US 12,750,072 B2 · Waveform-triggered reception and buffering for millimeter-wave software-defined radios

Abstract

The disclosure deals with methodology and system subject matter for a low-cost and portable millimeter-wave software-defined radio (SDR) which supports wireless experimentation in the 60 GHz band. The SDR uses a homodyne transceiver and provides a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-based interface for companion computer (CC)-based baseband signal processing. To address the large difference between the processing speed of the CC and the sample rate of analog-to-digital converters, we use a disclosed method, called waveform-triggered reception (WTR), where a hard-coded block detects a special trigger waveform to acquire a predetermined number of in-phase/quadrature (IQ) data samples upon the detection. A buffer mechanism is used to support discontinuous transmissions. Using both the WTR and discontinuous transmissions, we can conduct a beam sweeping experiment, to evaluate 4096 beam pairs rapidly without compromising the flexibility of the CC-based processing.

Claims31

Dependent claims

Methodology for a radio, comprising:

receiving an analog signal corresponding to a radio frequency waveform;
converting the analog signal to a digital signal corresponding to the radio frequency waveform;
acquiring data samples from the radio frequency waveform in a first mode of operation;
monitoring data samples from the radio frequency waveform at a programmable logic circuit for detecting a predetermined trigger waveform within the radio frequency waveform;
producing a triggering signal by the programmable logic circuit whenever the predetermined trigger waveform is detected;
and
initiating an acquisition of a predetermined number of subsequent data samples from the radio frequency waveform into a buffer in a second mode of operation whenever the triggering signal is produced,
wherein the predetermined number of subsequent data samples comprises in-phase/quadrature (IQ) data samples following upon a detection instant of the predetermined trigger waveform.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Waveform-triggered reception and buffering for millimeter-wave software-defined radios

Life of this patent

Waveform-triggered reception and buffering for millimeter-wave software-defined radios

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims31