Time delay calibrator and method
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsPaul T. Hartin, Richard Godley, Jacob A. Hanson-Daisa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method includes generating a shaped gate signal using a gate voltage generator and providing the shaped gate signal to a gate of an active component of a radio frequency (RF) chain in a time delay-based array. The method also includes amplifying noise with a changing gain based on the shaped gate signal using the active component and generating shaped noise data based on the amplified noise using the RF chain. The method further includes measuring a path length for the RF chain based on an arrival time for the shaped noise data and calculating a time delay for the RF chain based on the path length to calibrate the array.
Claims20
A time delay calibrator comprising:
- a gate voltage generator configured to be coupled to an active component of a radio frequency (RF) chain in a time delay-based array, the gate voltage generator configured to generate a shaped gate signal and provide the shaped gate signal to a gate of the active component, the active component configured to amplify noise with a changing gain based on the shaped gate signal, the RF chain configured to generate shaped noise data based on the amplified noise;
- and
- a time delay calculator configured to measure a path length for the RF chain based on an arrival time for the shaped noise data and calculate a time delay for the RF chain based on the path length to calibrate the array.
A time delay-based array comprising:
- a radio frequency (RF) chain comprising a plurality of active components including a specified active component;
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) coupled to the RF chain, the ADC configured to receive shaped noise data generated by the RF chain;
- and
- a time delay calibrator comprising:
- a gate voltage generator coupled to the specified active component of the RF chain, the gate voltage generator configured to generate a shaped gate signal and provide the shaped gate signal to a gate of the specified active component, the specified active component configured to amplify noise with a gain based on the shaped gate signal, the RF chain configured to generate the shaped noise data based on the amplified noise;
- and
- a time delay calculator configured to measure a path length for the RF chain based on an arrival time for the shaped noise data and calculate a time delay for the RF chain based on the path length to calibrate the array.
A method comprising:
- generating a shaped gate signal using a gate voltage generator;
- providing the shaped gate signal to a gate of an active component of a radio frequency (RF) chain in a time delay-based array;
- amplifying noise with a changing gain based on the shaped gate signal using the active component;
- generating shaped noise data based on the amplified noise using the RF chain;
- measuring a path length for the RF chain based on an arrival time for the shaped noise data;
- and
- calculating a time delay for the RF chain based on the path length to calibrate the array.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.