Exploitation of emitter RF agility for unambiguous interferometer direction finding
US5652590A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 10, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jul 29, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 10, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S3/465
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method for use with a long baseline interferometer that unambiguously estimates the angle of arrival of an RF agile signal produced by an emitter. The angle of arrival estimate provided by the method may be used to resolve phase ambiguities inherent in the long baseline interferometer, thereby providing for the unambiguous estimation of the angle of arrival of the RF signal from the emitter. The RF agile signals processed to determine the phase thereof. The phase information contained in the energy radiated by the emitter is then processed to estimate the angle of arrival of the energy. The phase information contained in the RF agile signal is processed using the equations .phi.=(2.pi.fL/c) sin .theta., and .delta. sin .theta.=(c/2.pi.fL).delta..phi., where the phase (.phi.) is measured to a given error (.delta..phi.) to determine the direction of arrival (.theta.) of the energy radiated by the emitter. The angle of arrival of the received RF agile signal from the emitter is estimated by determining the rate at which the phase of the received RF agile signal changes. This provides an independent estimate of angle to the emitter which is used to resolve the ambiguous phase measure…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.