Integrated circuit and system with tracking

A beamforming system that enables local monitoring of far field output transmit signals, the beamforming system comprising:

• a plurality of elements for transmission and reception of far field signals;
• at least one IC having a transmit mode in which the IC is actively transmitting to the far field and is not actively processing receive signals from the far field and a receive mode in which the IC is actively processing receive signals from the far field, the IC comprising a plurality of transmit/receive channels, each transmit/receive channel comprising a transmit branch configured to produce an output transmit signal for far field transmission when in the transmit mode, a sampling circuit configured to sample the output transmit signal to produce a distinct sample signal, and a receive branch configured (a) to receive a far field input signal when in the receive mode and (b) to receive the distinct sample signal and modify the phase of the distinct sample signal to produce a distinct modified sample signal when in the transmit mode, wherein each transmit branch and each receive branch is coupled to an element of the plurality of elements;
• a summing system that combines a plurality of the distinct modified sample signals from the receive branches into a combined output signal copy that mimics an actual far field transmit output signal of the beamforming system;
• and
• a sample controller configured to control which of the plurality of transmit/receive channels are combined to form the combined output signal copy.

A beamforming method that enables local monitoring of far field output transmit signals, the beamforming method comprising:

• providing at least one IC having a transmit mode in which the IC is actively transmitting to the far field and is not actively processing receive signals from the far field and a receive mode in which the IC is actively processing receive signals from the far field, the IC comprising a plurality of transmit/receive channels, each transmit/receive channel comprising a transmit branch configured to produce an output transmit signal for far field transmission when in the transmit mode, a sampling circuit configured to sample the output transmit signal to produce a distinct sample signal, and a receive branch configured (a) to receive a far field input signal when in the receive mode and (b) to receive the distinct sample signal and modify the phase of the distinct sample signal to produce a distinct modified sample signal when in the transmit mode;
• placing the at least one IC in the transmit mode;
• and
• combining a plurality of the distinct modified sample signals from the receive branches into a combined output signal copy that mimics an actual far field transmit output signal of the beamforming system,
• wherein the at least one IC comprises a plurality of ICs producing a plurality of combined IC output signal copies, and wherein combining the plurality of the distinct modified sample signals comprises combining the combined IC output signal copies into the combined output signal copy.

A beamforming system that enables local monitoring of far field output transmit signals, the beamforming system comprising:

• a plurality of elements for transmission and reception of far field signals;
• at least one IC having a transmit mode in which the IC is actively transmitting to the far field and is not actively processing receive signals from the far field and a receive mode in which the IC is actively processing receive signals from the far field, the IC comprising a plurality of transmit/receive channels, each transmit/receive channel comprising a transmit branch configured to produce an output transmit signal for far field transmission when in the transmit mode, a sampling circuit configured to sample the output transmit signal to produce a distinct sample signal, and a receive branch configured (a) to receive a far field input signal when in the receive mode and (b) to receive the distinct sample signal and modify the phase of the distinct sample signal to produce a distinct modified sample signal when in the transmit mode, wherein each transmit branch and each receive branch is coupled to an element of the plurality of elements;
• and
• a summing system that combines a plurality of the distinct modified sample signals from the receive branches into a combined output signal copy that mimics an actual far field transmit output signal of the beamforming system,
• wherein the at least one IC comprises a plurality of ICs producing a plurality of combined IC output signal copies, and wherein the summing system combines a plurality of the combined IC output signal copies into the combined output signal copy.