US 7,274,322 B2 · Systems and methods for automatic gain control for multichannel receivers

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for performing automatic gain control in a radar system. One embodiment of the system includes an attenuator that controls gain of signals received from a radar receiver. A digital signal processor determines coarse gain correction based on digitized noise data for a plurality of channels, determines fine gain correction based on the residual error after the coarse gain, and determines frequency vs. gain curve correction based on the digitized noise data for a plurality of channels and a mathematical model of frequency gain across a noise spectrum for the radar system. The result of the processor is a gain control signal that is sent to the attenuator to perform hardware gain control and a channel specific scale factor for software gain control. In one embodiment, the processor generates the gain control signal during an inactive scan mode of the radar system.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method for performing automatic gain control in a radar system having a spectrum, the method comprising:

a) determining coarse gain correction based on noise power measurements for a plurality of channels;
b) determining fine gain correction based on residual error that exists after the coarse gain correction is determined;
c) measuring noise power;
d) determining frequency vs. gain curve correction based on the measured noise power for a plurality of channels and a mathematical model of frequency gain across the spectrum of the radar system;
and
e) automatically performing gain control according to the coarse gain correction, the fine gain correction, and the gain curve correction.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Systems and methods for automatic gain control for multichannel receivers

Life of this patent

Systems and methods for automatic gain control for multichannel receivers

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims10