Abstract: A terminal device has a GPS receiver which receives GPS signals from a GPS satellite. The terminal device has an operation unit for instructing operation modes of the GPS receiver, and the GPS receiver has a clock unit, a radio frequency unit and a data extraction unit. The data extraction unit extracts GPS data by scanning signal-to-noise ratios of each frequency over a search frequency band. When a band correction mode is instructed by the operation unit, the data extraction unit switches its search frequency band from a first frequency band determined based on a maximum temperature-dependent change in the frequency of a clock signal to a second frequency band determined based on a maximum aging-dependent change in the frequency of the clock signal.

Abstract: A method for beamforming signals for an array of receiving or transmitting elements includes the steps of selecting a beam elevation and azimuth and grouping elements of an antenna array into element ensembles that are substantially aligned with a wavefront projection on the antenna array corresponding to the selected beam elevation and azimuth.

Abstract: A reconnaissance sonde to be dropped and erected in an area for wirelessly transmitting data to a data processing apparatus.

Abstract: A self-contained, self-surveying differential GPS base station system and method of operating same are provided. The system and method use a conventional differential GPS base station. The base station's National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) data sentences identify a determined position of the base station and fix quality information associated with the determined position. The system and method automatically identify the determined position as an acceptable position when the fix quality information associated with the determined position satisfies a selected criteria which is stored on-site. The system and method then automatically average together each acceptable position to generate an updated position. The updated position is automatically supplied to the base station at a prescribed time for use by the base station in generating Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) differential corrections for transmission over the air waves.

Abstract: An automatic mobile object locator apparatus and method provides position information and map data to user terminal equipment through a data communication network, such as the Internet. A GPS receiver in mobile equipment attached to a vehicle obtains global position information of the vehicle which is transmitted through a communication network, including at least a wireless network portion, to a processor unit. The vehicle position information for like vehicles associated with one customer are stored in a customer specific database. Map data and position information are transmitted through the data network between the processor unit and user terminal equipment wherein a selected map and the location of a selected vehicle(s) are coupled and displayed to the user.

Abstract: This disclosure describes an electronic support measures (ESM) system for estimating the angle of arrival of a signal which impinges on an array of antennas configured in a straight line. The antennas in the array are spaced such that the distances from the interior antennas to one of the end antennas—in terms of units of a reference length &xgr;—are relatively prime. The system does not require a priori knowledge of the signal radio frequency. In order to enhance the computational efficiency and ability of the system, a Diophantine processing algorithm is utilized. The set of antenna spacings is selected based upon minimizing the probability that this algorithm produces an ambiguity error in the estimated angle of arrival. The computational efficiency of the system is improved relative to current systems, as it requires only N2 real multiplications, where N+1 is the number of antennas in the array.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring time related to satellite data messages which are used with satellite positioning systems (SPS). In one method, a first record of at least a portion of a satellite data message is received at an entity, which is typically a basestation. The first record is compared with a second record of the satellite data message, where the first record and the second record overlap at least partially in time. Then a time is determined from this comparison, and this time indicates when the first record (or the source from which the first record was obtained) was received at a remote entity which is typically a mobile SPS receiver. Various other methods of the invention are described and various apparatuses of the invention are also described. The methods and apparatuses measure time of day using SPS signals without reading the satellite data messages which are transmitted as data within these signals.

Abstract: An antenna aiming or pointing apparatus and method is mounted on a vehicle, which may be moving or mobile, for pointing a directional antenna toward a spacecraft in a nongeosynchronous orbit. Since the vehicle moves, its attitude in terms of pitch, roll and azimuth or yaw change from time to time. As a consequence, neither the spacecraft nor the vehicle have a fixed location. The antenna pointing arrangement includes vehicle-mounted sensors for determining roll and pitch, and a compass for determining, with magnetic correction, the azimuth of the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle pointing system includes a GPS receiver, which produces signals indicative of the vehicle location and the current time. The system includes memory which is loaded from time to time with spacecraft orbital information as a function of time. The memory can be loaded from the internet by wireless Internet or by hard wire when the vehicle is stationary.

Abstract: A method for estimating an arrival direction of an electromagnetic wave by the BS-MUSIC, by inputting into one receiver arrival wave reception signals received by a plurality of antenna elements constituting an array antenna. At first, a wide range is scanned in a plurality of directions with a wide antenna beam and a first estimation of arrival direction is carried out. Next, a plurality of directions are scanned with a narrow antenna beam to cover only the directions obtained as a result of the first estimation of arrival direction. Thus, a second estimation of arrival direction is carried out. With this arrangement, it is possible to provide a method of estimating an arrival direction by using a small number of receivers in a small apparatus at low cost. Further, based on this method, it is also possible to estimate an arrival direction in a small calculation volume even under the unknown environment of waves.

Abstract: In a position measuring receiver, when ephemeris data is acquired from radio waves received from satellites in the measurement of a present position of the receiver, the acquired ephemeris data and data on a time when the ephemeris data was acquired are stored (steps SA6-SA8). Then, a time elapsed since the ephemeris data was acquired is calculated at intervals of one minute (steps SA10-SA12). After the elapsed time is more than two hours, an alarm is sounded at intervals of two minutes (steps SA13-SA14) to urge a user to acquire new ephemeris data at a spot suitable for receiving radio waves from the satellites before an effective term of the old ephemeris data is expired.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a selective level measuring apparatus with wider dynamic range of effective value detection, compared with the range by a conventional one. The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a gain control means arranged before an effective value detection section for varying a gain by a control voltage, so that a signal level inputted into the effective value detection section may be kept to be constant level by the gain control means, and the signal level of the signal to be measured is measured and indicated through the control voltage. Performing such operations allows the selective level measuring apparatus for the effective value detection to secure a dynamic range defined by a variable quantity of the gain control means. Accordingly, the present invention provides the wider dynamic range of the effective value detection comparing with that by the conventional one.

Abstract: Antenna weights for a transmit path (3) between two communication devices (1, 2), the first device (1) having an antenna array (4, 5, 6) are generated in the second device (2) and fed back to weighting circuitry (9, 10, 11, 12) in the first device (1). The invention is particularly applicable to multicarrier systems such as OFDM systems. Only weights for those sub-carriers identified as being received with comparatively poor signal quality are calculated and fed back to the first device (1), thus limiting the additional overhead requirements to a minimum.

Abstract: A signal receiving apparatus of the global positioning system and a mobile wireless terminal apparatus execute the synchronization acquisition to the satellite signal at high speed and reduce the consumption of electric power. According to the present invention, since the spread spectrum signal from the base station of the cellular system, that is synchronized with the satellite signal to be transmitted from the GPS satellite, is received and based on the spread spectrum signal the system time signal as a reference signal used to synchronize with the satellite signal is generated, and receiving the satellite signal, the synchronization acquisition with the PN code in the satellite signal can be executed in a short period of time in synchronism with the system time signal. And thereby the consumption of electric power can be further reduced.

Abstract: A smart antenna, i.e., blind adaptive antenna array, is a method and system to suppress multiple access interference and to improve performance, for example in a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communications system, including third generation (3 g) cdma2000 and wide band (W)-CDMA. A convergence parameter is employed in a smart antenna processor. In general, a constant convergence parameter value is empirically determined and used after studying the convergence speed and the steady state mean square error (MSE) or other performance data, such as bit error rate. As the convergence parameter value increases, the convergence speed also increases but the MSE increases unfortunately, and vice versa. The traditional smart antenna with a constant convergence parameter would yield poor performance when the channel environment changes, which is true particularly when a mobile user moves around.

Abstract: An improved method for determining the location of a user terminal with a high degree of accuracy. By repeating N times the basic active positioning measurement sets, a much better accuracy is reached that will be of value to the user. According to the method of the present invention, the user makes a position call. A position call prompts a gateway to establish a traffic channel on which a positioning message will yield the basic set of measurements: round-trip delay and round-trip Doppler in single-satellite positioning, and the addition of delay-difference and Doppler difference to a second satellite in two-satellite positioning. The accumulated measurements are used to determine position and theoretical error. The call is terminated when an accuracy threshold is reached or a time limit has expired. The user terminal receives a position message or a failure message.

Abstract: A neural network radar processor (10) comprises a multilayer perceptron neural network (100.1) comprising an input layer (102), a second layer (122), and at least a third layer (124), wherein each layer has a plurality of nodes (108), and respective subsets of nodes (108) of the second (122) and third (124) layers are interconnected so as to form mutually exclusive subnetworks (120). In-phase and quadrature phase time series from a sampled down-converted FMCW radar signal (19) are applied to the input layer, and the neural network (100) is trained so that the nodes of the output layer (106) are responsive to targets in corresponding range cells, and different subnetworks (120) are responsive to respectively different non-overlapping sets of target ranges. The neural network is trained with signals that are germane to an FMCW radar, including a wide range of target scenarios as well as leakage signals, DC bias signals, and background clutter signals.

Abstract: A system and method for determining the position of an aircraft. An aircraft signal is received by a first antenna and a second antenna, the first antenna being at a known baseline distance from the second antenna. A processor is used to calculate the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft using a common time reference signal. The position of the aircraft is determined by a position determinator based upon the baseline distance between the first and second antennas, the range between the first antenna and the aircraft, and the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft.

Abstract: A multi-beam phase-array antenna device includes beam configuring devices (BFN) arranged in respective separate groups behind corresponding radiator elements (SE1 . . . SEm). In each group the beam configuring devices (BFN) are arranged one after the other along a first predetermined direction behind the associated radiator element. The number of beam configuring devices in each separate group is selected according to the number (n) of antenna signals. A signal combining device (SK) is provided for each separate group of beam forming devices (BFN). Signal distributing devices (VR1 . . . VRn) for control of the beam configuring devices are preferably mounted on the rear side of a circuit-carrying substrate (SU) for the beam configuring devices (BFN), in order to provide a compact structure. An especially compact and economical structure is provided when the transverse cross-section of each group is adjusted to the area of the associated radiator element.

Abstract: Multipath propagation detection can be accomplished using first and second spaced antennas which receive a carrier signal from a moving radiation source and produce a carrier phase difference representative of the location of the source; a difference signal representative of the difference between the measured carrier phase difference and a predetermined phase difference for the source in that location is generated; and the presence of multipath distortion in that difference signal is determined. Furthermore, when a multiplicity of source signals are tracked as in reception of navigation signals from the Global Positioning Satellite System, the receiver may be programmed to eliminate or suppress errors arising from measurements that have been distorted by multipath propagation.

Abstract: A system and method for providing updated geographic data for use by a navigation application program. The navigation application program is at a first version level and uses geographic data in a geographic database. An updated geographic database is provided to the navigation application program. The updated geographic database is at a second version level which is later than the first version level. Also provided to the navigation application program are one or more replacement routines. These replacement routines may be stored with the updated geographic database on a computer-readable medium or may be provided separately. The one or more replacement routines are used by the navigation application program either at initialization or during runtime. The one or more replacement routines are called to access or use the data in the updated geographic database. The one or more replacement routines are preferably in an interpretive language and executed by a virtual processor.