Bit detection threshold in a TDMA burst communication system

A method for adjusting a received bit detection threshold in a TDMA communication system, the method comprising:

• receiving an analog ownship broadcast signal;
• digitizing the analog ownship broadcast signal at a predefined data rate;
• detecting a positive peak value and a negative frequency peak value from the digitized ownship signal;
• calculating a peak-to-peak deviation for the digitized ownship signal based on the positive and negative frequency peak values;
• and
• adjusting the bit detection threshold based on the peak-to-peak deviation.

A bit detection threshold adjustment circuit implemented in a TDMA communication device, the circuit comprising:

• an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter that digitizes an analog baseband input signal by sampling the signal at a predefined date rate;
• a positive peak detector in electrical communication with the A/D converter that receives the signal from the A/D converter and determines a positive peak value;
• a negative frequency peak detector in electrical communication with the A/D converter that receives the signal from the A/D converter and determines a negative frequency peak value;
• a calculation task unit in data communication with the negative and positive peak detectors that calculates a peak-to-peak deviation to formulate a bit detection threshold value;
• and
• a bit detector in data communication with the calculation task unit and in electrical communication with the A/D converter that receives the digitized signal from the A/D converter and the bit detection threshold value from the calculation task unit for the purpose of converting the digitized signal to a digitized bit stream of data.