Wideband communication intercept and direction finding device using hyperchannelization

A method for detecting a signal comprising the steps of:

• receiving a wideband signal for processing;
• converting the wideband signal into a plurality of sub-band signals to be processed;
• Fast Fourier Transform channelizing said plurality of sub-band signals into a respective plurality of complex spectral components;
• and
• determining the presence of at least one subset of adjacent spectral components based on multiple running averages and a time delayed average of said plurality of complex spectral components.

A method for processing a complex spectral signal in order to demodulate and recognize a signal of interest, comprising the steps of:

• storing a time history of complex spectral signal to be processed in a buffer memory;
• selectively outputting a subset of said complex spectral signal stored in said buffer memory so as to represent a spectral band of signal;
• receiving said selected spectral band in a two-stage synthesis filter and tuner that center tunes on a candidate signal of interest in said spectral band, filters said spectral band, and outputs a time domain representation of said candidate signal to at least one of a plurality of synthesis filter receivers;
• transforming said time domain candidate signal into complex spectral data via said at least one of a plurality of synthesis filter receivers;
• performing fine tuning, signal component filtering, and time domain transformation of said transformed complex spectral data into transformed signal data;
• performing multiple simultaneous demodulations on said transformed signal data via a synthesis receiver controller and demodulation processor in accordance with predetermined signal of interest modulation types, wherein said step of performing multiple simultaneous demodulations includes measuring signal demodulation parameters of said transformed signal data;
• scoring said measured signal demodulation parameters by closeness of match to predetermined signal of interest parameters, said predetermined signal of interest parameters specifying threshold scores for measured signal demodulation parameters to be declared successful matches;
• and
• outputting successful signal of interest match scores.

A method for demodulating and recognizing a complex spectral signal of interest, comprising the steps of:

• accessing said complex spectral signal to be processed stored in a buffer memory;
• synthesis filtering of said complex spectral signal so as to generate a complex time domain signal based on said complex spectral signal;
• demodulating said complex time domain signal;
• conducting further processing of said demodulated signal to determine further signal parameters;
• comparing said signal parameters to one or more predetermined signals of interest parameters and computing a weighted score based on parameter matches from said comparing;
• and
• thresholding said score of said parameter matches between said one or more predetermined signal parameters and said demodulated signal parameters, and outputting respective signal of interest scores above threshold as indication of signal of interest recognition.

A system for direction finding of a signal, comprising:

• a plurality of wideband receivers for receiving input data from a plurality of wideband sensor sources, each of said receivers having a corresponding sensor or antenna source spatially separated from the corresponding sensors or antennas of other receivers;
• a sub-band decimation module for each respective receiver, for decimating the plurality of wideband sensor sources into a plurality of sub-band data streams to be processed;
• a channelizing module for Fast Fourier Transform channelizing said plurality of sub-band data streams from said plurality of wideband sensor sources into a respective plurality of complex spectral component streams;
• a processing module for signal processing said plurality of complex spectral component streams, including a means for determining the presence of at least one signal of interest based on multiple spectral magnitude running averages and analysis of said plurality of complex spectral component streams;
• a direction finding module for determining an angle-of-arrival of the at least one signal of interest based on the analysis of said processing module and said plurality of complex spectral component streams;
• and
• a high speed data router coupling each module to one another for digitally routing respective data between said sub-band decimation, channelizing, processing and direction finding modules.

A method for direction finding of a signal, comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of spatially separated antennas;
• receiving a plurality of wideband source signals via said plurality of antennas;
• decimating the plurality of wideband source signals into a plurality of sub-band data streams to be processed;
• Fast Fourier Transform channelizing said plurality of sub-band data streams into a respective plurality of complex spectral component streams;
• determining the presence of at least one signal of interest based on spectral signal activity analysis of spectral magnitudes of said plurality of complex spectral component streams of first channel source;
• and
• determining an angle-of-arrival of the at least one signal of interest based on the spectral signal activity analysis;
• wherein said step of determining the presence of at least one signal of interest includes delay-memory storing said plurality of complex spectral component streams, conducting spectral convolution of said plurality of complex spectral component streams, and generating spectral parameter data on said plurality of complex spectral component streams of first source signal data.

A method for direction finding of a signal, comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of spatially separated antennas;
• receiving a plurality of wideband source signals via said plurality of antennas;
• decimating the plurality of wideband source signals into a plurality of sub-band data streams to be processed;
• Fast Fourier Transform channelizing said plurality of sub-band data streams into a respective plurality of complex spectral component streams;
• determining the presence of at least one signal of interest based on spectral signal activity analysis of spectral magnitudes of said plurality of complex spectral component streams of first channel source;
• and
• determining an angle-of-arrival of the at least one signal of interest based on the spectral signal activity analysis;
• wherein said step of determining an angle-of-arrival includes multichannel calibrating said plurality of complex spectral component streams, common filtering, and determining an angle-of-arrival of the at least one signal of interest based on the spectral analysis.