Method and system of interference detection for radar altimeters
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorBenjamin J. Winstead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of detecting interference noise at a radar altimeter. The method comprises periodically emitting a pulse from the pulsed radar altimeter, periodically detecting a noise level in a noise gate, and determining if the noise level detected during each noise-level-detection period exceeds a noise threshold. The period of emitting the pulse is a pulse repetition interval and the noise gate is offset from other gates in the altimeter. If the noise level detected during a noise-level-detection period is greater than the noise threshold, a counter value is incremented by a selected incremental value for that noise-level-detection period and it is determined if the counter value is greater than a count threshold.
Claims20
A method of detecting interference noise at a radar altimeter, the method comprising:
- periodically emitting a pulse from the pulsed radar altimeter, wherein the time period between the start times of consecutively emitted pulses is a pulse repetition interval;
- periodically detecting a noise level in a noise gate, the noise gate being offset from other gates in the altimeter;
- determining if the noise level detected during each noise-level-detection period exceeds a noise threshold;
- if the noise level detected during a noise-level-detection period is greater than the noise threshold, incrementing a counter value by a selected incremental value for that noise-level-detection period;
- and
- determining if the counter value is greater than a count threshold.
An interference detecting pulsed radar altimeter, comprising:
- a radio frequency receiver gated to periodically detect an intensity at a noise gate;
- a counter communicatively coupled to the radio frequency receiver, the counter operable to increment by a selected increment value if the intensity detected in the noise gate exceeds a noise threshold;
- and
- a programmable processor communicatively coupled to the counter, the programmable processor operable to determine if a counter value exceeds a count threshold and further operable to adjust at least one parameter of the pulsed radar altimeter if the counter value exceeds the count threshold.
A program product comprising program instructions, embodied on a storage medium, that are operable to cause a programmable processor to:
- periodically determine if a noise level detected during each noise-level-detection period exceeds a noise threshold;
- if the noise level detected during a noise-level-detection period is greater than the noise threshold, increment a counter value by a selected incremental value for that noise-level-detection period;
- and
- determine if the counter value is greater than a count threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.