Method and system for real time pulse processing in ATCRBS/Mode-S transponders
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsShowkat Osman, Delbert E. Brandley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for processing pulses in ATCRBS/Mode S interrogations includes an antenna for receiving a radio frequency interrogation signal. The radio frequency interrogation signal is downconverted by a downconverter to an intermediate frequency signal. The intermediate frequency signal is converted to a digitized interrogation signal by an analog-to-digital converter. A processing unit, coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, detects a pulse peak in the digitized interrogation signal using a moving threshold to locate the peak pulse between a first fixed threshold and a second fixed threshold.
Claims18
A method for processing pulses from interrogations in a Mode S/ATCRBS transponder comprising the steps of:
- receiving a digitized interrogation signal from an analog-to-digital converter;
- determining a peak pulse of the digitized interrogation signal;
- and
- determining a type of the peak pulse,
- wherein the step of determining a peak pulse further comprises:
- determining whether at least four samples of the digitized interrogation signal have a successive rise in signal strength of at least 1 dB;
- determining whether at least five samples of the digitized interrogation signal exceed a first predetermined threshold;
- and
- determining a moving threshold that increases as a peak pulse is detected.
A method for processing pulses from interrogations in a Mode S/ATCRBS transponder comprising the steps of:
- receiving a digitized interrogation signal from an analog-to-digital converter;
- determining a peak pulse of the digitized interrogation signal;
- and
- determining a type of the peak pulse,
- wherein the step of determining a type of pulse further comprises:
- processing a delayed digitized interrogation signal;
- identifying a pulse as a 3 dB pulse if an amplitude of a sample of the delayed digitized interrogation signal is greater than a 3 dB and a MTL crossing flag is true;
- and
- identifying a pulse as a 6 dB pulse if an amplitude of a sample of the delayed digitized interrogation signal is greater than a 6 dB and a MTL crossing flag is true.
An apparatus for processing pulses in ATCRBS/Mode S interrogations comprising:
- an antenna for receiving a radio frequency interrogation signal;
- a downconverter for downconverting the radio frequency interrogation signal to an intermediate frequency signal;
- an analog-to-digital converter operable to convert the intermediate frequency signal to a digitized interrogation signal;
- and
- a processing unit coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, the processing unit configured to detect a pulse peak in the digitized interrogation signal using a moving threshold to locate the pulse between a first fixed threshold and a second fixed threshold, the processing unit determines whether at least four samples of the digitized interrogation signal have a successive rise in signal strength of at least 1 dB, determines whether at least five samples of the digitized interrogation signal exceed a first predetermined threshold, and determines a moving threshold that increases as a peak pulse is detected.
A method for processing pulses from ATCRBS/Mode S interrogations comprising:
- receiving a digitized interrogation signal from an analog-to-digital converter;
- determining whether at least four samples of the digitized interrogation signal have a successive rise in signal strength of at least 1 dB;
- determining whether at least five samples of the digitized interrogation signal exceed a first predetermined threshold;
- determining a moving threshold that increases as a peak pulse is detected;
- processing a delayed digitized interrogation signal;
- identifying a pulse as a 3 dB pulse if an amplitude of a sample of the delayed digitized interrogation signal is greater than 3 dB and a MTL crossing is true;
- and
- identifying a pulse as a 6 dB pulse if an amplitude of a sample of the delayed digitized interrogation signal is greater than 6 dB and a MTL crossing is true.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.