Communications device with selective spectrum assignment and related methods

A communications device comprising:

• a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to operate in a high frequency (HF) range and with a channel width greater than 3 kHz;
• and
• a controller coupled to said wireless RF transceiver and configured to
• determine a plurality of received signal characteristics and perform a spectral estimation operation associated with a frequency spectrum thereon,
• determine a channel selection method characteristic associated with a channel in the frequency spectrum comprising a plurality of channels,
• generate a plurality of statistical values for each channel based upon the plurality of received signal characteristics, and
• select a portion of the frequency spectrum for a signal to be transmitted by said wireless RF transceiver based upon the spectral estimation operation, the channel selection method characteristic, the plurality of statistical values, and at least one received signal strength characteristic.

A communications device comprising:

• a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver;
• and
• a controller coupled to said wireless RF transceiver and configured to
• determine a plurality of received signal characteristics for a signal received in each channel of a plurality of channels,
• perform a spectral estimation operation for each channel using the plurality of received signal characteristics,
• determine a plurality of first metric values representing a power of noise and interference value for the received signal in each channel on which spectral estimation has been performed,
• determine at least one first statistical characteristic based upon the plurality of first metric values for the at least one channel,
• determine a plurality of received signal strength measurements of the received signal in each channel based upon a known signal,
• determine at least one second statistical characteristic based upon the plurality of received signal strength measurements,
• determine a plurality of second quality metrics for a portion of the at least one channel using the at least one first statistical characteristic and the at least one second statistical characteristic,
• using the plurality of second quality metrics, select at least one portion of at least one channel for use in radio communications, and
• using the plurality of second quality metrics and the selected at least one channel, select at least one transmission characteristic to be used in the radio communications on at least one selected portion of at least one channel.

A wireless communication system comprising:

• a plurality of communications devices communicating with each other, each communications device comprising a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and a controller coupled to said wireless RF transceiver and configured to
• determine a plurality of received signal characteristics for a signal received in each channel of a plurality of channels,
• perform a spectral estimation operation for each channel using the plurality of received signal characteristics,
• determine a plurality of first metric values representing a power of noise and interference value for the received signal in each channel on which spectral estimation has been performed,
• determine at least one first statistical characteristic based upon the plurality of first metric values for the at least one channel,
• determine a plurality of received signal strength measurements of the received signal in each channel based upon a known signal,
• determine at least one second statistical characteristic based upon the plurality of received signal strength measurements,
• determine a plurality of second quality metrics for a portion of the at least one channel using the at least one first statistical characteristic and the at least one second statistical characteristic,
• using the plurality of second quality metrics, select at least one portion of at least one channel for use in radio communications, and
• using the plurality of second quality metrics and the selected at least one portion of at least one channel, select at least one transmission characteristic to be used in the radio communications on the selected at least one portion of at least one channel.

A method of operating a communications device including a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and a controller coupled thereto, the method comprising:

• using the controller to determine a plurality of received signal characteristics and perform a spectral estimation operation associated with a frequency spectrum thereon, the frequency spectrum comprising a plurality of channels;
• using the controller to generate a plurality of statistical values for each channel based upon the plurality of received signal characteristics;
• using the controller to determine a channel selection method characteristic associated with a channel in the frequency spectrum;
• and
• using the controller to select a portion of the frequency spectrum for a signal to be transmitted by the wireless RF transceiver of the communications device based upon the spectral estimation operation, the plurality of statistical values, and the channel selection method characteristic.