Radar detection and dynamic frequency selection for wireless local area networks

A device coupled to one or more remote terminals over a wireless network, comprising:

• a receiver circuit for receiving network data traffic as an input signal from the one or more remote terminals;
• a media access control circuit coupled to the receiver circuit, and configured to detect an error contained in the network data traffic received by the receiving circuit, and to classify the error based on a pre-defined error type;
• a radar detection circuit coupled to the media access control circuit and configured to receive the input signal if the error contained in the input signal is of a first error type, the radar detection circuit comprising,
• a first process receiving a plurality of signal pulses as detected events, wherein each pulse is considered an event, and the events appear as a first event burst followed by one or more subsequent event bursts,
• a second process eliminating any detected events that correspond to network traffic, and
• a third process determining whether any non-eliminated events of the individual detected events correspond to radar signals by examining at least one of:
• a pulse repetition frequency, a pulse period, or a number of pulses in a pre-defined time period,
• a time stamp circuit assigning a time stamp to each event that is above a pre-defined power threshold;
• an event analysis circuit defining a threshold number of events within a time interval, above which the events are considered to be radar events, wherein the period of the event bursts is determined by a time domain analysis process performed on the event bursts as detected by the event analysis circuit to determine a pulse burst period, and wherein the time domain analysis process determines a first time interval between a first pulse burst and second pulse burst;
• assumes that the first time interval represents the period of the event;
• and
• compares the first time interval with a second time interval between the second pulse burst and a third pulse burst of the event to determine whether the first and second time intervals match to within an error factor associated with the time stamp.

A method of identifying radar signals in a network device coupled to one or more remote terminals over a wireless network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an input signal comprising a plurality of pulses as detected events;
• determining whether the detected events correspond to expected network traffic;
• assigning a time stamp to each event of the detected events that is above a pre-defined power threshold;
• determining a first time interval between a first event and second event;
• assuming that the first time interval represents the period of the events;
• and
• comparing the first time interval with a second time interval between the second event and a third event to determine whether the first and second time intervals match to within an error factor associated with the time stamp.