Clutter Elimination Patents (Class 342/159)
  • Patent number: 8830117
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a method of setting a threshold according to a level of an echo signal containing an unused component. The echo signal is generated by transmitting and receiving a radio wave with an antenna while the antenna revolves. The method includes acquiring levels of the echo signals at every predetermined distance interval and updating a threshold set for an observing position based on the level of the echo signal at the observing position, the threshold set for the observing position, and a threshold set for a position closer to the antenna than the observing position by the predetermined distance on the same sweep.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: FURUNO Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Hitoshi Maeno
  • Patent number: 8825260
    Abstract: Methods and systems for object and ground segmentation from a sparse one-dimensional range data are described. A computing device may be configured to receive scan data representing points in an environment of a vehicle. The computing device may be configured to determine if a test point in the scan data is likely to be an obstacle or ground by comparing the point to other points in the scan data to determine if specific constraints are violated. Points that do not pass these tests are likely to be above the ground, and therefore likely belong to obstacles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: David Harrison Silver, David Ian Franklin Ferguson
  • Patent number: 8825823
    Abstract: A system and method of detecting, locating, geolocating and providing diagnostics on electronic devices includes use of emission detection apparatus, information collected over a network and template containing emission signatures. Collected unintended emissions are compared to an emission signature in the template preferably constructed from the information collected on the network. Using the known location of the electronic device, the emissions measurement device is then used to detect and identify other devices in the vicinity of the electronic device that is connected to the network. The emission detection apparatus includes a high sensitivity receiver for receiving and analyzing electronic emissions. The network collection apparatus could be any software manifestation known in the art for collecting information about a device such as a cookie or online fingerprinting or a hardware based collection mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Nokomis, Inc
    Inventor: Walter J. Keller, III
  • Publication number: 20140240169
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are a radar apparatus and a method of operating the same. The radar apparatus includes a clutter analysis unit, a screen change detection unit, a representative value acquisition unit, and a target detection unit. The clutter analysis unit analyzes the clutter value of a signal that is received by a reception unit. The screen change detection unit calculates the screen change time up to the time at which a screen has been changed from an image captured by an imaging apparatus. The representative value acquisition unit acquires a representative value based on a plurality of clutter values analyzed for the screen change time by the clutter analysis unit. The target detection unit determines the signal to be a target signal if the size of the signal is larger than both the clutter value and representative value of the signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2013
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Mi-Young LEE, Bon-Tae KOO
  • Patent number: 8816899
    Abstract: A method of target discrimination and identification, on a computer including a processing unit and a non-volatile storage device, from a radar signal having a plurality of radar return signals, is presented. The method includes: modeling, on the computer, the radar return signals by linear prediction to produce linear prediction equations; solving, on the computer, the linear prediction equations by the Burg algorithm to produce linear prediction coefficients for a linear prediction coefficient polynomial; computing, on the computer, roots of the linear prediction coefficient polynomial to produce scattering modes; computing, on the computer, a distance of each of the scattering modes to a unit circle; computing, on the computer, a complex envelope for each mode of the scattering modes; and selecting, on the computer, target scattering modes from among the scattering modes based on the distance of the mode to the unit circle and the complex envelope of the mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Theagenis J. Abatzoglou, Kenneth Ho, Leo H. Hui
  • Patent number: 8803727
    Abstract: A method for producing a sensor-supported, synthetic view for landing support of helicopters under brown-out or white-out conditions is provided. A virtual 3-D representation of the landing zone is continuously created from 3-D data of the intended landing zone recorded during the landing approach and a monitoring routine is available to ensure that no 3-D data that was produced under brown-out or white-out conditions is considered in the representation. As soon as the monitoring routine detects that 3-D data has been recorded under brown-out or white-out conditions, an additional radar sensor is activated to continuously produce distance and/or Doppler data of potential objects entering the landing zone, the objects being displayed to a pilot of the landing helicopter in the synthetic view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: EADS Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Muensterer, Matthias Wegner, Peter Kielhorn
  • Patent number: 8803730
    Abstract: A system, method, and apparatus for radar pulse detection using a digital radar receiver are disclosed herein. In electronic warfare (EW), radars operate in an environment with highly dense electronic waveforms. As a result, the radars may receive thousands or millions of radar pulses every second. To detect and sort out radar pulses emitted from different radars is a challenging problem in electronic warfare. The present disclosure teaches a radar pulse detection system that utilizes digital channelization and joint-channel detection techniques to detect and separate radar pulses that are sent from different radar emitters. The main features of the present disclosure are: 1.) a digital channelization technique to separate radar pulses from their mixtures; 2.) a multi-channel detection technique to detect radar pulses; and 3.) an innovative technique to separate overlapped radar pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Qin Jiang
  • Patent number: 8798654
    Abstract: It is provided a method, including deciding, based on a previously estimated interference value, whether a user equipment or a sounding reference signal or a channel of a received uplink signal is affected by a colored interference more than a first predefined threshold, wherein colored interference is an interference having a spatial and/or spectral predominance; and suppressing interference rejection combining on the uplink signal if none of the user equipment, the sounding reference signal, and the channel of the received uplink signal is affected more than the first predefined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks Oy
    Inventors: Sabine Rössel, Esa Tapani Tiirola, Olli Juhani Piirainen, Ji Jun Luo, Ingo Viering, Mikko Kalevi Taskinen, Timothy Paul, Josef Forster, Markku Juha Vainikka, Carsten Ritterhoff
  • Patent number: 8791855
    Abstract: A method for detection of wind power installations using a radar installation is provided. The method involves transmitting a number N of predetermined sequences of modulated transmission pulses at a predetermined pulse repetition frequency successively in time and receiving and processing transmission pulses reflected by an object to determine whether the object is a wind power installation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: EADS Deutschland GmbH
    Inventor: Andreas Weiss
  • Patent number: 8793034
    Abstract: Methods and systems for a complete vehicle ecosystem are provided. Specifically, systems that when taken alone, or together, provide an individual or group of individuals with an intuitive and comfortable vehicular environment. The present disclosure includes a system to recognize the drivers and/or passengers within the automobile. Based on the recognition, the vehicle may change a configuration of the automobile to match predetermined preferences for the driver and/or passenger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Flextronics AP, LLC
    Inventor: Christopher P. Ricci
  • Patent number: 8761682
    Abstract: A method of interference management in a wireless network includes determining a level of interference within a wireless receiver and transmitting a signal indicative of excessive interference. Within a wireless transmitter, a beam forming vector or a sub-set of transmitter antenna is randomly selected from a set of transmitter antenna available to the transmitter and switching signal transmission from a preceding transmission mode to a transmission mode using the selected beamforming vector or the selected antenna sub-set, following receipt of a signal indicative of excessive interference. It is then determined, within the receiver, whether a level of interference has improved since the transmission of the signal. If not, a signal indicative of a deterioration of said level of interference is sent. If the signal indicative of a deterioration of the level of interference is received at the transmitter, the transmitter reverts to using the preceding transmission mode for signal transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Woon Hau Chin
  • Patent number: 8742979
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a range side lobe removal device, which includes a pulse compressor for acquiring a reception signal from a radar antenna and generating a pulse-compressed signal by performing a pulse compression of the reception signal, a pseudorange side lobe generator for generating a pseudo signal of range side lobes of the pulse-compressed signal based on the reception signal, and a signal remover for removing a component corresponding to the pseudo signal from the pulse-compressed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Yoshifumi Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 8742977
    Abstract: A bistatic radar receiver is located on a wind turbine and surrounded by multiple bistatic transmitters to detect and precisely track the positions of nearby birds. Bird target reflections from multiple transmitters are received by the radar receiver and their position and track determined from the transmitter locations, receiver location, and measured transmitter-to-target-to-receiver ranges. Target position and altitude accuracy is similar to GPS. When birds are detected to be on a collision course with the wind turbine, a deterrent is activated to scare them away. Deterrents can be flashing strobe lights, intense sound, air cannon, or any other effective bird deterrent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Inventor: Gregory Hubert Piesinger
  • Patent number: 8744800
    Abstract: A distance measuring, device including a lookup table storing values to calibrate a Class AB amplifier to produce a pulse pair with the desired characteristics. The distance measuring device analyzes the characteristics of the output signal and recursively adapts the values stored in a lookup table to force the output the power amplifier to meet the required performance characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Billsberry
  • Patent number: 8730090
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a signal processing device, which includes a reception signal acquiring module for acquiring reception signals received by a radar antenna, an identifying module for identifying a kind of each reception signal, an extracting module for extracting the reception signal for each kind, and a kind-base signal processing module for performing individual signal processing for each kind of the extracted reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company, Limited
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakahama
  • Patent number: 8730092
    Abstract: Aspects of this invention are directed to the substantially improved detection and geolocation accuracy of targets (stationary or moving) by using the coherent data received at multiple airborne sensors. Further aspects are directed to aligning the (unknown) time-delayed and Doppler-shifted signals received at the multiple sensors relative to an arbitrary reference sensor, which depend on the unknown target position. This results in the target position and velocity vectors being simultaneously estimated and the detection peak enhanced by obtaining near coherent gain. Still further aspects are directed to the coherent generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) and the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) statistic for multistatic radar systems, conditioned on estimation of certain parameters that render the system coherent. Analytical and computer simulation results are presented to show substantially enhanced detection and geolocation of moving targets in clutter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: David Miranda
  • Patent number: 8723743
    Abstract: A method is provided for reducing near-field radiation and specific absorption rate values in a communications device that includes a multimode antenna structure transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals and circuitry for processing signals communicated to and from the antenna structure. The method includes adjusting the relative phase between signals fed to neighboring antenna ports of the antenna structure such that a signal fed to the one antenna port has a different phase than a signal fed to the neighboring antenna port to provide antenna pattern control and to increase gain in a selected direction toward a receive point. The method features using a transmit power lower than the transmit power used in a non-pattern control operation of the antenna structure such that the communications device obtains generally equivalent wireless link performance with the receive point using reduced transmit power compared to the non-pattern control operation, thereby reducing the specific absorption rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Skycross, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark T. Montgomery, Frank M. Caimi, Paul A. Tornatta, Mark W. Kishler, Li Chen
  • Patent number: 8717228
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a method of detecting a target object by receiving reflection echoes of detection signals transmitted sequentially from a revolving antenna, and by detecting a target object based on detection data resulted from sampling reception signals at a predetermined time interval. The method comprises temporarily storing the detection data within a predetermined geographical range, and identifying the type of the reflection echo based on a change between values of the detection data at physically-close locations within the predetermined geographical range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Koji Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 8717230
    Abstract: A method and system for suppressing unwanted signals when detecting objects of interest in a detection system comprising an antenna system and two or more receive beams. A background map is created by range, azimuth and Doppler. Locations within the residual clutter in the moving Doppler bins are selected for nulling. Adaptive nulling is performed independently on each Doppler bin of the selected location to enable Doppler-specific spatial nulling for the same range and azimuth bin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan Fischi, Peter H. Stockmann
  • Patent number: 8659473
    Abstract: An amplifier circuit is disclosed. In one embodiment, the amplifier circuit includes an input configured to receive an input signal. The amplifier circuit further includes an amplifier connected to the input that is configured to receive the input signal and generate a modulated input signal based on the input signal and one of a first amplification level and a second amplification level. The amplifier comprises a first transistor configured to receive the input signal and a second transistor connected in cascode with the first transistor. The amplifier circuit further includes a switching component configured to switch the amplifier between the first amplification level and the second amplification level. The amplifier circuit still further includes an output connected to the amplifier and configured to output the modulated input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignees: IMEC, Universiteit Gent, ESSENSIUM
    Inventors: Johan Bauwelinck, Zhisheng Li, Guy Torfs, Jan Vandewege, Xin Yin
  • Patent number: 8604965
    Abstract: An apparatus and method to generate and detect virtual targets. Position information for one or more virtual targets is calculated onboard a vehicle from real position information obtained from GPS satellites or other external or internal sources. This virtual position information is coded, mixed with a carrier frequency, amplified, and radiated to a nearby test vehicle, such as an aircraft. The amplitude of the radiated signal is adjusted such that the signal containing the virtual position information is received by the test aircraft only. The radiated signal thus adjusted is below the detection threshold of any aircraft further away. The test aircraft decodes the signal and interprets the decoded virtual position information as real aircraft in its vicinity. The coded signals may be structured to comply with the requirements of the FAA's ADS-B system. The apparatus may be mounted on the test aircraft itself, or on a nearby aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Federal Aviation Administration/Department of Transportation
    Inventors: Richard Earl Jennings, Thomas Lee Pagano
  • Patent number: 8599060
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system (300) for reducing or cancelling unwanted signals when detecting objects of interest with a detection system (200). The detection system thereby is an antenna based system using two or more receive beams as echo response to an emission signal. The system (300) for reducing or cancelling unwanted signals comprises an input means (310) adapted for obtaining from said antenna system (210) receive signals from a first receive beam and receive signals from at least one second receive beam responsive to the same emission signal. It furthermore comprises a coupling means (320) adapted for coupling the receive signals from the first receive beam to the receive signals from the at least one second receive beam, so as to obtain a detection signal for the objects of interest with suppressed unwanted signal contribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Intersoft Electronics NV
    Inventor: P. G. Marcel Vanuytven
  • Patent number: 8593335
    Abstract: A method includes inputting an echo signal from an antenna for discharging an electromagnetic wave to a predetermined area and receiving an echo signal reflected on a target object, outputting a level of the echo signal from every location so as to associate the level with a distance from the antenna in an azimuth direction where the electromagnetic wave is discharged, calculating a degree of change in the level of the echo signal from mutually adjacent locations among all the locations concerned, performing edge emphasis processing for the level of the echo signal in the azimuth direction based on the degree of change and outputting an edge-emphasized echo signal, and performing scan-to-scan correlation processing to calculate a correlation value of the echo signals of two or more scans using the edge-emphasized echo signals, where the echo signals from the entire predetermined area is used as one scan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: FURUNO Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Kazuya Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8581774
    Abstract: A method for detecting precipitation using a radar locating device for motor vehicles, that is designed to locate objects in the surroundings of the vehicle, in which method a locating signal (42), which is an index for the received power density as a function of the distance (R), is integrated over a first distance range (INT1), which is below a limit distance (Rlim) for the detection of precipitation, wherein the locating signal (42) is additionally integrated over a second distance range (INT2), which is above limit distance (Rlim), and for the detection of precipitation, the integrals over the first and second distance range are compared with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Stefan Heilmann, Dirk Bechler
  • Patent number: 8570213
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a fake image reduction device, which includes a target object detection module for being inputted with an echo signal from an antenna that transmits an electromagnetic wave and receives the echo signal, measuring a level of the echo signal to detect a target object, a reflecting body identifying module for identifying the detected target object as a reflecting body, and a fake image area setting module for setting a fake image area according to a distance and an azimuth direction from a transmitting position of the electromagnetic wave to the identified reflecting body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Koji Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 8564475
    Abstract: A method for ray-tracing in a wideband Gbyte Gbps communication system includes deriving scattering distribution characteristics of reflected signals reflected on a reflection plane, analyzing amplitude distribution of the scattering distribution characteristics to distinguish a specular signal and a diffuse signal, and comparing signal amplitudes of the specular signal and the diffuse signal to calculate received power of the reflected signals according to a result of the comparing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventor: Myoung Won Jung
  • Patent number: 8564474
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a method of setting a threshold according to a level of an echo signal of an unused component. The echo signals are generated by transmitting and receiving a radio wave with an antenna while the antenna revolves. The method of setting the threshold includes calculating a difference value between a level of the echo signal at an observing position and a level of the echo signal at a position comparatively on the antenna side and close to the observing position, selecting a process for setting a threshold from either one of a first threshold setting process and a second threshold setting process according to the difference value, and updating the threshold for the observing position by using the selected threshold setting processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventor: Hitoshi Maeno
  • Publication number: 20130271312
    Abstract: The present disclosure concerns a method of post-processing of the radar data that uses information of Doppler speed obtained by coherent processing of the input data, in order to calculate the radial speeds of the detected objects, in particular close to waterbodies. The present disclosure further concerns a coherent radar provided with means suitable to implement the method of the present disclosure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Applicant: SELEX SISTEMI INTEGRATI S.P.A.
    Inventor: SELEX SISTEMI INTEGRATI S.P.A.
  • Patent number: 8552902
    Abstract: An imaging receiver includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) module to receive and amplify the radio-frequency (RF) input signal; one or more switches configured to selectively pass RF input to one or more of the power detector circuits; one or more power detector circuits coupled to the switches to generate output voltages proportional to associated powers at their input ports; one or more reference circuits to provide reference signals to the switches; and one or more integrator circuits to integrate the output voltages of the power detector circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Sabertek
    Inventors: Farbod Behbahani, Vipul Jain
  • Publication number: 20130257645
    Abstract: A method and apparatus (10) for enhancing target visibility comprises producing pulse returns in response to a sequence of received pulses. The pulse returns are processed to produce primary returns which vary from pulse to pulse unlike unmodulated clutter returns. The pulse returns are also processed to produce one or more secondary returns which model clutter artifacts whose amplitude vary with range in a manner related to the amplitude variation of the estimated clutter, and whose phase varies in a manner related to the phase of the primary returns. This is followed by removal from primary returns of a contribution thereto varying with range in the same way as the secondary returns. The result is that contributions to radar returns associated with moving targets are enhanced relative to clutter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2004
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Inventor: Richard W. Penney
  • Patent number: 8547273
    Abstract: The invention provides a pulse radar apparatus, and a control method thereof, that permits to readily downsize and to lower its cost and allows information on an object to be detected in high precision by removing an influence of noise when a gain of a variable gain amplifier is discontinuously changed corresponding to detected distance, with a simple configuration. A variable gain amplifier 135 configured to adjust a gain corresponding to a distance gate is used to be able to detect weak reflected wave from a distant object and to amplify a reflected wave from a short distance with a low gain. An offset noise from the variable gain amplifier 135 is prepared together with interference noise and self-mixing noise in advance as a replica signal of unwanted wave and the replica signal is removed from a baseband signal in detecting the object T.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignees: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Yasushi Aoyagi, Kazutaka Kamimura, Yoshihito Ishida
  • Publication number: 20130249730
    Abstract: This invention relates to sense through the wall radar. A main channel of a radar system (12) is operated at a frequency capable of penetrating opaque barriers such as the wall (24) of a building (22) to sense targets (16) therein. The main channel performance may be impaired by multipath interference, i.e., radar returns resulting from targets (20) outside the building (22) illuminated by reflection from the wall (24). A guard channel of the radar, operating at a higher frequency which does not penetrate the wall (24), is used to identify targets (20) outside the building (22) and suppress the multipath interference they produce in the main channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2012
    Publication date: September 26, 2013
    Inventor: Scott E. Adcook
  • Publication number: 20130241766
    Abstract: Under control of a first transmission code controlling section, a first radar transmitting section periodically transmits a first radar transmission signal with a first transmission period based on a first transmission trigger signal produced after elapse of a first delay time period from reception of a predetermined synchronization establishment signal by a first transmission trigger signal producing section. Under control of a second transmission code controlling section, a second radar transmitting section periodically transmits a second radar transmission signal with a second transmission period similarly. In accordance with the first delay time period and the second delay time period, arrival times of interference signals from the first radar transmitting section and the second radar transmitting section are within transmission zones of the second radar transmission signal and the first radar transmission signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2011
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Kishigami, Yoichi Nakagawa, Hirohito Mukai
  • Patent number: 8537050
    Abstract: The present invention is a signal processing method to significantly improve the detection and identification of source emissions. More particularly, the present invention offers a processing method to reduce the false alarm rate of systems which remotely detect and identify the presence of electronic devices through an analysis of a received spectrum the devices' unintended emissions. The invention identifies candidate emission elements and determines their validity based on a frequency and phase association with other emissions present in the received spectrum. The invention compares the measured phase and frequency data of the emissions with a software solution of the theoretically or empirically derived closed-form expression which governs the phase and frequency distribution of the emissions within the source. Verification of this relationship serves to dramatically increase the confidence of the detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Nokomis, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Dorn Freeman, Walter John Keller, III
  • Publication number: 20130194130
    Abstract: A method of target discrimination and identification, on a computer including a processing unit and a non-volatile storage device, from a radar signal having a plurality of radar return signals, is presented. The method includes: modeling, on the computer, the radar return signals by linear prediction to produce linear prediction equations; solving, on the computer, the linear prediction equations by the Burg algorithm to produce linear prediction coefficients for a linear prediction coefficient polynomial; computing, on the computer, roots of the linear prediction coefficient polynomial to produce scattering modes; computing, on the computer, a distance of each of the scattering modes to a unit circle; computing, on the computer, a complex envelope for each mode of the scattering modes; and selecting, on the computer, target scattering modes from among the scattering modes based on the distance of the mode to the unit circle and the complex envelope of the mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Inventors: Theagenis J. Abatzoglou, Kenneth Ho, Leo H. Hui
  • Publication number: 20130181863
    Abstract: A method for reducing sidelobe interference in a radar or communication system. The method includes selecting a desired amplitude weight (WD) to be applied to radar or communication antenna elements and determining phase weights for the radar or communication system elements such that each pair of adjacent, phase weighted elements provides the desired amplitude weight when summed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2012
    Publication date: July 18, 2013
    Applicant: RAYTHEON COMPANY
    Inventor: Raymond A. Roberge
  • Publication number: 20130169473
    Abstract: The present disclosure concerns a method for post-processing of radar data that uses information of Doppler speed as obtained by coherent processing of the input data, to reduce clutter due to waterbodies, in particular the sea clutter. The present disclosure further concerns a coherent radar provided with means suitable to implement the invention method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: SELEX SISTEMI INTEGRATI S.P.A.
    Inventor: SELEX SISTEMI INTEGRATI S.P.A.
  • Patent number: 8471760
    Abstract: An automotive radar system to determine a sweep pattern to be transmitted as an output radar waveform in a multiuser transmission environment is disclosed. The system includes: a receiver to receive noise signals; a signal generator to generate a plurality of different frequency sweep signals; a signal combiner to combine each frequency sweep signal with a received noise signal; an interference classifier to identify combined signals corresponding to one or more received noise signals including frequency chirp signals and to determine the respective noise levels of the identified combined signals corresponding to one or more received noise signals including frequency chirp signals; a selector to select a plurality of frequency sweep signals in dependence upon the noise levels determined by the interference classifier; and a control unit to determine a sweep pattern comprising the selected plurality of frequency sweep signals to be transmitted as an output radar waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Wieslaw Jerzy Szajnowski
  • Patent number: 8471761
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a radar system that in certain embodiments can, among other features, take into account the phase noise and/or drift of a transmit signal when generating a nulling signal. A receiver of the radar system can produce an IF signal by mixing a received signal with a local oscillator. The receiver can also mix the local oscillator with a transmit signal provided directly by the transmitter to the receiver to produce a control signal. Using the control signal to generate a nulling signal, the receiver can maintain or substantially maintain phase coherence between the nulling signal and the transmit signal. As a result, in certain embodiments, more precise nulling can occur, resulting in greater receiver sensitivity. Improved receiver sensitivity can provide a greater maximum detectable range and/or improved target detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Akela, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Douglas Hogg
  • Patent number: 8462043
    Abstract: A method for detecting radar signals consisting in identification of Presumed Pulse Repetition Intervals (PPRI) by checking the set of hardware reported signals with the time-shifted set of the same signals and checking the set of PPRI with the time-shifted images of the same set of PPRI for validating radar signals. The checking of received signals and the validation of PPRI, use functions generating scores from the difference between values of characteristics of checked elements and the standard deviation of errors from calibration measurements of the same characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Inventor: John Martin Belcea
  • Patent number: 8456352
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to receive radar return information from signals transmitted by a radar, process the radar return information to identify sea clutter, process the sea clutter to fit an ellipse to arrange horizon of the sea clutter as a function of azimuth to determine a sea state, and select sensitivity time control (STC) attenuation of the sea clutter based upon the sea state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Thomas E. Wood
  • Patent number: 8456350
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to fit the range extent of radar sea clutter to an ellipse to determine sea state. From one or more ellipse parameters, a sea state, which can include direction, can be identified. In one embodiment, the system autonomously determines the sea state and automatically selects non-isotropic STC filtering based on the ellipse that measures the sea state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Thomas E. Wood
  • Publication number: 20130127656
    Abstract: A method of filtering radar return signals to discriminate between targets of interest and clutter is presented in which a filter filters radar return signals received by a first radar receiver, based on radar return signals received at another radar receiver, to produce filtered radar return data in which radar return signals received by the first radar receiver for targets of interest are present and radar return signals received by the first radar receiver but arising from clutter are suppressed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2011
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Applicant: CAMBRIDGE CONSULTANTS LTD.
    Inventors: Craig Duncan Webster, Gordon Kenneth Andrew Oswald
  • Patent number: 8436766
    Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for radar pulse compression signal processing. Methods include generating a function that quantifies radar signal characteristics and using a processor to calculate time-domain derivatives of the function in the frequency domain. Methods also include generating a function that quantifies radar signal characteristics as a sum of sidelobe levels; and using a processor to control the sidelobe levels by obtaining gradients of the function in the spectral domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: Technology Service Corporation
    Inventor: Carroll J. Nunn
  • Patent number: 8416119
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a weather radar apparatus includes a transmitting/receiving unit configured to transmit a radar wave to an observation target and receive a reflected wave, a distribution unit configured to distribute a received signal of the reflected wave to a main path and at least another path, an extraction unit configured to extract, from a signal of the other path, an interference wave signal extracted from another radio station, and a removing unit configured to remove the interference wave signal extracted from a signal of the main path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Fumihiko Mizutani, Masakazu Wada, Hiroshi Ishizawa
  • Publication number: 20130082861
    Abstract: A method and system for detecting the presence of subsurface objects within a medium is provided. In some embodiments, the imaging and detection system operates in a multistatic mode to collect radar return signals generated by an array of transceiver antenna pairs that is positioned across the surface and that travels down the surface. The imaging and detection system pre-processes the return signal to suppress certain undesirable effects. The imaging and detection system then generates synthetic aperture radar images from real aperture radar images generated from the pre-processed return signal. The imaging and detection system then post-processes the synthetic aperture radar images to improve detection of subsurface objects. The imaging and detection system identifies peaks in the energy levels of the post-processed image frame, which indicates the presence of a subsurface object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2011
    Publication date: April 4, 2013
    Inventors: David W. Paglieroni, N. Reginald Beer
  • Patent number: 8405544
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a signal processing device, which includes an echo signal input module for being inputted with echo signals caused by electromagnetic waves emitted from an antenna being reflected on one of more target objects, an echo signal level detecting module for detecting a level of each of the echo signals in association with a distance and an azimuth direction from the antenna, a level change detecting module for detecting a level change between the echo signals from locations which are close to each other where the distances from the antenna are substantially the same but the azimuth directions from the antenna are different, a pattern output module for comparing the level change with a pattern determined in advance to output a level change pattern, and an interference determining module for determining interference based on at least two of the level change patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Furuno Electric Company Limited
    Inventors: Kazuya Nakagawa, Hitoshi Maeno
  • Publication number: 20130033394
    Abstract: A method of reducing cross-range streaking in a radar image includes determining a number of on-pixels in each line of at least a portion of the radar image, determining which lines have a determined number of on-pixels that exceeds a threshold number, and removing the on-pixels of lines having the determined number of on-pixels exceeding the threshold number.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2011
    Publication date: February 7, 2013
    Inventor: Brent McCleary
  • Patent number: 8368582
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a Doppler radar apparatus includes a quadrature detection unit configured to quadrature-detect a received signal of a reflected pulse from an observation target, and generate time-series data including an in-phase component and a quadrature component, an interference judgment unit configured to judge whether an interference signal is mixed into the received signal based on the time-series data, a correction unit configured to correct a vector expressed by the in-phase component and the quadrature component such that variation with respect to time of a deviation angle of the vector continues when the interference judgment unit has judged that an interference signal is mixed into the received signal, and a calculation unit configured to calculate a Doppler velocity of the observation target based on an amount of variation with respect to time of the deviation angle of corrected vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ishizawa, Masakazu Wada, Fumihiko Mizutani
  • Publication number: 20130021196
    Abstract: An FMCW radar system is provided having a transceiver unit which is designed to transmit radar signals, which are modulated with the aid of at least one modulation parameter, and to receive radar signals, which are reflected from objects, and having an interference detector for detecting interferences in the received radar signals based on at least one frequency-dependent reception power threshold value corresponding to the particular modulation parameters, one of the modulation parameters being a modulation slope of the transmitted radar signal. An interference recognition method is also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Publication date: January 24, 2013
    Inventors: Armin Himmelstoss, Juergen Hildebrandt, Stefan Heilmann