Independent and concurrent automatic gain control for wireless communication and spectral intelligence

An apparatus comprising:

• a set of one or more receive antennas to detect a radio frequency (RF) signal;
• a plurality of receiver path circuits coupled to the receive antennas to independently process the RF signal into one or more receive signals;
• a plurality of control loop circuits to convey automatic gain control (AGC) signals to and from each of the receiver path circuits;
• and
• a processor coupled to the plurality of receiver path circuits and to plurality of control loop circuits, and configured to:
• allocate (i) a first set of the receiver path circuits for processing the RF signal into a first receive signal of a first signal class, and (ii) a second set of the receiver path circuits for processing the RF signal into a second receive signal of a second signal class distinct from the first signal class;
• first process the first receive signal according to a wireless network protocol;
• second process the second receive signal exclusively of requirements of the wireless network protocol;
• generate a first gain control signal in accordance with training data according to the wireless network protocol contained in the RF signal, and apply the first gain control signal to the first set of the receiver path circuits to condition a signal level of the RF signal for the processing thereof into the first receive signal;
• generate a second gain control signal independently of generating the first gain control signal and exclusively of the training data according to the wireless network protocol, and apply a second gain control signal to the second set of the receiver path circuits to condition the signal level of the RF signal for processing thereof into the second receive signal;
• reallocate at least some of the second set of the receiver path circuits to the first set of the receiver path circuits in response to a determination from the first processing that the first signal class is a wireless communication signal class associated with the wireless network protocol and the first receive signal is a wireless communication signal;
• and
• modify the first or second gain control signal applied to reallocated receiver path circuits to optimize the signal level of the RF signal for processing thereof into the first receive signal that is determined to be the wireless communication signal.

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to:

• allocate (i) a first set of the receiver path circuits for processing the RF signal into a first receive signal of a first signal class, and (ii) a second set of the receiver path circuits for processing the RF signal into a second receive signal of a second signal class distinct from the first signal class;
• first process the first receive signal according to a wireless network protocol;
• second process the second receive signal exclusively of requirements of the wireless network protocol;
• generate a first gain control signal in accordance with training data according to the wireless network protocol contained in the RF signal, and apply the first gain control signal to the first set of the receiver path circuits to condition a signal level of the RF signal for the processing thereof into the first receive signal;
• generate a second gain control signal independently of generating the first gain control signal and exclusively of the training data according to the wireless network protocol, and apply a second gain control signal to the second set of the receiver path circuits to condition the signal level of the RF signal for processing thereof into the second receive signal;
• reallocate at least some of the second set of the receiver path circuits to the first set of the receiver path circuits in response to a determination from the first processing that the first signal class is a wireless communication signal class associated with the wireless network protocol and the first receive signal is a wireless communication signal;
• and
• modify the first or second gain control signal applied to reallocated receiver path circuits to optimize the signal level of the RF signal for processing thereof into the first receive signal that is determined to be the wireless communication signal.