-time steps for improving the signal(s) of interest.

24. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the signal detection module is operable to receive signal data and generate signal parameters, which are provided to the comparison module, and degradation data is automatically compared with measured terrain data of geographic locations stored in the static database to perform pattern distortion, generate propagation and/or next neighbor interference models, determine interference variables, and perform best fit modeling to aide in signal optimization for the at least one signal of interest.

25. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the signal parameters include center frequency, bandwidth, power, frequency peak, peak power, average power, and signal duration for the at least one signal of interest.

26. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the static data includes information used to automatically determine spectral density, center frequency, bandwidth, baud rate, modulation type, protocol, system or carrier using licensed spectrum, location of the signal source, and timestamp corresponding to the at least one signal of interest.

27. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the changes associated with the at least one signal of interest are stored in the device memory and the changes are used for near real-time processing of the signal data for signal identification and for signal optimization.

28. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the signal identification for the at least one signal of interest includes factors of modulation type, protocol data, symbol timing data, frequency repetition interval, and/or type of data being transported in the at least one signal of interest.

29. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 19, wherein the signal data received by the RF receiver is automatically transformed into spectral representation data comprises applying a Fast Fourier Transform to the received RF energy measurements, and the spectral representation data comprises I/Q data.

30. The spectrum analysis and management device of claim 22, wherein the changes include a combination of amplitude and frequency changes that are averaged over bandwidth and time to compute a modulation type, changes in frequency offsets, orthogonal frequency division modulation, changes in time, and/or changes in I/Q phase rotation.