Method and system for testing a signal path having an operational signal
AssigneeUniversity of Utah Research Foundation
InventorsCynthia Furse, Chet Lo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A technique for testing a signal path while an operational signal is present is disclosed. The technique may be performed without injecting a test signal into the signal path by using an operational signal already present in the signal path. A method of testing a signal path includes receiving an operational signal from the signal path and estimating a correlation of the operational signal. A system for testing a signal path includes an extractor configured to extract a sample of the operational signal when coupled to a signal path and a correlator configured to estimate a correlation of the operational signal. Various properties of the signal path may be determined using the technique.
Claims35
A method of testing a signal path comprising:
- a) receiving an operational signal from the signal path;
- b) estimating a correlation of the operational signal at a time-offset;
- and
- c) determining a characteristic of the signal path from the correlation.
A method of testing a signal path having at least one anomaly comprising:
- a) extracting from the signal path a forward portion of an operational signal within the signal path;
- b) extracting from the signal path a reflection of the operational signal introduced by the at least one anomaly;
- c) estimating a plurality of cross-correlation values of the forward portion of the operational signal and the reflection of the operational signal corresponding to a plurality of relative time-offsets between the forward portion of the operational signal and the reflection of the operational signal;
- and
- d) finding a first extremum of the plurality of cross-correlation values corresponding to a first one of the at least one anomaly.
A method of testing a signal path having a plurality of anomalies comprising:
- a) extracting a portion of an operational signal from the signal path, the operational signal having distortion introduced by the plurality of anomalies;
- b) estimating an autocorrelation of the operational signal;
- c) determining a number of peaks of the autocorrelation;
- and
- d) calculating a number of anomalies from the number of peaks.
A system for testing a signal path having an operational signal comprising:
- a) an extractor configured to extract a sample of the operational signal when coupled to a signal path;
- b) a correlator coupled to the extractor and configured to estimate a correlation of the sample of operational signal at an at least one time-offset;
- c) a processor coupled to the correlator and configured to determine a characteristic of the signal path from the correlation.
A system providing self-test capability comprising:
- a) at least one signal path carrying an operational signal used by the system during operation;
- b) at least one noise domain reflectometer coupled to the at least one signal path adapted to monitor the signal path during operation of the system wherein the noise domain reflectometer comprises:
- i) a correlator coupled to the signal path and configured to estimate a correlation of the operational signal;
- ii) a processor coupled to the correlator and configured to determine a characteristic of the signal path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.