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US-20260128756-A1 - CHANNEL EXTRACTION DIGITAL BEAMFORMING

US20260128756A1US 20260128756 A1US20260128756 A1US 20260128756A1US-20260128756-A1

Abstract

In an embodiment, a receiver included in a communications system is configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a phased array antenna, the RF signal comprising at least a portion of a plurality of data beams included in a single channel, and separate the RF signal into a plurality of channels in which each channel of the plurality of channels includes at least a portion of a respective subset of the plurality of data beams. The receiver is further configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of data beams with a respective phase and a respective time delay. The receiver is further configured to output the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels.

Inventors

  • Alireza Mehrnia
  • Masoud Kahrizi
  • Alex Ahmad Mirzaei
  • Bagher Afshar
  • Ali SAJJADI
  • Bernd Pregardier
  • Ka Shun Carson PUN
  • Omid NASIBY
  • Igor Elgorriaga

Assignees

  • SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251231

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . An apparatus comprising: a radio frequency (RF) receiver configured to: receive a RF signal from a phased array antenna, the RF signal comprising at least a portion of a plurality of data beams included in a single channel; separate the RF signal into a plurality of channels in which each channel of the plurality of channels includes at least a portion of a respective subset of the plurality of data beams; decode each data beam of the plurality of data beams with a respective phase and a respective time delay; and output the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels.
  2. 2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a first plurality of phase shifters associated with a first channel of the plurality of channels, wherein the first plurality of phase shifters is configured to decode each data beam portion of a first channel with a respective phase to generate a first plurality of decoded phase data beam portions; and a second plurality of phase shifters associated with the first channel of the plurality of channels, wherein the second plurality of phase shifters is configured to decode each data beam portion of the first channel of the plurality of channels with a respective phase to generate a second plurality of decoded phase data beam portions.
  3. 3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising: a combiner configured to collate a first decoded phase data beam portion of the first plurality of decoded phase data beam portions, associated with a first data beam of the first channel, and a second decoded phase data beam portion of the second plurality of decoded phase data beam portions, associated with the first data beam of the first channel, to generate a signal of the first data beam of the first channel.
  4. 4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein a time delay filter of a plurality of time delay filters is electrically coupled with the combiner and configured to decode a time delay included in the signal of the first data beam of the first channel to obtain the first data beam of the first channel.
  5. 5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a down converter configured to down convert the RF signal to a baseband frequency prior to separation of the RF signal into the plurality of channels.
  6. 6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein: a first channel of the plurality of channels has a first central frequency and a second channel of the plurality of channels has a second central frequency; a first digital mixer is configured to shift the first central frequency by Δf; and a second digital mixer is configured to shift the second central frequency by −Δf.
  7. 7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a bandwidth of the first channel is equal to 2*Δf.
  8. 8 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a bandwidth of the first channel is different from 2*Δf.
  9. 9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is equal to a sum of bandwidths of the plurality of channels divided by a total number of channels of the plurality of channels.
  10. 10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is different from a frequency separation between the single channel and an additional channel of the plurality of channels adjacent in frequency to the single channel.
  11. 11 . A receiver included in a communications system, the receiver configured to: segregate a received signal comprising a single channel into a plurality of channel signals, wherein the plurality of channel signals includes a plurality of data signals, wherein one or more channel signals of the plurality of channel signals includes more than one data signal of the plurality of data signals; and decode each of the plurality of channel signals into a respective plurality of decoded data beam portions.
  12. 12 . The receiver of claim 11 , further comprising a radio frequency (RF) receiver section including an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a down converter, wherein the RF receiver section is configured to receive a RF signal from an antenna element of a phased array antenna and generate the received signal based on the RF signal.
  13. 13 . The receiver of claim 12 , wherein a first data signal of the plurality of data signals arrives at the phased array antenna from a first direction, and a second data signal of the plurality of data signals arrives at the phased array antenna from a second direction, different from the first direction.
  14. 14 . The receiver of claim 11 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is equal to a bandwidth of a channel signal of the plurality of channel signals.
  15. 15 . The receiver of claim 11 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is equal to a sum of bandwidths of a plurality of channels included in the received signal divided by a total number of channels of the plurality of channels.
  16. 16 . The receiver of claim 11 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is different from a frequency separation between the single channel and an additional channel included in the received signal.
  17. 17 . The receiver of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of signal paths defined by electrical components configured to process the received signal and generate the plurality of data signals in the plurality of channel signals, and wherein one or more of particular signal paths of the plurality of signal paths is dynamically set to zero gain.
  18. 18 . The receiver of claim 11 , further configured to decode a time delay included in a signal comprising a first data beam of the single channel to obtain a first data signal of the single channel.
  19. 19 . A method comprising: receiving a RF signal from a phased array antenna, the RF signal comprising at least a portion of a plurality of data beams included in a single channel; separating the RF signal into a plurality of channels in which each channel of the plurality of channels includes at least a portion of a respective subset of the plurality of data beams; decoding each data beam of the plurality of data beams with a respective phase and a respective time delay; and outputting the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels.
  20. 20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein a bandwidth of the single channel is different from a frequency separation between the single channel and an additional channel of the plurality of channels adjacent in frequency to the single channel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/483,988, filed Oct. 10, 2023, entitled “CHANNEL EXTRACTION DIGITAL BEAMFORMING”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/944,041, filed Sep. 13, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,817,894, entitled “CHANNEL EXTRACTION DIGITAL BEAMFORMING”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/193,633, filed Mar. 5, 2021, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,483,021, entitled “CHANNEL EXTRACTION DIGITAL BEAMFORMING”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/865,402, filed May 3, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,944,442, entitled “CHANNEL EXTRACTION DIGITAL BEAMFORMING”, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/847,554 filed May 14, 2019 entitled “Channel Extraction Digital Beamforming,” the contents of which are expressly hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND An antenna (such as a dipole antenna) typically generates radiation in a pattern that has a preferred direction. For example, the generated radiation pattern is stronger in some directions and weaker in other directions. Likewise, when receiving electromagnetic signals, the antenna has the same preferred direction. Signal quality (e.g., signal to noise ratio or SNR), whether in transmitting or receiving scenarios, can be improved by aligning the preferred direction of the antenna with a direction of the target or source of the signal. However, it is often impractical to physically reorient the antenna with respect to the target or source of the signal. Additionally, the exact location of the source/target may not be known. To overcome some of the above shortcomings of the antenna, a phased array antenna can be formed from a set of antenna elements to simulate a large directional antenna. An advantage of a phased array antenna is its ability to transmit and/or receive signals in a preferred direction (e.g., the antenna's beamforming ability) without physical repositioning or reorientating. It would be advantageous to configure phased array antennas having increased bandwidth while maintaining a high ratio of the main lobe power to the side lobe power. Likewise, it would be advantageous to configure phased array antennas and associated circuitry having reduced weight, reduced size, lower manufacturing cost, and/or lower power requirements. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to these and other improvements in phase array antenna systems or portions thereof. SUMMARY This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a radio frequency (RF) receiver section configured to receive a RF signal from an antenna of a phased array antenna, the RF signal comprising a plurality of channels and a plurality of data beams per channel, wherein the RF receiver section includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a mixer; a first channel separator electrically coupled with the RF receiver section and configured to generate a plurality of channel signals based on the RF signal, wherein the plurality of channel signals comprises separation of the RF signal into the plurality of channels; a plurality of phase shifters electrically coupled to the first channel separator and configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of channel signals with a respective phase; and a plurality of time delay filters electrically coupled to the plurality of phase shifters and configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of channel signals with a respective time delay, wherein the plurality of time delay filters outputs the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a channel separator configured to separate a digitized radio frequency (RF) signal received by an antenna of a phased array antenna into a plurality of channel signals, wherein the digitized RF signal is based on an analog RF signal received by the antenna, and the analog RF signal comprises a plurality of channels and a plurality of data beams is included in each channel of the plurality of channels; a plurality of phase shifters electrically coupled to the channel separator and configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of channel signals with a respective phase; and a plurality of time delay filters electrically coupled to the plurality of phase shifters and configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of channel signals with a respective time delay, wherein the plurality of time delay filters outputs the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels. In some embodiments, a method includes, in respon