US 10,379,211 B2Granted

Frequency set quality measure

AssigneeWeibel Scientific A/S

InventorJens Jørgen Nielsen

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for generating a quality measure for a frequency set. The quality measure indicates the quality of the frequency set for use in a multi frequency ranging method for estimating the range to an object. The method for generating a quality measure comprises the steps of determining the smallest distance between any two range lines of a set of range lines in an N-dimensional phase space. The N-dimensional phase space comprises at least a first dimension representing a first phase difference, and a second dimension representing a second phase difference. The N-dimensional phase space has a dimension equal to the number of phase differences used by the multi frequency ranging method. The range lines represent all theoretical possible combinations of the phase differences. The quality measure is determined for the frequency set based on the determined smallest distance

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method for generating a quality measure for a frequency set for indicating the quality of said frequency set for use in a multi frequency ranging method, said frequency set comprising at least a primary frequency (F0), a first frequency (F1), and a second frequency (F2), said multi frequency ranging method being a method for estimating the range to an object by determining at least a first phase difference and a second phase difference in a received reflected echo signal and processing said first phase difference and said second phase difference, said first phase difference being the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the first frequency (F1′) in the received reflected echo signal and said second phase difference being the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the second frequency (F2′) in the received reflected echo signal, wherein said method for generating a quality measure comprises the steps of:

determining the smallest distance between any two range lines of a set of range lines in an N-dimensional phase space, wherein the N-dimensional phase space comprises at least a first dimension representing the first phase difference, and a second dimension representing the second phase difference, said N-dimensional phase space having a dimension equal to the number of phase differences used by the multi frequency ranging method, said range lines representing all theoretical possible combinations of the first phase difference, the second phase difference, and N phase differences, used by said multi frequency method, each point on a range line corresponding to a specific range to an object within the unambiguous range of the multi frequency ranging method;
determining a quality measure for said specific frequency set based on the determined smallest distance.

A device configured to estimate the range to an object using a multi frequency ranging method, wherein said device is configured to use a first frequency set, said first frequency set comprising a primary frequency (F0), a first frequency (F1), a second frequency (F2), a third frequency (F3), a fourth frequency (F4), and a fifth frequency (F5) wherein the range to an object is estimated by

determining a first phase difference descriptive of the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the first frequency (F1′) in a received echo signal reflected from the object;
determining a second phase difference descriptive of the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the second frequency (F2′) in the received echo signal reflected from the object;
determining a third phase difference descriptive of the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the third frequency (F3′) in the received echo signal reflected from the object;
determining a fourth phase difference descriptive of the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the fourth frequency (F4′) in the received echo signal reflected from the object;
determining a fifth phase difference descriptive of the phase difference between the primary frequency (F0′) and the fifth frequency (F5′) in the received echo signal reflected from the object;
determining the range to the object by processing said first, second, third, fourth, and fifth phase difference;
wherein the first frequency (F1) is the frequency being closest to the primary frequency (F0), the total unambiguous range for the first frequency set is D times the individual unambiguous range for the first phase difference, and wherein the minimum separation between any two range lines is:
(a) above 44 degrees if D is between 200 and 333;
or
(b) above 40 degrees if D is between 333 and 666;
or
(c) above 35 degrees if D is between 666 and 1333;
or
(d) above 31 degrees if D is between 1333 and 2666;
or
(e) above 26 degrees if D is between 2666 and 4666.

13 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/123,209Filed 11 Sep 2015
Priority: DK 2014 701096 Mar 2014
Published: US 2017/0067989 A19 Mar 2017
Granted: 13 Aug 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G01S 13/36
Using transmission of continuous waves, whether amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated, or unmodulated: with phase comparison between the…
G01S 7/40
Of systems according to group G01S13/00: means for monitoring or calibrating
G01S 13/38
With phase comparison between the received signal and the contemporaneously transmitted signal: wherein more than one modulation frequency is used
G01S 17/36
Using transmission of continuous waves, whether amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated, or unmodulated: with phase comparison between the…