WO2019161076A1 - Systèmes, procédés et dispositifs de détection de véhicule sans pilote et de gestion de menace - Google Patents

Systèmes, procédés et dispositifs de détection de véhicule sans pilote et de gestion de menace Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2019161076A1
WO2019161076A1 PCT/US2019/018040 US2019018040W WO2019161076A1 WO 2019161076 A1 WO2019161076 A1 WO 2019161076A1 US 2019018040 W US2019018040 W US 2019018040W WO 2019161076 A1 WO2019161076 A1 WO 2019161076A1
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Prior art keywords
signal
data
signals
spectrum
processor
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PCT/US2019/018040
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English (en)
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David William Kleinbeck
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Digital Global Systems, Inc.
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Priority claimed from US16/180,690 external-priority patent/US10459020B2/en
Priority claimed from US16/274,933 external-priority patent/US10498951B2/en
Application filed by Digital Global Systems, Inc. filed Critical Digital Global Systems, Inc.
Priority to EP19753865.5A priority Critical patent/EP3756018A4/fr
Priority claimed from US16/275,575 external-priority patent/US10529241B2/en
Publication of WO2019161076A1 publication Critical patent/WO2019161076A1/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R29/00—Arrangements for measuring or indicating electric quantities not covered by groups G01R19/00 - G01R27/00
    • G01R29/08—Measuring electromagnetic field characteristics
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F18/00—Pattern recognition
    • G06F18/20—Analysing
    • G06F18/24—Classification techniques
    • G06F18/241—Classification techniques relating to the classification model, e.g. parametric or non-parametric approaches
    • G06F18/2413—Classification techniques relating to the classification model, e.g. parametric or non-parametric approaches based on distances to training or reference patterns
    • G06F18/24133—Distances to prototypes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06N—COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
    • G06N3/00—Computing arrangements based on biological models
    • G06N3/02—Neural networks
    • G06N3/04—Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology
    • G06N3/045—Combinations of networks
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06N—COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
    • G06N3/00—Computing arrangements based on biological models
    • G06N3/02—Neural networks
    • G06N3/08—Learning methods
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V10/00—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding
    • G06V10/70—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding using pattern recognition or machine learning
    • G06V10/82—Arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding using pattern recognition or machine learning using neural networks
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V20/00—Scenes; Scene-specific elements
    • G06V20/50—Context or environment of the image
    • G06V20/52—Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R23/00—Arrangements for measuring frequencies; Arrangements for analysing frequency spectra
    • G01R23/16—Spectrum analysis; Fourier analysis
    • G01R23/17—Spectrum analysis; Fourier analysis with optical or acoustical auxiliary devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2218/00—Aspects of pattern recognition specially adapted for signal processing
    • G06F2218/12—Classification; Matching
    • G06F2218/16—Classification; Matching by matching signal segments

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to spectrum analysis and management for radio frequency (RF) signals, and more particularly for automatically identifying signals in a wireless communications spectrum based on temporal feature extraction.
  • RF radio frequency
  • Most spectrum management devices may be categorized into two primary types.
  • the first type is a spectral analyzer where a device is specifically fitted to run a‘scanner’ type receiver that is tailored to provide spectral information for a narrow window of frequencies related to a specific and limited type of communications standard, such as cellular communication standard.
  • a‘scanner’ type receiver that is tailored to provide spectral information for a narrow window of frequencies related to a specific and limited type of communications standard, such as cellular communication standard.
  • Problems arise with these narrowly tailored devices as cellular standards change and/or spectrum use changes impact the spectrum space of these technologies. Changes to the software and hardware for these narrowly tailored devices become too complicated, thus necessitating the need to purchase a totally different and new device.
  • this type of device is only for a specific use and cannot be used to alleviate the entire needs of the spectrum management community.
  • the second type of spectral management device employs a methodology that requires bulky, extremely difficult to use processes, and expensive equipment. In order to attain a broad spectrum management view and complete all the necessary tasks, the device ends up becoming a conglomerate of software and hardware devices that is both hard to use and difficult to maneuver from one location to another.
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles commonly known as drones, have become readily available in commercial and retail stores. Detailed schematics for their control systems are available from many manufacturers and the internet along with Software Development Kits (SDKs). Rapid modifications are enabled by advancements in various technologies (e.g., 3D printing). UAVs can be modified to deploy dangerous actions and threaten societal securities. For example, UAVs can be modified to deliver dangerous payloads. It is no longer a question of if, it is now a question of when. Thus, it is imperative that organizations and governments take steps to protect critical assets (e.g., ports, power plants), structures (e.g., buildings, stadiums), and personnel and their citizens.
  • critical assets e.g., ports, power plants
  • structures e.g., buildings, stadiums
  • a DSA- enabled device may sense spectrum use in a region and, based on the detected spectrum use, select one or more communication channels for use. The devices also may detect one or more other DSA-enabled devices with which they can form DSA networks.
  • a DSA network may monitor spectrum use by cooperative and non-cooperative devices, to dynamically select one or more channels to use for communication while avoiding or reducing interference with other devices. Classification results can be used to“learn” classifications to reduce future errors.
  • a relay communication method comprises detecting, by a first wireless mobile device, sensory data associated with multiple radio channels relative to at least one radio element in a sensing area of the first wireless mobile device. If the first wireless mobile device is out of range of a wide area cellular network, a short-range wireless communication path is established with a second wireless mobile device having a wide area cellular communication connection. The sensory data is transmitted by the first wireless mobile device to the second wireless mobile device for reporting to a network element via a wide area cellular network serving the second wireless mobile device. The sensory data are processed by sensing elements and sent to a distributed channel occupancy and location database (COLD) system. The sensory data is updated dynamically to provide a real-time view of channel usage.
  • COLD distributed channel occupancy and location database
  • the wireless UE device includes one or more antennas adapted for radio communication with a telecommunications network.
  • a memory is provided including a database of benchmark radiation patterns for each of the one or more antennas in one or more usage modes associated with the wireless UE device.
  • a processor is configured to execute an antenna application process for optimizing performance of the wireless UE device based at least in part upon using the matched set of benchmark radiation patterns.
  • a stimulus in the operating environment at a location of the wireless communication equipment is sensed and linearly expanded in Slepian sequences using a multitaper spectral estimation procedure.
  • a singular value decomposition is performed on the linearly expanded stimulus, and a singular value of the linearly expanded stimulus provides an estimate of interference at the location of the wireless communication equipment.
  • the traffic model which could be built on historical data, provides a basis for predicting future traffic patterns in that space which, in turn, makes it possible to predict the duration for which a spectrum hole vacated by the incumbent primary user is likely to be available for use by a cognitive radio operator.
  • two classes of traffic data pattern are distinguished, including deterministic patterns and stochastic patterns.
  • September 25, 1992 describes a broadcasting system capable of automatically or semi- automatically updating its database and using the database to identify received broadcasting stations, and search for stations according to user-chosen attributes and current data.
  • the receiver is capable of receiving current location information within the received data stream, and also of determining the current location of the receiver by using a received station attribute.
  • the invention provides an automatic or quasi-automatic data updating system based on subcarrier technology or other on-the-air data transmission techniques.
  • U.S. Patent No. 6,741,595 for“Device for enabling trap and trace of internet protocol communications” by inventors Maher, III, et al., filed June 11, 2002 describes a network processing system for use in a network and operable to intercept communications flowing over the network, the network passing a plurality of data packets, which form a plurality of flows, the network processing system comprising: a learning state machine operable to identify characteristics of one or more of the flows and to compare the characteristics to a database of known signatures, one or more of the known signatures representing a search criteria, wherein when one or more characteristics of one or more of the flows matches the search criteria the learning state machine intercepts the flow and replicates the flow, redirecting the replication to a separate address.
  • U.S. Patent No. 7,676,192 for“Radio scanner programmed from frequency database and method” by inventor Wayne K. Wilson, filed January 7, 2011, discloses a scanning radio and method using a receiver, a channel memory and a display in conjunction with a frequency-linked descriptor database.
  • the frequency -linked descriptor database is queried using a geographic reference to produce a list of local radio channels that includes a list of frequencies with linked descriptors.
  • the list of radio channels is transferred into the channel memory of the scanner, and the receiver is sequentially tuned to the listed frequencies recalled from the list of radio channels while the corresponding linked descriptors are simultaneously displayed.
  • U.S. Publication 2012/0148069 for“Coexistence of white space devices and wireless narrowband devices” by inventors Chandra, et al, filed December 8, 2010, discloses architecture enabling wireless narrowband devices (e.g., wireless microphones) and white space devices to efficiently coexist on the same telecommunications channels, while not interfering with the usability of the wireless narrowband device.
  • the architecture provides interference detection, strobe generation and detection and, power ramping and suppression (interference-free coexistence with spectrum efficiency).
  • the architecture provides the ability of the white space device to leam about the presence of the microphone. This can be accomplished using a geolocation database, reactively via a strober device, and/or proactively via the strober device.
  • the strober device can be positioned close to the microphone receiver and signals the presence of a microphone to white space devices on demand.
  • the strober device takes into consideration the microphone's characteristics as well as the relative signal strength from the microphone transmitter versus the white space device, in order to enable maximum use of the available white space spectrum.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,326,240 for“System for specific emitter identification” by inventors Kadambe, et al, filed September 27, 2010, describes an apparatus for identifying a specific emitter in the presence of noise and/or interference including (a) a sensor configured to sense radio frequency signal and noise data, (b) a reference estimation unit configured to estimate a reference signal relating to the signal transmitted by one emitter, (c) a feature estimation unit configured to generate one or more estimates of one or more feature from the reference signal and the signal transmitted by that particular emitter, and (d) an emitter identifier configured to identify the signal transmitted by that particular emitter as belonging to a specific device (e.g., devices using Gaussian Mixture Models and the Bayesian decision engine).
  • the apparatus may also include an SINR enhancement unit configured to enhance the SINR of the data before the reference estimation unit estimates the reference signal.
  • U.S. Patent No. 7,835,319 for“System and method for identifying wireless devices using pulse fingerprinting and sequence analysis” by inventor Sugar, filed May 09, 2007, discloses methods for identifying devices that are sources of wireless signals from received radio frequency (RF) energy, and, particularly, sources emitting frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS).
  • Pulse metric data is generated from the received RF energy and represents characteristics associated thereto.
  • the pulses are partitioned into groups based on their pulse metric data such that a group comprises pulses having similarities for at least one item of pulse metric data.
  • Sources of the wireless signals are identified based on the partitioning process.
  • the partitioning process involves iteratively subdividing each group into subgroups until all resulting subgroups contain pulses determined to be from a single source. At each iteration, subdividing is performed based on different pulse metric data than at a prior iteration.
  • output data is generated (e.g., a device name for display) that identifies a source of wireless signals for any subgroup that is determined to contain pulses from a single source.
  • the response measurement is compared to a pre-determined filter response profile to detect the presence of a radio device having a corresponding filter response characteristic.
  • the pre-determined filter response profile comprises a pre-determined band-edge profile, so that comparing the response measurement to a pre determined filter response profile comprises comparing the response measurement to the pre determined band-edge profile to detect the presence of a radio device having a corresponding band-edge characteristic.
  • Invention aims to be useful in detecting hidden electronic devices.
  • a DSA network may monitor spectrum use by cooperative and non-cooperative devices, to dynamically select one or more channels to use for communication while avoiding or reducing interference with other devices.
  • a DSA network may include detectors such as a narrow-band detector, wide-band detector, TV detector, radar detector, a wireless microphone detector, or any combination thereof.
  • the system uses a modulation method to measure the background signals that eliminates self-generated interference and also identifies the secondary signal to all primary users via on/off amplitude modulation, allowing easy resolution of interference claims.
  • the system uses high-processing gain probe waveforms that enable propagation measurements to be made with minimal interference to the primary users.
  • the system measures background signals and identifies the types of nearby receivers and modifies the local frequency assignments to minimize interference caused by a secondary system due to non-linear mixing interference and interference caused by out-of-band transmitted signals (phase noise, harmonics, and spurs).
  • the system infers a secondary node's elevation and mobility (thus, its probability to cause interference) by analysis of the amplitude of background signals. Elevated or mobile nodes are given more conservative frequency assignments than stationary nodes.
  • U.S. Patent No. 7,424,268 for“System and Method for Management of a Shared Frequency Band” by inventors Diener, et al, filed April 22, 2003 discloses a system, method, software and related functions for managing activity in an unlicensed radio frequency band that is shared, both in frequency and time, by signals of multiple types.
  • Signal pulse energy in the band is detected and is used to classify signals according to signal type.
  • spectrum intelligence uses knowledge of the types of signals occurring in the frequency band and other spectrum activity related statistics (referred to as spectrum intelligence), actions can be taken in a device or network of devices to avoid interfering with other signals, and in general to optimize simultaneous use of the frequency band with the other signals.
  • the spectrum intelligence may be used to suggest actions to a device user or network administrator, or to automatically invoke actions in a device or network of devices to maintain desirable performance.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,249,631 for“Transmission power allocation/control method, communication device and program” by inventor Ryo Sawai, filed July 21, 2010, teaches a method for allocating transmission power to a second communication service making secondary usage of a spectrum assigned to a first communication service, in a node which is able to communicate with a secondary usage node.
  • the method determines an interference power acceptable for two or more second communication services when the two or more second communication services are operated and allocates the transmission powers to the two or more second communication services.
  • Diverse device types interoperate, cooperate, and communicate with high spectrum efficiency and do not require infrastructure to form the network.
  • the dynamic cellular cognitive system can expand to a wider geographical distribution via linking to existing infrastructure.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,565,811 for“Software-defined radio using multi-core processor” by inventors Tan, et al discloses a radio control board passing a plurality of digital samples between a memory of a computing device and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver coupled to a system bus of the computing device. Processing of the digital samples is carried out by one or more cores of a multi-core processor to implement a software-defined radio.
  • RF radio frequency
  • the signal of interest maybe a television signal or a wireless microphone signal using licensed television spectrum.
  • wireless communication transmitted in the white space authorizes an initial transmission by a device.
  • the wireless communication may include power information for determining a power at which to transmit the initial transmission.
  • the initial transmission may be used to request information identifying one or more channels in the white space available for transmitting data.
  • NC non-cooperative
  • the percentage of power above a first threshold is computed for a channel. Based on the percentage, a signal is classified as a narrowband signal. If the percentage indicates the absence of a narrowband signal, then a lower second threshold is applied to confirm the absence according to the percentage of power above the second threshold.
  • the signal is classified as a narrowband signal or pre-classified as a wideband signal based on the percentage. Pre-classified wideband signals are classified as a wideband NC signal or target signal using spectrum masks.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,494,464 for“Cognitive networked electronic warfare” by inventors Kadambe, et al, filed September 08, 2010, describes an apparatus for sensing and classifying radio communications including sensor units configured to detect RF signals, a signal classifier configured to classify the detected RF signals into a classification, the classification including at least one known signal type and an unknown signal type, a clustering learning algorithm capable of finding clusters of common signals among the previously seen unknown signals; it is then further configured to use these clusters to retrain the signal classifier to recognize these signals as a new signal type, aiming to provide signal identification to better enable electronic attacks and jamming signals.
  • a sensing rate is then determined as a function, at least in part, of the information indicating the number of adjacent sensors that are concurrently sensing wireless transmissions from the licensed user of the licensed spectral resource.
  • Receiver equipment is then periodically operated at the determined sensing rate, wherein the receiver equipment is configured to detect wireless transmissions from the licensed user of the licensed spectral resource.
  • the disclosed methods and apparatus sense signal features by determining a number of spectral density estimates, where each estimate is derived based on reception of the signal by a respective antenna in a system with multiple sensing antennas.
  • the spectral density estimates are then combined, and the signal features are sensed based on the combination of the spectral density estimates.
  • Invention aims to increase sensing performance by addressing problems associated with Rayleigh fading, which causes signals to be less detectable.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,151,311 for“System and method of detecting potential video traffic interference” by inventors Huffman, et al., filed November 30, 2007, describes a method of detecting potential video traffic interference at a video head-end of a video distribution network is disclosed and includes detecting, at a video head-end, a signal populating an ultra- high frequency (UHF) white space frequency. The method also includes determining that a strength of the signal is equal to or greater than a threshold signal strength. Further, the method includes sending an alert from the video head-end to a network management system. The alert indicates that the UHF white space frequency is populated by a signal having a potential to interfere with video traffic delivered via the video head-end.
  • Cognitive radio technology various sensing mechanisms (energy sensing, National Television System Committee signal sensing, Advanced Television Systems Committee sensing), filtering, and signal reconstruction are disclosed.
  • U.S. Patent No. 8,311,509 for“Detection, communication and control in multimode cellular, TDMA, GSM, spread spectrum, CDMA, OFDM, WiLAN, and WiFi systems” by inventor Feher, filed October 31, 2007, teaches a device for detection of signals, with location finder or location tracker or navigation signal and with Modulation Demodulation (Modem) Format Selectable (MFS) communication signal.
  • OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed
  • OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
  • Each is used in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.
  • Device and location finder with Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global Mobile System (GSM) and spread spectrum Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is used in a cellular network.
  • Polar and quadrature modulator and two antenna transmitter for transmission of provided processed signal.
  • NLA Non-Linearly Amplified
  • the method includes detecting one or more radio frequency (RF) samples; determining burst data by identifying start and stop points of the one or more RF samples; comparing time domain values for an individual burst with time domain values of one or more predetermined RF device profiles; generating a human- readable result indicating whether the individual burst should be assigned to one of the predetermined RF device profiles; and, classifying the individual burst if assigned to one of the predetermined RF device profiles as being a WiFi device or a non-WiFi device with the non-WiFi device being a RF interference source to a wireless network.
  • RF radio frequency
  • U.S. Patent No. 9,862,489 for“Method and apparatus for drone detection and disablement” by inventor Lee Weinstein et al., filed February 07, 2016, describes a preferred embodiment of a method and apparatus for detection and disablement of an unidentified aerial vehicle (UAV) includes arrays of antenna elements receiving in two modalities (for instance radio frequency (RF) and acoustic modalities, or RF and optical modalities). Signal processing of outputs from multiple antenna arrays locates a potential UAV at specific coordinates within a volume of space under surveillance, and automatically aims video surveillance and a short-range projectile launcher at the UAV, and may automatically fire the projectile launcher to down the UAV.
  • RF radio frequency
  • An example method includes receiving a sound signal in a microphone and recording, via a sound card, a digital sound sample of the sound signal, the digital sound sample having a predetermined duration.
  • the method also includes processing, via a processor, the digital sound sample into a feature frequency spectrum.
  • the method further includes applying, via the processor, broad spectrum matching to compare the feature frequency spectrum to at least one drone sound signature stored in a database, the at least one drone sound signature corresponding to a flight characteristic of a drone model.
  • the method moreover includes, conditioned on matching the feature frequency spectrum to one of the drone sound signatures, transmitting, via the processor, an alert.
  • the apparatus can include at least one antenna directionally disposed at an along the approach or departure path and a detector configured to provide a warning of a presence of sense an unmanned aerial or drone.
  • the warning can be provided in response to a radio frequency signal received by the at least one of the antenna being in a frequency band associated with a transmission frequency for the unmanned aerial vehicle or drone or in a frequency band associated with interaction from receive circuitry of the unmanned aerial vehicle or drone.
  • U.S. Patent No. 9,715,009 for“Deterent for unmanned aerial systems” by inventor Dwaine A. Parker et al., filed December 02, 2016, describes a system (100) for providing an integrated multi-sensor detection and countermeasure against commercial unmanned aerial systems/vehicles (44) and includes a detecting element (103, 104, 105), a tracking element (103,104, 105) an identification element (103, 104, 105) and an interdiction element (102).
  • the detecting element detects an unmanned aerial vehicle in flight in the region of, or approaching, a property, place, event or very important person.
  • the tracking element determines the exact location of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
  • the identification/classification element utilizing data from the other elements generates the identification and threat assessment of the UAS.
  • the interdiction element based on automated algorithms can either direct the unmanned aerial vehicle away from the property, place, event or very important person in a non-destructive manner, or can disable the unmanned aerial vehicle in a destructive manner.
  • the interdiction process may be over ridden by intervention by a System Operator/HiL.
  • the system has a detection antenna array structured and configured to detect the drone and the drone control signal over a 360 degree field relative to the detection antenna array including detecting the directionality of the drone.
  • the system also includes a neutralization system structured and configured in a communicating relation with the detection antenna array.
  • the neutralization system has a transmission antenna structured to transmit an override signal aimed at the direction of the drone, an amplifier configured to boost the gain of the override signal to exceed the signal strength of the drone control signal, and a processing device configured to create and effect the transmission of the override signal.
  • the invention is also directed to a method for detecting and defeating a drone.
  • an object tracking system comprises a processor, a processor, a processor, and a processor, a processor, and a processor.
  • the object tracking application configures the processor to receive a sequence of images; estimate and subtract background pixel values from pixels in a sequence of images; compute sets of summed intensity values for different per frame pixel offsets from a sequence of images; identify summed intensity values from a set of summed intensity values exceeding a threshold; cluster identified summed intensity values exceeding the threshold corresponding to single moving objects; and identify a location of at least one moving object in an image based on at least one summed intensity value cluster.
  • a counter drone system includes a cueing sensor to detect the presence of an object wherein the cueing sensor cues the presence of a target drone, a long range LIDAR system having a sensor pointed in a direction of the target drone to acquire and track at long range the target drone to provide an accurate location of the target drone wherein once a track is acquired, the motion of the target drone is used to maintain the track of the target drone and a threat detector wherein LIDAR data is provided to the threat detector to determine if the target drone is a threat.
  • U.S. Publication No. 2017/0261604 for“Intercept drone tasked to location of lidar tracked drone” by inventor Brian Van Voorst, filed February 27, 2017, describes that a system includes a long range LIDAR tracking system to track a target drone and provide detection and tracking information of the target drone; a control system to process the detection and tracking information and provide guidance information to intercept the target drone; and a high powered intercept drone controlled by supervised autonomy, the supervised autonomy provided by processing the detection and tracking information of the target drone and sending guidance information to the intercept drone to direct the intercept drone to the target drone.
  • the present invention relates to systems, methods and apparatus for automatic signal detection with temporal feature extraction in an RF environment.
  • An apparatus learns the RF environment in a predetermined period based on statistical learning techniques, thereby creating learning data.
  • a knowledge map is formed based on the learning data.
  • the apparatus automatically extracts temporal features of the RF environment from the knowledge map.
  • a real-time spectral sweep is scrubbed against the knowledge map.
  • the apparatus is operable to detect a signal in the RF environment, which has a low power level or is a narrowband signal buried in a wideband signal, and which cannot be identified otherwise.
  • the present invention also provides systems and methods for unmanned vehicle recognition.
  • a multiplicity of receivers captures RF data and transmits the RF data to at least one node device.
  • the at least one node device comprises a signal processing engine, a detection engine, a classification engine, and a direction finding engine.
  • the at least one node device is configured with an artificial intelligence algorithm.
  • the detection engine and classification engine are trained to detect and classify signals from unmanned vehicles and their controllers based on processed data from the signal processing engine.
  • the direction finding engine is operable to provide lines of bearing for detected unmanned vehicles.
  • a display and control unit is in network communication with the at least one node device for displaying locations and other related data for the detected unmanned vehicles.
  • FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a wireless environment suitable for use with the various embodiments.
  • FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device according to an embodiment.
  • FIG. 2B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device according to an embodiment.
  • FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for identifying a signal.
  • FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for measuring sample blocks of a radio frequency scan.
  • FIGS. 5A-5C are a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for determining signal parameters.
  • FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for displaying signal identifications.
  • FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for displaying one or more open frequency.
  • FIG. 8A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device according to another embodiment.
  • FIG. 8B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device according to another embodiment.
  • FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for determining protocol data and symbol timing data.
  • FIG. 10 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for calculating signal degradation data.
  • FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for displaying signal and protocol identification information.
  • FIG. 12A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device according to a further embodiment.
  • FIG. 12B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device according to a further embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for estimating a signal origin based on a frequency difference of arrival.
  • FIG. 14 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for displaying an indication of an identified data type within a signal.
  • FIG. 15 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for determining modulation type, protocol data, and symbol timing data.
  • FIG. 16 is a process flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for tracking a signal origin.
  • FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment for scanning and finding open space.
  • FIG. 18 is a diagram of an embodiment wherein software defined radio nodes are in communication with a master transmitter and device sensing master.
  • FIG. 19 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method of temporally dividing up data into intervals for power usage analysis.
  • FIG. 20 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment wherein frequency to license matching occurs.
  • FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for reporting power usage information.
  • FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for creating frequency arrays.
  • FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for reframe and aggregating power when producing frequency arrays.
  • FIG. 24 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of reporting license expirations.
  • FIG. 25 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of reporting frequency power use.
  • FIG. 26 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of connecting devices.
  • FIG. 27 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of addressing collisions.
  • FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the invention illustrating a virtualized computing network and a plurality of distributed devices.
  • FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram illustrating the present invention in a virtualized or cloud computing system with a network and a mobile computer or mobile communications device.
  • FIGS. 31-34 show screen shot illustrations for automatic signal detection indications on displays associated with the present invention.
  • FIG. 35 is an example of a receiver that has marked variations on baseline behavior across a wide spectrum (9MHz - 6GHz).
  • FIG. 36 shows a normal spectrum from 700MHz to 790MHz in one embodiment.
  • FIG. 37 shows the same spectrum as in FIG. 36 at a different time.
  • FIG. 38 illustrates a spectrum from l.9GHz to 2.0GHz, along with some additional lines that indicate the functions of the new algorithm.
  • FIG. 39 is a close up view of the first part of the overall spectrum in FIG. 38.
  • FIG. 40 illustrates a knowledge map obtained by a TFE process.
  • FIG. 41 illustrates an interpretation operation based on a knowledge map.
  • FIG. 42 shows the identification of signals, which are represented by the black brackets above the knowledge display.
  • FIG. 43 shows more details of the narrow band signals at the left of the spectrum around 400 MHz in FIG. 42.
  • FIG. 44 shows more details of the wide band signals and narrow band signals between 735 MHz and 790 MHz in FIG. 42.
  • FIG. 45 illustrates an operation of the ASD in the present invention.
  • FIG. 46 provides a flow diagram for geolocation in the present invention.
  • FIG. 47 illustrates a configuration of a PDFT processor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 48 is a flow chart for data processing in a PDFT processor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 49 illustrates data analytics in an analyzer engine according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 50 illustrates a mask according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 51 illustrates a workflow of automatic signal detection according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 52 is a screenshot illustrating alarm visualization via a graphical user interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 53 illustrates a comparison of live FFT stream data and a mask considering a db offset according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 54 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm defining a flag according to one embodiment of the embodiment.
  • FIG. 55 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm identifying peak values according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 56 illustrates a complex spectrum situation according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 57 is an analysis of the live stream data above the mask in the first alarm duration in FIG. 56.
  • FIG. 58 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm checking the alarm duration according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 59 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm triggering an alarm according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 60 is a screenshot illustrating a job manager screen according to one
  • FIG. 61 illustrates trigger and alarm management according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 62 is a screenshot illustrating a spectrum with RF signals and related analysis.
  • FIG. 63 is a screenshot illustrating identified signals based on the analysis in FIG. 16.
  • FIG. 64 is a diagram of a modular architecture according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 65 illustrates a communications environment according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 66 illustrates an UAS interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 67 lists signal strength measurements according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 68 illustrates a focused jammer in a mobile application according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 69 illustrates a swept RF interference by a jammer according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 70 illustrates data collection, distillation and reporting according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 71 is a comparison of multiple methodologies for detecting and classifying UAS.
  • FIG. 72 lists capabilities of an RF-based counter-UAS system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 73 illustrates an RF-based counter-UAS system deployed as a long-distance detection model according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 74 illustrates features of drones in the OcuSync family.
  • FIG. 75 illustrates features of drones in the Lightbridge family.
  • FIG. 76 illustrates a spectrum monitoring system detecting an anomalous signal in close proximity of critical infrastructure.
  • FIG. 77 illustrates a system configuration and interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 78 is a screenshot illustrating no alarm going off for an anomalous signal from LMR traffic not in proximity of the site according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 79 illustrates a GUI of a remote alarm manager according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 80 labels different parts of a front panel of a spectrum monitoring device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 81 lists all the labels in FIG. 79 representing different part of the front panel of the spectrum monitoring device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 82 illustrates a spectrum monitoring device scanning a spectrum from 40 MHz to 6 GHz according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 83 lists the capabilities of a spectrum monitoring system according to 5 main on- network mobile phone states plus 1 no-network mobile phone state.
  • FIG. 84 illustrates a mobile event analysis per one minute intervals according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 85 is a site cellular survey result according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 86 illustrates a system of a spectrum management node device in network communication with a video sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 87 is a diagram of a cluster layout for multiple systems illustrated in FIG. 86 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 88 is a system for unmanned vehicle recognition according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 89 illustrates signal characterization within a spectrum from 700 MHz to 900 MHz.
  • FIG. 90 is an illustration of Phantom 4 controller and drone signals.
  • FIG. 91 is a human interface display for drone detection according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 92 shows a setup for RF data capture in an Anechoic Chamber according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 93 illustrates a simulation for fading and channel hopping of an OcuSync drone.
  • FIG. 94 is an illustration of an inception based convolutional neural network.
  • FIG. 95 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with just noise.
  • FIG. 96 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Phantom 4 controller and drone.
  • FIG. 97 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with two Mavic Pro drones.
  • FIG. 98 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller only.
  • FIG. 99 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with one Mavic Pro drone only.
  • FIG. 100 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with one Phantom 3 controller only.
  • FIG. 101 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Phantom 3 controller and drone.
  • FIG. 102 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and drone in wideband mode.
  • FIG. 103 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro drone in wideband mode.
  • FIG. 104 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and drone.
  • FIG. 105 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and a Phantom 4 controller.
  • FIG. 106 is an illustration of identifying drones and controllers based on signal edge detection.
  • FIG. 107 is an illustration with averaged signal amplitudes and signal edges according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 108 displays a detection range of less than 500 meters based on equipment specification and location.
  • the present invention addresses the longstanding, unmet needs existing in the prior art and commercial sectors to provide solutions to the at least four major problems existing before the present invention, each one that requires near real time results on a continuous scanning of the target environment for the spectrum.
  • the present invention relates to systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable spectrum management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements. Furthermore, present invention relates to spectrum analysis and management for radio frequency (RF) signals, and for automatically identifying baseline data and changes in state for signals from a multiplicity of devices in a wireless communications spectrum, and for providing remote access to measured and analyzed data through a virtualized computing network.
  • RF radio frequency
  • signals and the parameters of the signals may be identified and indications of available frequencies may be presented to a user.
  • the protocols of signals may also be identified.
  • the modulation of signals, data types carried by the signals, and estimated signal origins may be identified.
  • It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for identifying signal emitting devices including: a housing, at least one processor and memory, at least one receiver and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications; and wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically analyze the measured data to identify at least one signal emitting device in near real time from attempted detection and identification of the at least one signal emitting device, and then to identify open space available for wireless communications, based upon the information about the signal emitting device(s) operating in the predetermined spectrum; furthermore, the present invention provides baseline data and changes in state for compressed data to enable near real time analytics and results for individual units and for aggregated units for making unique comparisons of data.
  • the present invention further provides systems for identifying white space in wireless communications spectrum by detecting and analyzing signals from any signal emitting devices including at least one apparatus, wherein the at least one apparatus is operable for network-based communication with at least one server computer including a database, and/or with at least one other apparatus, but does not require a connection to the at least one server computer to be operable for identifying signal emitting devices; wherein each of the apparatus is operable for identifying signal emitting devices including: a housing, at least one processor and memory, at least one receiver, and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications; and wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically analyze the measured data to identify at least one signal emitting device in near real time from attempted detection and identification of the at least one signal emitting device, and then to identify open space available for wireless communications, based upon the information about the signal emitting device(s) operating in the predetermined spectrum; all of the foregoing using baseline data and changes in state for compressed data to enable near real
  • the present invention is further directed to a method for identifying baseline data and changes in state for compressed data to enable near real time analytics and results for individual units and for aggregated units and storing the aggregated data in a database and providing secure, remote access to the compressed data for each unit and to the aggregated data via network-based virtualized computing system or cloud-based system, for making unique comparisons of data in a wireless communications spectrum
  • the present invention provides systems, apparatus, and methods for identifying open space in a wireless communications spectrum using an apparatus having a multiplicity of processors and memory, at least one receiver, sensors, and communications transmitters and receivers, all constructed and configured within a housing for automated analysis of detected signals from signal emitting devices, determination of signal duration and other signal characteristics, and automatically generating information relating to device identification, open space, signal optimization, all using baseline data and changes in state for compressed data to enable near real time analytics and results for individual units and for aggregated units for making unique comparisons of data within the spectrum for wireless communication, and for providing secure, remote access via a network to the data stored in a virtualized computer system.
  • the present invention provides systems, methods, and devices for spectrum analysis and management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging at least one or a multiplicity of signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements and location and other measurements, and using near real-time parallel processing of signals and their corresponding parameters and characteristics in the context of historical and static data for a given spectrum, and more particularly, all using baseline data and changes in state for compressed data to enable near real time analytics and results for individual units and for aggregated units for making unique comparisons of data.
  • the systems, methods and apparatus according to the present invention preferably have the ability to detect in near real time, and more preferably to detect, sense, measure, and/or analyze in near real time, and more preferably to perform any near real time operations within about 1 second or less.
  • the present invention and its real time functionality described herein uniquely provide and enable the apparatus units to compare to historical data, to update data and/or information, and/or to provide more data and/or information on the open space, on the apparatus unit or device that may be occupying the open space, and combinations, in the near real time compared with the historically scanned (15 min to 30 days) data, or historical database information.
  • each apparatus unit or device and/or for aggregated data from more than one apparatus unit or device are communicated via a network to at least one server computer and stored on a database in a virtualized or cloud-based computing system, and the data is available for secure, remote access via the network from distributed remote devices having software applications (apps) operable thereon, for example by web access (mobile app) or computer access (desktop app).
  • apps software applications
  • the systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable spectrum management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements.
  • signals and the parameters of the signals may be identified and indications of available frequencies may be presented to a user.
  • the protocols of signals may also be identified.
  • the modulation of signals, data types carried by the signals, and estimated signal origins may be identified.
  • Embodiments are directed to a spectrum management device that may be configurable to obtain spectrum data over a wide range of wireless communication protocols.
  • Embodiments may also provide for the ability to acquire data from and sending data to database depositories that may be used by a plurality of spectrum management customers.
  • a spectrum management device may include a signal spectrum analyzer that may be coupled with a database system and spectrum management interface.
  • the device may be portable or may be a stationary installation and may be updated with data to allow the device to manage different spectrum information based on frequency, bandwidth, signal power, time, and location of signal propagation, as well as modulation type and format and to provide signal identification, classification, and geo-location.
  • a processor may enable the device to process spectrum power density data as received and to process raw I/Q complex data that may be used for further signal processing, signal identification, and data extraction.
  • a spectrum management device or apparatus unit may comprise a low noise amplifier that receives a radio frequency (RF) energy from an antenna.
  • the antenna may be any antenna structure that is capable of receiving RF energy in a spectrum of interest.
  • the low noise amplifier may filter and amplify the RF energy.
  • the RF energy may be provided to an RF translator.
  • the RF translator may perform a fast Fourier transform (FFT) and either a square magnitude or a fast convolution spectral periodogram function to convert the RF measurements into a spectral representation.
  • FFT fast Fourier transform
  • the RF translator may also store a timestamp to facilitate calculation of a time of arrival and an angle of arrival.
  • the In-Phase and Quadrature (I/Q) data may be provided to a spectral analysis receiver or it may be provided to a sample data store where it may be stored without being processed by a spectral analysis receiver.
  • the input RF energy may also be directly digital down-converted and sampled by an analog to digital converter (ADC) to generate complex I/Q data.
  • ADC analog to digital converter
  • the complex I/Q data may be equalized to remove multipath, fading, white noise and interference from other signaling systems by fast parallel adaptive filter processes. This data may then be used to calculate modulation type and baud rate.
  • Complex sampled I/Q data may also be used to measure the signal angle of arrival and time of arrival. Such information as angle of arrival and time of arrival may be used to compute more complex and precise direction finding.
  • I/Q sampled data may contain raw signal data that may be used to demodulate and translate signals by streaming them to a signal analyzer or to a real-time demodulator software defined radio that may have the newly identified signal parameters for the signal of interest.
  • the inherent nature of the input RF allows for any type of signal to be analyzed and demodulated based on the reconfiguration of the software defined radio interfaces.
  • a spectral analysis receiver may be configured to read raw In-Phase (I) and
  • Quadrature (Q) data and either translate directly to spectral data or down convert to an intermediate frequency (IF) up to half the Nyquist sampling rate to analyze the incoming bandwidth of a signal.
  • the translated spectral data may include measured values of signal energy, frequency, and time. The measured values provide attributes of the signal under review that may confirm the detection of a particular signal of interest within a spectrum of interest.
  • a spectral analysis receiver may have a referenced spectrum input of 0 Hz to 12.4 GHz, preferably not lower than 9 kHz, with capability of fiber optic input for spectrum input up to 60 GHz.
  • the spectral analysis receiver may be configured to sample the input RF data by fast analog down- conversion of the RF signal.
  • the down-converted signal may then be digitally converted and processed by fast convolution filters to obtain a power spectrum.
  • This process may also provide spectrum measurements including the signal power, the bandwidth, the center frequency of the signal as well as a Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement.
  • the TOA measurement may be used to create a timestamp of the detected signal and/or to generate a time difference of arrival iterative process for direction finding and fast triangulation of signals.
  • the sample data may be provided to a spectrum analysis module.
  • the spectrum analysis module may evaluate the sample data to obtain the spectral components of the signal.
  • the spectral components of the signal may be obtained by the spectrum analysis module from the raw I/Q data as provided by an RF translator.
  • the I/Q data analysis performed by the spectrum analysis module may operate to extract more detailed information about the signal, including by way of example, modulation type (e.g., FM, AM, QPSK, 16QAM, etc.) and/or protocol (e.g, GSM, CDMA, OFDM, LTE, etc ).
  • the spectrum analysis module may be configured by a user to obtain specific information about a signal of interest.
  • the spectral components of the signal may be obtained from power spectral component data produced by the spectral analysis receiver.
  • the spectrum analysis module may provide the spectral components of the signal to a data extraction module.
  • the data extraction module may provide the classification and categorization of signals detected in the RF spectrum.
  • the data extraction module may also acquire additional information regarding the signal from the spectral components of the signal. For example, the data extraction module may provide modulation type, bandwidth, and possible system in use information.
  • the data extraction module may select and organize the extracted spectral components in a format selected by a user.
  • the information from the data extraction module may be provided to a spectrum management module.
  • the spectrum management module may generate a query to a static database to classify a signal based on its components.
  • the information stored in static database may be used to determine the spectral density, center frequency, bandwidth, baud rate, modulation type, protocol (e.g., GSM, CDMA, OFDM, LTE, etc.), system or carrier using licensed spectrum, location of the signal source, and a timestamp of the signal of interest.
  • These data points may be provided to a data store for export.
  • the data store may be configured to access mapping software to provide the user with information on the location of the transmission source of the signal of interest.
  • the static database includes frequency information gathered from various sources including, but not limited to, the Federal Communication Commission, the International Telecommunication Union, and data from users.
  • the static database may be an SQL database.
  • the data store may be updated, downloaded or merged with other devices or with its main relational database.
  • Software API applications may be included to allow database merging with third-party spectrum databases that may only be accessed securely.
  • the spectrum management device may be configured in different ways.
  • the front end of the system may comprise various hardware receivers that may provide In-Phase and Quadrature complex data.
  • the front end receiver may include API set commands via which the system software may be configured to interface (i.e., communicate) with a third party receiver.
  • the front end receiver may perform the spectral computations using FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and other DSP (Digital Signal Processing) to generate a fast convolution periodogram that may be re-sampled and averaged to quickly compute the spectral density of the RF environment.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • DSP Digital Signal Processing
  • cyclic processes may be used to average and correlate signal information by extracting the changes inside the signal to better identify the signal of interest that is present in the RF space.
  • a combination of amplitude and frequency changes may be measured and averaged over the bandwidth time to compute the modulation type and other internal changes, such as changes in frequency offsets, orthogonal frequency division modulation, changes in time (e.g., Time Division Multiplexing), and/or changes in I/Q phase rotation used to compute the baud rate and the modulation type.
  • the spectrum management device may have the ability to compute several processes in parallel by use of a multi-core processor and along with several embedded field programmable gate arrays (FPGA).
  • FPGA embedded field programmable gate arrays
  • Such multi-core processing may allow the system to quickly analyze several signal parameters in the RF environment at one time in order to reduce the amount of time it takes to process the signals.
  • the amount of signals computed at once may be determined by their bandwidth requirements.
  • the capability of the system may be based on a maximum frequency Fs/2.
  • the number of signals to be processed may be allocated based on their respective bandwidths.
  • the signal spectrum may be measured to determine its power density, center frequency, bandwidth and location from which the signal is emanating and a best match may be determined based on the signal parameters based on information criteria of the frequency.
  • a GPS and direction finding location (DF) system may be incorporated into the spectrum management device and/or available to the spectrum management device. Adding GPS and DF ability may enable the user to provide a location vector using the National Marine Electronics Association’s (NMEA) standard form.
  • location functionality is incorporated into a specific type of GPS unit, such as a U.S. government issued receiver. The information may be derived from the location presented by the database internal to the device, a database imported into the device, or by the user inputting geo-location parameters of longitude and latitude which may be derived as degrees, minutes and seconds, decimal minutes, or decimal form and translated to the necessary format with the default being‘decimal’ form.
  • This functionality may be incorporated into a GPS unit. The signal information and the signal classification may then be used to locate the signaling device as well as to provide a direction finding capability.
  • a type of triangulation using three units as a group antenna configuration performs direction finding by using multilateration.
  • multilateration is able to accurately locate an aircraft, vehicle, or stationary emitter by measuring the "Time Difference of Arrival" (TDOA) of a signal from the emitter at three or more receiver sites. If a pulse is emitted from a platform, it will arrive at slightly different times at two spatially separated receiver sites, the TDOA being due to the different distances of each receiver from the platform.
  • This location information may then be supplied to a mapping process that utilizes a database of mapping images that are extracted from the database based on the latitude and longitude provided by the geo-location or direction finding device.
  • the mapping images may be scanned in to show the points of interest where a signal is either expected to be emanating from based on the database information or from an average taken from the database information and the geo-location calculation performed prior to the mapping software being called.
  • the user can control the map to maximize or minimize the mapping screen to get a better view which is more fit to provide information of the signal transmissions.
  • the mapping process does not rely on outside mapping software.
  • the mapping capability has the ability to generate the map image and to populate a mapping database that may include information from third party maps to meet specific user requirements.
  • triangulation and multilateration may utilize a Bayesian type filter that may predict possible movement and future location and operation of devices based on input collected from the TDOA and geolocation processes and the variables from the static database pertaining to the specified signal of interest.
  • the Bayesian filter takes the input changes in time difference and its inverse function (i.e., frequency difference) and takes an average change in signal variation to detect and predict the movement of the signals.
  • the signal changes are measured within 1 ns time difference and the filter may also adapt its gradient error calculation to remove unwanted signals that may cause errors due to signal multipath, inter-symbol interference, and other signal noise.
  • the changes within a 1 ns time difference for each sample for each unique signal may be recorded.
  • the spectrum management device may then perform the inverse and compute and record the frequency difference and phase difference between each sample for each unique signal.
  • the spectrum management device may take the same signal and calculates an error based on other input signals coming in within the 1 ns time and may average and filter out the computed error to equalize the signal.
  • the spectrum management device may determine the time difference and frequency difference of arrival for that signal and compute the odds of where the signal is emanating from based on the frequency band parameters presented from the spectral analysis and processor computations, and determines the best position from which the signal is transmitted (i.e., origin of the signal).
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless environment 100 suitable for use with the various embodiments.
  • the wireless environment 100 may include various sources 104, 106, 108,
  • RF signals 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126 may be generated various radio frequency (RF) signals 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126.
  • mobile devices 104 may generate cellular RF signals 116, such as CDMA, GSM, 3G signals, etc.
  • wireless access devices 106 such as Wi Fi® routers, may generate RF signals 118, such as Wi-Fi® signals.
  • satellites 108 such as communication satellites or GPS satellites, may generate RF signals 120, such as satellite radio, television, or GPS signals.
  • base stations 110 such as a cellular base station, may generate RF signals 122, such as CDMA, GSM, 3G signals, etc.
  • radio towers 112 such as local AM or FM radio stations, may generate RF signals 124, such as AM or FM radio signals.
  • government service provides 114 such as police units, fire fighters, military units, air traffic control towers, etc. may generate RF signals 126, such as radio communications, tracking signals, etc.
  • the various RF signals 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126 may be generated at different frequencies, power levels, in different protocols, with different modulations, and at different times.
  • the various sources 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, and 114 may be assigned frequency bands, power limitations, or other restrictions, requirements, and/or licenses by a government spectrum control entity, such as the FCC.
  • a spectrum management device 102 in the wireless environment 100 may measure the RF energy in the wireless environment 100 across a wide spectrum and identify the different RF signals 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126 which may be present in the wireless environment 100. The identification and cataloging of the different RF signals 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126 which may be present in the wireless environment 100 may enable the spectrum management device 102 to determine available frequencies for use in the wireless environment 100.
  • the spectrum management device 102 may be able to determine if there are available frequencies for use in the wireless environment 100 under certain conditions (i.e., day of week, time of day, power level, frequency band, etc.). In this manner, the RF spectrum in the wireless environment 100 may be managed.
  • FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device 202 according to an embodiment.
  • the spectrum management device 202 may include an antenna structure 204 configured to receive RF energy expressed in a wireless environment.
  • the antenna structure 204 may be any type antenna, and may be configured to optimize the receipt of RF energy across a wide frequency spectrum.
  • the antenna structure 204 may be connected to one or more optional amplifiers and/or filters 208 which may boost, smooth, and/or filter the RF energy received by antenna structure 204 before the RF energy is passed to an RF receiver 210 connected to the antenna structure 204.
  • the RF receiver 210 may be configured to measure the RF energy received from the antenna structure 204 and/or optional amplifiers and/or filters 208.
  • the RF receiver 210 may be configured to measure RF energy in the time domain and may convert the RF energy measurements to the frequency domain. In an embodiment, the RF receiver 210 may be configured to generate spectral representation data of the received RF energy.
  • the RF receiver 210 may be any type RF receiver, and may be configured to generate RF energy measurements over a range of frequencies, such as 0kHz to 24GHz, 9kHz to 6GHz, etc. In an embodiment, the frequency scanned by the RF receiver 210 may be user selectable.
  • the RF receiver 210 may be connected to a signal processor 214 and may be configured to output RF energy measurements to the signal processor 214.
  • the RF receiver 210 may output raw In-Phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) data to the signal processor 214.
  • the RF receiver 210 may apply signals processing techniques to output complex In-Phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) data to the signal processor 214.
  • the spectrum management device may also include an antenna 206 connected to a location receiver 212, such as a GPS receiver, which may be connected to the signal processor 214.
  • the location receiver 212 may provide location inputs to the signal processor 214.
  • the signal processor 214 may include a signal detection module 216, a comparison module 222, a timing module 224, and a location module 225. Additionally, the signal processor 214 may include an optional memory module 226 which may include one or more optional buffers 228 for storing data generated by the other modules of the signal processor 214.
  • the signal detection module 216 may operate to identify signals based on the RF energy measurements received from the RF receiver 210.
  • the signal detection module 216 may include a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module 217 which may convert the received RF energy measurements into spectral representation data.
  • the signal detection module 216 may include an analysis module 221 which may analyze the spectral representation data to identify one or more signals above a power threshold.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • a power module 220 of the signal detection module 216 may control the power threshold at which signals may be identified.
  • the power threshold may be a default power setting or may be a user selectable power setting.
  • a noise module 219 of the signal detection module 216 may control a signal threshold, such as a noise threshold, at or above which signals may be identified.
  • the signal detection module 216 may include a parameter module 218 which may determine one or more signal parameters for any identified signals, such as center frequency, bandwidth, power, number of detected signals, frequency peak, peak power, average power, signal duration, etc.
  • the signal processor 214 may include a timing module 224 which may record time information and provide the time information to the signal detection module 216.
  • the signal processor 214 may include a location module 225 which may receive location inputs from the location receiver 212 and determine a location of the spectrum management device 202. The location of the spectrum
  • the management device 202 may be provided to the signal detection module 216.
  • the signal processor 214 may be connected to one or more memory 230.
  • the memory 230 may include multiple databases, such as a history or historical database 232 and characteristics listing 236, and one or more buffers 240 storing data generated by signal processor 214. While illustrated as connected to the signal processor 214 the memory 230 may also be on chip memory residing on the signal processor 214 itself.
  • the history or historical database 232 may include measured signal data 234 for signals that have been previously identified by the spectrum management device 202.
  • the measured signal data 234 may include the raw RF energy measurements, time stamps, location information, one or more signal parameters for any identified signals, such as center frequency, bandwidth, power, number of detected signals, frequency peak, peak power, average power, signal duration, etc., and identifying information determined from the characteristics listing 236.
  • the history or historical database 232 may be updated as signals are identified by the spectrum management device 202.
  • the characteristic listing 236 may be a database of static signal data 238.
  • the static signal data 238 may include data gathered from various sources including by way of example and not by way of limitation the Federal Communication Commission, the
  • Static signal data 238 may include known signal parameters of transmitting devices, such as center frequency, bandwidth, power, number of detected signals, frequency peak, peak power, average power, signal duration, geographic information for transmitting devices, and any other data that may be useful in identifying a signal.
  • the static signal data 238 and the characteristic listing 236 may correlate signal parameters and signal identifications.
  • the static signal data 238 and characteristic listing 236 may list the parameters of the local fire and emergency communication channel correlated with a signal identification indicating that signal is the local fire and emergency communication channel.
  • the signal processor 214 may include a comparison module 222 which may match data generated by the signal detection module 216 with data in the history or historical database 232 and/or characteristic listing 236.
  • the comparison module 222 may receive signal parameters from the signal detection module 216, such as center frequency, bandwidth, power, number of detected signals, frequency peak, peak power, average power, signal duration, and/or receive parameter from the timing module 224 and/or location module 225.
  • the parameter match module 223 may retrieve data from the history or historical database 232 and/or the characteristic listing 236 and compare the retrieved data to any received parameters to identify matches. Based on the matches the comparison module may identify the signal.
  • the signal processor 214 may be optionally connected to a display 242, an input device 244, and/or network transceiver 246.
  • the display 242 may be controlled by the signal processor 214 to output spectral representations of received signals, signal characteristic information, and/or indications of signal identifications on the display 242.
  • the input device 244 may be any input device, such as a keyboard and/or knob, mouse, virtual keyboard or even voice recognition, enabling the user of the spectrum management device 202 to input information for use by the signal processor 214.
  • the network transceiver 246 may enable the spectrum management device 202 to exchange data with wired and/or wireless networks, such as to update the characteristic listing 236 and/or upload information from the history or historical database 232.
  • FIG. 2B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device 202 according to an embodiment.
  • a receiver 210 may output RF energy measurements, such as I and Q data to a FFT module 252 which may generate a spectral representation of the RF energy measurements which may be output on a display 242.
  • the I and Q data may also be buffered in a buffer 256 and sent to a signal detection module 216.
  • the signal detection module 216 may receive location inputs from a location receiver 212 and use the received I and Q data to detect signals. Data from the signal detection module 216 may be buffered in a buffer 262 and written into a history or historical database 232.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 300 for identifying a signal.
  • the operations of method 300 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may determine the location of the spectrum management device 202. In an embodiment, the processor 214 may determine the location of the spectrum management device 202 based on a location input, such as GPS coordinates, received from a location receiver, such as a GPS receiver 212. In block 304 the processor 214 may determine the time. As an example, the time may be the current clock time as determined by the processor 214 and may be a time associated with receiving RF measurements. In block 306 the processor 214 may receive RF energy measurements. In an embodiment, the processor 214 may receive RF energy measurements from an RF receiver 210. In block 308 the processor 214 may convert the RF energy measurements to spectral representation data.
  • a location input such as GPS coordinates
  • a location receiver such as a GPS receiver 212.
  • the processor 214 may determine the time. As an example, the time may be the current clock time as determined by the processor 214 and may be a time associated with receiving RF measurements.
  • the processor 214 may receive RF energy measurements. In an embodiment
  • the processor may apply a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to the RF energy measurements to convert them to spectral representation data.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • the processor 214 may display the spectral representation data on a display 242 of the spectrum management device 202, such as in a graph illustrating amplitudes across a frequency spectrum.
  • the processor 214 may identify one or more signal above a threshold.
  • the processor 214 may analyze the spectral representation data to identify a signal above a power threshold.
  • a power threshold may be an amplitude measure selected to distinguish RF energies associated with actual signals from noise.
  • the power threshold may be a default value.
  • the power threshold may be a user selectable value.
  • the processor 214 may determine signal parameters of any identified signal or signals of interest. As examples, the processor 214 may determine signal parameters such as center frequency, bandwidth, power, number of detected signals, frequency peak, peak power, average power, signal duration for the identified signals.
  • the processor 214 may store the signal parameters of each identified signal, a location indication, and time indication for each identified signal in a history database 232.
  • a history database 232 may be a database resident in a memory 230 of the spectrum management device 202 which may include data associated with signals actually identified by the spectrum management device.
  • the processor 214 may compare the signal parameters of each identified signal to signal parameters in a signal characteristic listing.
  • the signal characteristic listing may be a static database 238 stored in the memory 230 of the spectrum management device 202 which may correlate signal parameters and signal identifications.
  • the processor 214 may determine whether the signal parameters of the identified signal or signals match signal parameters in the characteristic listing 236.
  • a match may be determined based on the signal parameters being within a specified tolerance of one another. As an example, a center frequency match may be determined when the center frequencies are within plus or minus 1 kHz of each other. In this manner, differences between real world measured conditions of an identified signal and ideal conditions listed in a characteristics listing may be accounted for in identifying matches.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment method 400 for measuring sample blocks of a radio frequency scan.
  • the operations of method 400 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may receive RF energy measurements and convert the RF energy measurements to spectral representation data.
  • the processor 214 may determine a frequency range at which to sample the RF spectrum for signals of interest.
  • a frequency range may be a frequency range of each sample block to be analyzed for potential signals.
  • the frequency range may be 240 kHz.
  • the frequency range may be a default value.
  • the frequency range may be a user selectable value.
  • the processor 214 may determine a number (N) of sample blocks to measure.
  • each sample block may be sized to the determined of default frequency range, and the number of sample blocks may be determined by dividing the spectrum of the measured RF energy by the frequency range.
  • the processor 214 may assign each sample block a respective frequency range. As an example, if the determined frequency range is 240 kHz, the first sample block may be assigned a frequency range from 0 kHz to 240 kHz, the second sample block may be assigned a frequency range from 240 kHz to 480 kHz, etc.
  • the processor 214 may set the lowest frequency range sample block as the current sample block.
  • the processor 214 may return to block 306 and cyclically measure further sample blocks.
  • FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C illustrate the process flow for an embodiment method 500 for determining signal parameters.
  • the operations of method 500 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may receive a noise floor average setting.
  • the noise floor average setting may be an average noise level for the environment in which the spectrum management device 202 is operating.
  • the noise floor average setting may be a default setting and/or may be user selectable setting.
  • the processor 214 may receive the signal power threshold setting.
  • the signal power threshold setting may be an amplitude measure selected to distinguish RF energies associated with actual signals from noise.
  • the signal power threshold may be a default value and/or may be a user selectable setting.
  • the processor 214 may load the next available sample block.
  • the sample blocks may be assembled according to the operations of method 400 described above with reference to FIG. 4.
  • the next available sample block may be an oldest in time sample block which has not been analyzed to determine whether signals of interest are present in the sample block.
  • the processor 214 may average the amplitude measurements in the sample block.
  • determination block 510 the processor 214 may determine whether the average for the sample block is greater than or equal to the noise floor average set in block 502.
  • the sample block may potentially include a signal of interest and in block 512 the processor 214 may reset a measurement counter (C) to 1.
  • the measurement counter value indicating which sample within a sample block is under analysis.
  • the processor 214 may determine whether the RF measurement of the next frequency sample (C) is greater than the signal power threshold. In this manner, the value of the measurement counter (C) may be used to control which sample RF measurement in the sample block is compared to the signal power threshold.
  • C measurement counter
  • the processor 214 may determine whether the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next RF measurement because the value of the RF measurement counter was incremented) is greater than the signal power threshold. If the C RF measurement (e.g., the next
  • C measurement counter
  • the processor 214 may set the cross block flag.
  • the cross block flag may be a flag in a memory available to the processor 214 indicating the signal potential spans across two or more sample blocks.
  • the slope of a line drawn between the last two RF measurement samples may be used to determine whether the next sample block likely contains further potential signal samples.
  • a negative slope may indicate that the signal of interest is fading and may indicate the last sample was the final sample of the signal of interest.
  • the slope may not be computed and the next sample block may be analyzed regardless of the slope.
  • the processor may perform operations of blocks 506, 508, 510, 512, 516, and 518 as discussed above.
  • the processor 214 may set the sample stop. As an example, the processor 214 may indicate that a sample end is reached in a memory and/or that a sample is complete in a memory.
  • the processor 214 may compute and store complex I and Q data for the stored measurements in the sample.
  • the processor 214 may determine a mean of the complex I and Q data.
  • the processor 214 may identify the sample as a signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may identify the sample as a signal of interest by assigning a signal identifier to the signal, such as a signal number or sample number.
  • the processor 214 may determine and store signal parameters for the signal. As an example, the processor 214 may determine and store a frequency peak of the identified signal, a peak power of the identified signal, an average power of the identified signal, a signal bandwidth of the identified signal, and/or a signal duration of the identified signal.
  • the processor 214 may clear the cross block flag (or verify that the cross block flag is unset).
  • FIG. 6 illustrates a process flow for an embodiment method 600 for displaying signal identifications.
  • the operations of method 600 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may compare the signal parameters of the identified signal to signal parameters in a signal characteristic listing 236.
  • the characteristic listing 236 may be a static database separate from the history database 232, and the characteristic listing 236 may correlate signal parameters with signal identifications.
  • the processor 214 may determine whether the signal parameters of the identified signal match any signal parameters in the signal characteristic listing 236.
  • the match in determination 616 may be a match based on a tolerance between the signal parameters of the identified signal and the parameters in the characteristic listing 236.
  • the processor 214 may indicate a match in the history database 232 and in block 622 may display an indication of the signal identification on a display 242.
  • the indication of the signal identification may be a display of the radio call sign of an identified FM radio station signal.
  • the processor 214 may display an indication that the signal is an unidentified signal. In this manner, the user may be notified a signal is present in the environment, but that the signal does not match to a signal in the characteristic listing.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 700 for displaying one or more open frequency.
  • the operations of method 700 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may determine a current location of the spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may display a plot of one or more of the signals matching the current location. As an example, the processor 214 may compute the average frequency over frequency intervals across a given spectrum and may display a plot of the average frequency over each interval. In block 712 the processor 214 may determine one or more open frequencies at the current location. As an example, the processor 214 may determine one or more open frequencies by determining frequency ranges in which no signals fall or at which the average is below a threshold. In block 714 the processor 214 may display an indication of one or more open frequency on a display 242 of the spectrum management device 202.
  • FIG. 8A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device 802 according to an embodiment.
  • Spectrum management device 802 is similar to spectrum management device 202 described above with reference to FIG. 2A, except that spectrum management device 802 may include symbol module 816 and protocol module 806 enabling the spectrum
  • management device 802 to identify the protocol and symbol information associated with an identified signal as well as protocol match module 814 to match protocol information.
  • the characteristic listing 236 of spectrum management device 802 may include protocol data 804, hardware data 808, environment data 810, and noise data 812 and an optimization module 818 may enable the signal processor 214 to provide signal optimization parameters.
  • the protocol module 806 may identify the communication protocol (e.g., LTE, CDMA, etc.) associated with a signal of interest. In an embodiment, the protocol module 806 may use data retrieved from the characteristic listing, such as protocol data 804 to help identify the communication protocol.
  • the symbol detector module 816 may determine symbol timing information, such as a symbol rate for a signal of interest. The protocol module 806 and/or symbol module 816 may provide data to the comparison module 222.
  • the comparison module 222 may include a protocol match module 814 which may attempt to match protocol information for a signal of interest to protocol data 804 in the characteristic listing to identify a signal of interest. Additionally, the protocol module 806 and/or symbol module 816 may store data in the memory module 226 and/or history database 232. In an embodiment, the protocol module 806 and/or symbol module 816 may use protocol data 804 and/or other data from the characteristic listing 236 to help identify protocols and/or symbol information in signals of interest.
  • the optimization module 818 may gather information from the characteristic listing, such as noise figure parameters, antenna hardware parameters, and environmental parameters correlated with an identified signal of interest to calculate a degradation value for the identified signal of interest.
  • the optimization module 818 may further control the display 242 to output degradation data enabling a user of the spectrum management device 802 to optimize a signal of interest.
  • FIG. 8B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device according to an embodiment. Only those logical operations illustrated in FIG. 8B different from those described above with reference to FIG. 2B will be discussed.
  • As illustrated in FIG. 8B as received time tracking 850 may be applied to the I and Q data from the receiver 210.
  • An additional buffer 851 may further store the I and Q data received and a symbol detector 852 may identify the symbols of a signal of interest and determine the symbol rate.
  • a multiple access scheme identifier module 854 may identify whether the signal is part of a multiple access scheme (e.g.,
  • a protocol identifier module 856 may attempt to identify the protocol the signal of interest is associated with.
  • the multiple access scheme identifier module 854 and protocol identifier module 856 may retrieve data from the static database 238 to aid in the
  • the symbol detector module 852 may pass data to the signal parameters and protocols module 858 which may store protocol and symbol information in addition to signal parameter information for signals of interest.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 900 for determining protocol data and symbol timing data.
  • the operations of method 900 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 802.
  • a mean correlation of each signal may generate a value between 0.0 and 1, and the processor 214 may compare the mean correlation value to a threshold, such as a threshold of 0.75.
  • a mean correlation value at or above the threshold may indicate the signals are interrelated while a mean correlation value below the threshold may indicate the signals are not interrelated and may be different signals.
  • the mean correlation value may be generated by running a full energy bandwidth correlation of each signal, measuring the values of signal transition for each signal, and for each signal transition running a spectral correlation between signals to generate the mean correlation value.
  • the processor 214 may combine signal data for the two or more signals into a signal single entry in the history database.
  • FIG. 10 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 1000 for calculating signal degradation data.
  • the operations of method 1000 may be performed by the processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor may detect a signal.
  • the processor 214 may match the signal to a signal in a static database.
  • the processor 214 may determine noise figure parameters based on data in the static database 236 associated with the signal.
  • the processor 214 may determine the noise figure of the signal based on parameters of a transmitter outputting the signal according to the static database 236.
  • the processor 214 may determine hardware parameters associated with the signal in the static database 236.
  • the processor 214 may determine hardware parameters such as antenna position, power settings, antenna type, orientation, azimuth, location, gain, and equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) for the transmitter associated with the signal from the static database 236.
  • processor 214 may determine environment parameters associated with the signal in the static database 236.
  • the processor 214 may determine environment parameters such as rain, fog, and/or haze based on a delta correction factor table stored in the static database and a provided precipitation rate (e.g., mm/hr).
  • the processor 214 may calculate and store signal degradation data for the detected signal based at least in part on the noise figure parameters, hardware parameters, and environmental parameters.
  • the processor 214 may display the degradation data on a display 242 of the spectrum management device 202.
  • the degradation data may be used with measured terrain data of geographic locations stored in the static database to perform pattern distortion, generate propagation and/or next neighbor interference models, determine interference variables, and perform best fit modeling to aide in signal and/or system optimization.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 1100 for displaying signal and protocol identification information.
  • the operations of method 1100 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 202.
  • the processor 214 may compare the signal parameters and protocol data of an identified signal to signal parameters and protocol data in a history database 232.
  • a history database 232 may be a database storing signal parameters and protocol data for previously identified signals.
  • the processor 214 may determine whether there is a match between the signal parameters and protocol data of the identified signal and the signal parameters and protocol data in the history database 232.
  • the processor 214 may compare the signal parameters and protocol data of the identified signal to signal parameters and protocol data in the signal characteristic listing 236.
  • FIG. 12A is a block diagram of a spectrum management device 1202 according to an embodiment.
  • Spectrum management device 1202 is similar to spectrum management device 802 described above with reference to FIG. 8A, except that spectrum management device 1202 may include TDOA/FDOA module 1204 and modulation module 1206 enabling the spectrum management device 1202 to identify the modulation type employed by a signal of interest and calculate signal origins.
  • the modulation module 1206 may enable the signal processor to determine the modulation applied to signal, such as frequency modulation (e.g., FSK, MSK, etc.) or phase modulation (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, QAM, etc.) as well as to demodulate the signal to identify payload data carried in the signal.
  • frequency modulation e.g., FSK, MSK, etc.
  • phase modulation e.g., BPSK, QPSK, QAM, etc.
  • the modulation module 1206 may use payload data 1221 from the characteristic listing to identify the data types carried in a signal. As examples, upon demodulating a portion of the signal the payload data may enable the processor 214 to determine whether voice data, video data, and/or text based data is present in the signal.
  • the TDOA/FDOA module 1204 may enable the signal processor 214 to determine time difference of arrival for signals or interest and/or frequency difference of arrival for signals of interest. Using the TDOA/FDOA information estimates of the origin of a signal may be made and passed to a mapping module 1225 which may control the display 242 to output estimates of a position and/or direction of movement of a signal.
  • FIG. 12B is a schematic logic flow block diagram illustrating logical operations which may be performed by a spectrum management device according to an embodiment. Only those logical operations illustrated in FIG. 12B different from those described above with reference to FIG. 8B will be discussed.
  • a time tracking operation 1250 may be applied to the I and Q data from the receiver 210, by a time tracking module, such as a TDOA/FDOA module.
  • a magnitude squared 1252 operation may be performed on data from the symbol detector 852 to identify whether frequency or phase modulation is present in the signal.
  • Phase modulated signals may be identified by the phase modulation 1254 processes and frequency modulated signals may be identified by the frequency modulation 1256 processes.
  • the modulation information may be passed to a signal parameters, protocols, and modulation module 1258.
  • FIG. 13 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 1300 for estimating a signal origin based on a frequency difference of arrival.
  • the operations of method 1300 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 1202.
  • the processor 214 may compute frequency arrivals and phase arrivals for multiple instances of an identified signal.
  • the processor 214 may determine frequency difference of arrival for the identified signal based on the computed frequency difference and phase difference.
  • the processor may compare the determined frequency difference of arrival for the identified signal to data associated with known emitters in the characteristic listing to estimate an identified signal origin.
  • the processor 214 may indicate the estimated identified signal origin on a display of the spectrum management device. As an example, the processor 214 may overlay the estimated origin on a map displayed by the spectrum management device.
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method for displaying an indication of an identified data type within a signal.
  • the operations of method 1400 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 1202.
  • the processor 214 may determine the signal parameters for an identified signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may determine the modulation type for the signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may determine the protocol data for the signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may determine the symbol timing for the signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may select a payload scheme based on the determined signal parameters, modulation type, protocol data, and symbol timing. As an example, the payload scheme may indicate how data is transported in a signal.
  • data in over the air television broadcasts may be transported differently than data in cellular communications and the signal parameters, modulation type, protocol data, and symbol timing may identify the applicable payload scheme to apply to the signal.
  • the processor 214 may apply the selected payload scheme to identify the data type or types within the signal of interest. In this manner, the processor 214 may determine what type of data is being transported in the signal, such as voice data, video data, and/or text based data.
  • the processor may store the data type or types.
  • the processor 214 may display an indication of the identified data types.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a process flow of an embodiment method 1500 for determining modulation type, protocol data, and symbol timing data.
  • Method 1500 is similar to method 900 described above with reference to FIG. 9, except that modulation type may also be determined.
  • the operations of method 1500 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 1202.
  • the processor 214 may perform operations of like numbered blocks of method 900 described above with reference to FIG. 9.
  • the processor may determine and store a modulation type.
  • a modulation type may be an indication that the signal is frequency modulated (e.g., FSK, MSK, etc.) or phase modulated (e.g., BPSK,
  • the processor may determine and store protocol data and in block 916 the processor may determine and store timing data.
  • a time tracking module such as a TDOA/FDOA module 1204, may track the frequency repetition interval at which the signal is changing. The frequency repetition interval may also be tracked for a burst signal.
  • the spectrum management device may measure the signal environment and set anchors based on information stored in the historic or static database about known transmitter sources and locations.
  • the phase information about a signal be extracted using a spectral decomposition correlation equation to measure the angle of arrival (“AO A”) of the signal.
  • the processor of the spectrum management device may determine the received power as the Received Signal Strength (“RSS”) and based on the AOA and RSS may measure the frequency difference of arrival.
  • RSS Received Signal Strength
  • the frequency shift of the received signal may be measured and aggregated over time.
  • known transmitted signals may be measured and compared to the RSS to determine frequency shift error.
  • the processor of the spectrum management device may compute a cross ambiguity function of aggregated changes in arrival time and frequency of arrival.
  • the processor of the spectrum management device may retrieve FFT data for a measured signal and aggregate the data to determine changes in time of arrival and frequency of arrival.
  • the signal components of change in frequency of arrival may be averaged through a Kalman filter with a weighted tap filter from 2 to 256 weights to remove measurement error such as noise, multipath interference, etc.
  • frequency difference of arrival techniques may be applied when either the emitter of the signal or the spectrum management device are moving or when then emitter of the signal and the spectrum management device are both stationary.
  • the determination of the position of the emitter may be made when at least four known other known signal emitters positions are known and signal characteristics may be available.
  • a user may provide the four other known emitters and/or may use already in place known emitters, and may use the frequency, bandwidth, power, and distance values of the known emitters and their respective signals.
  • frequency deference of arrival techniques may be performed using two known emitters.
  • FIG. 16 illustrates an embodiment method for tracking a signal origin.
  • the operations of method 1600 may be performed by a processor 214 of a spectrum management device 1202
  • the processor 214 may determine a time difference of arrival for a signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may determine a frequency difference of arrival for the signal interest.
  • the processor 214 may take the inverse of the time difference of arrival to determine the frequency difference of arrival of the signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 may identify the location.
  • the processor 214 may apply equations, such as weighted least squares equations and maximum likelihood equations, and additional filters, such as a non- line-of-sight (“NLOS”) filters to the aggregated data.
  • NLOS non- line-of-sight
  • the aggregated and filtered data may indicate a position of the emitter of the signal of interest
  • the processor 214 may output the tracking information for the position of the emitter of the signal of interest to a display of the spectrum management device and/or the historical database.
  • location of emitters, time and duration of transmission at a location may be stored in the history database such that historical information may be used to perform and predict movement of signal transmission.
  • the environmental factors may be considered to further reduce the measured error and generate a more accurate measurement of the location of the emitter of the signal of interest.
  • the processor 214 of spectrum management devices 202, 802 and 1202 may be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multiple processor chip or chips that can be configured by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described above. In some devices, multiple processors may be provided, such as one processor dedicated to wireless communication functions and one processor dedicated to running other applications. Typically, software applications may be stored in the internal memory 226 or 230 before they are accessed and loaded into the processor 214.
  • the processor 214 may include internal memory sufficient to store the application software instructions. In many devices the internal memory may be a volatile or nonvolatile memory, such as flash memory, or a mixture of both. For the purposes of this description, a general reference to memory refers to memory accessible by the processor 214 including internal memory or removable memory plugged into the device and memory within the processor 214 itself. [0229] Identifying Devices in White Space.
  • the present invention provides for systems, methods, and apparatus solutions for device sensing in white space, which improves upon the prior art by identifying sources of signal emission by automatically detecting signals and creating unique signal profiles.
  • Device sensing has an important function and applications in military and other intelligence sectors, where identifying the emitter device is crucial for monitoring and surveillance, including specific emitter identification (SEI).
  • SEI specific emitter identification
  • Signal isolation and device sensing are provided by the present invention: signal isolation and device sensing.
  • Signal Isolation is a process whereby a signal is detected, isolated through filtering and amplification, amongst other methods, and key characteristics extracted.
  • Device Sensing is a process whereby the detected signals are matched to a device through comparison to device signal profiles and may include applying a confidence level and/or rating to the signal-profile matching. Further, device sensing covers technologies that permit storage of profile comparisons such that future matching can be done with increased efficiency and/or accuracy.
  • the present invention systems, methods, and apparatus are constructed and configured functionally to identify any signal emitting device, including by way of example and not limitation, a radio, a cell phone, etc.
  • signal isolation the following functions are included in the present invention: amplifying, filtering, detecting signals through energy detection, waveform-based, spectral correlation-based, radio identification-based, or matched filter method, identifying interference, identifying environmental baseline(s), and/or identify signal characteristics.
  • the following functions are included in the present invention: using signal profiling and/or comparison with known database(s) and previously recorded profile(s), identifying the expected device or emitter, stating the level of confidence for the identification, and/or storing profiling and sensing information for improved algorithms and matching.
  • the expected device is a signal emitting device.
  • the expected device is a signal reflecting device. Visible light and infrared are both part of the electromagnetic radiation as the RF spectrum is.
  • the identification of the at least one signal emitting device and/or the at least one signal reflecting device is accurate to a predetermined degree of confidence between about 80 and about 95 percent, and more preferably between about 80 and about 100 percent.
  • the confidence level or degree of confidence is based upon the amount of matching measured data compared with historical data and/or reference data for predetermined frequency and other characteristics. Additionally or alternatively, the confidence level or degree of confidence is based upon the comparison of measured spectrum data and video data or reflecting data.
  • the present invention provides for wireless signal-emitting device sensing in the white space based upon a measured signal, and considers the basis of license(s) provided in at least one reference database, preferably the federal communication commission (FCC) and/or other defined database including license listings.
  • FCC federal communication commission
  • the methods include the steps of providing a device for measuring characteristics of signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications, the characteristics of the measured data from the signal emitting devices including frequency, power, bandwidth, duration, modulation, and combinations thereof; making an assessment or categorization on analog and/or digital signal(s); determining the best fit based on frequency if the measured power spectrum is designated in historical and/or reference data, including but not limited to the FCC or other database(s) for select frequency ranges; determining analog or digital, based on power and sideband combined with frequency allocation; determining a TDM/FDM/CDM signal, based on duration and bandwidth; determining best modulation fit for the desired signal, if the bandwidth and duration match the signal database(s); adding modulation identification to the database; listing possible modulations with best percentage fit, based on the power, bandwidth, frequency, duration, database allocation, and combinations thereof; and identifying at least one signal emitting device from the composite results of the foregoing steps.
  • the present invention provides that the phase measurement of the signal is calculated between the difference of the end frequency of the bandwidth and the peak center frequency and the start frequency of the bandwidth and the peak center frequency to get a better measurement of the sideband drop off rate of the signal to help determine the modulation of the signal.
  • an apparatus for automatically identifying devices in a spectrum, the apparatus including a housing, at least one processor and memory, and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications; and wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically analyze the measured data to identify at least one signal emitting device in near real time from attempted detection and identification of the at least one signal emitting device.
  • the characteristics of signals and measured data from the signal emitting devices include frequency, power, bandwidth, duration, modulation, and combinations thereof.
  • the present invention systems including at least one apparatus, wherein the at least one apparatus is operable for network-based communication with at least one server computer including a database, and/or with at least one other apparatus, but does not require a connection to the at least one server computer to be operable for identifying signal emitting devices; wherein each of the apparatus is operable for identifying signal emitting devices including: a housing, at least one processor and memory, and sensors constructed and configured for sensing and measuring wireless communications signals from signal emitting devices in a spectrum associated with wireless communications; and wherein the apparatus is operable to automatically analyze the measured data to identify at least one signal emitting device in near real time from attempted detection and identification of the at least one signal emitting device.
  • the present invention provides for systems, methods, and apparatus solutions for automatically identifying open space, including open space in the white space of a wireless communication spectrum. Importantly, the present invention identifies the open space as the space that is unused and/or seldomly used (and identifies the owner of the licenses for the seldomly used space, if applicable), including unlicensed spectrum, white space, guard bands, and combinations thereof.
  • Method steps of the present invention include: automatically obtaining a listing or report of all frequencies in the frequency range; plotting a line and/or graph chart showing power and bandwidth activity; setting frequencies based on a frequency step and/or resolution so that only user-defined frequencies are plotted; generating files, such as by way of example and not limitation, .csv or .pdf files, showing average and/or aggregated values of power, bandwidth and frequency for each derived frequency step; and showing an activity report over time, over day vs. night, over frequency bands if more than one, in white space if requested, in Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band or space if requested; and if frequency space is seldomly in that area, then identify and list frequencies and license holders.
  • ISM Industrial, Scientific, and Medical
  • Additional steps include: automatically scanning the frequency span, wherein a default scan includes a frequency span between about 54 MHz and about 804 MHz; an ISM scan between about 900 MHz and about 2.5 GHz; an ISM scan between about 5 GHz and about 5.8 GHz; and/or a frequency range based upon inputs provided by a user.
  • method steps include scanning for an allotted amount of time between a minimum of about 15 minutes up to about 30 days; preferably scanning for allotted times selected from the following: a minimum of about 15 minutes; about 30 minutes; about 1 hour increments; about 5 hour increments; about 10 hour increments; about 24 hours; about 1 day; and about up to 30 days; and combinations thereof.
  • the apparatus is configured for automatically scanning for more than about 15 minutes, then the apparatus is preferably set for updating results, including updating graphs and/or reports for an approximately equal amount of time (e.g., every 15 minutes).
  • the systems, methods, and apparatus also provide for automatically calculating a percent activity associated with the identified open space on predetermined frequencies and/or ISM bands.
  • Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide for sensed and/or measured data received by the at least one apparatus of the present invention, analyzed data, historical data, and/or reference data, change-in-state data, and any updates thereto, are storable on each of the at least one apparatus.
  • each apparatus further includes transmitters for sending the sensed and/or measured data received by the at least one apparatus of the present invention, analyzed data, historical data, and/or reference data, change-in-state data, and any updates thereto, are communicated via the network to the at least one remote server computer and its corresponding database(s).
  • the server(s) aggregate the data received from the multiplicity of apparatus or devices to produce a composite database for each of the types of data indicated.
  • the distributed devices provide the composite database, which allows for additional analytics not possible for individual, isolated apparatus or device units (when not connected in network-based communication), which solves a longstanding, unmet need.
  • the aggregation of data from distributed, different apparatus or device units allow for comparison of sample sets of data to compare signal data or information for similar factors, including time(s), day(s), venues, geographic locations or regions, situations, activities, etc., as well as for comparing various signal characteristics with the factors, wherein the signal characteristics and their corresponding sensed and/or measured data, including raw data and change-in-state data, and/or analyzed data from the signal emitting devices include frequency, power, bandwidth, duration, modulation, and combinations thereof.
  • the comparisons are conducted in near real time.
  • the aggregation of data may provide for information about the same or similar mode from apparatus to apparatus, scanning the same or different frequency ranges, with different factors and/or signal characteristics received and stored in the database(s), both on each apparatus or device unit, and when they are connected in network-based communication for transmission of the data to the at least one remote server.
  • the aggregation of data from a multiplicity of units also advantageously provides for continuous, 24 hours / 7 days per week scanning, and allows the system to identify sections that exist as well as possibly omitted information or lost data, which may still be considered for comparisons, even if it is incomplete. From a time standpoint, there may not be a linearity with respect to when data is collected or received by the units; rather, the systems and methods of the present invention provide for automated matching of time, i.e., matching time frames and relative times, even where the environment, activities, and/or context may be different for different units.
  • different units may sense and/or measure the same signal from the same signal emitting device in the spectrum, but interference, power, environmental factors, and other factors may present identification issues that preclude one of the at least one apparatus or device units from determining the identity of the signal emitting device with the same degree of certainty or confidence.
  • the variation in this data from a multiplicity of units measuring the same signals provides for aggregation and comparison at the remote server using the distributed databases from each unit to generate a variance report in near real time.
  • the database(s) provide repository database in memory on the apparatus or device units, and/or data from a multiplicity of units are aggregated on at least one remote server to provide an active network with distributed nodes over a region that produce an active or dynamic database of signals, identified devices, identified open space, and combinations thereof, and the nodes may report to or transmit data via network-based communication to a central hub or server.
  • This provides for automatically comparing signal emitting devices or their profiles and corresponding sensed or measured data, situations, activities, geographies, times, days, and/or environments, which provides unique composite and comparison data that may be continuously updated.
  • FIG. 29 shows a schematic diagram illustrating aspects of the systems, methods and apparatus according to the present invention.
  • Each node includes an apparatus or device unit, referenced in the FIG. 29 as“SigSet Device A”,“SigSet Device B”,“SigSet Device C”, and through“SigSet Device N” that are constructed and configured for selective exchange, both transmitting and receiving information over a network connection, either wired or wireless communications, with the master SigDB or database at a remote server location from the units.
  • the database aggregating nodes of the apparatus or device units provide a baseline compared with new data, which provide for near real time analysis and results within each of the at least one apparatus or device unit, which calculates and generates results such as signal emitting device identification, identification of open space, signal optimization, and combinations thereof, based upon the particular settings of each of the at least one apparatus or device unit.
  • the settings include frequency ranges, location and distance from other units, difference in propagation from one unit to another unit, and combinations thereof, which factor into the final results.
  • the present invention systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments provide for leveraging the use of deltas or differentials from the baseline, as well as actual data, to provide onsite sensing, measurement, and analysis for a given environment and spectrum, for each of the at least one apparatus or device unit. Because the present invention provides the at least one processor on each unit to compare signals and signal characteristic differences using compressed data for deltas to provide near real time results, the database storage may further be optimized by storing compressed data and/or deltas, and then decompressing and/or reconstructing the actual signals using the deltas and the baseline. Analytics are also provided using this approach. So then the signals database(s) provide for reduced data storage to the smallest sample set that still provides at least the baseline and the deltas to enable signal reconstruction and analysis to produce the results described according to the present invention.
  • the modeling and virtualization analytics enabled by the databases on each of the at least one apparatus or device units independently of the remote server computer, and also provided on the remote server computer from aggregated data provide for“gap filling” for omitted or absent data, and or for reconstruction from deltas.
  • a multiplicity of deltas may provide for signal identification, interference identification, neighboring band identification, device identification, signal optimization, and combinations, all in near real time.
  • the deltas approach of the present invention which provide for minimization of data sets or sample data sets required for comparisons and/or analytics, i.e., the smallest range of time, frequency, etc. that captures all representative signals and/or deltas associated with the signals, environment conditions, noise, etc.
  • the signal database(s) may be represented with visual indications including diagrams, graphs, plots, tables, and combinations thereof, which may be presented directly by the apparatus or device unit to its corresponding display contained within the housing.
  • the signals database(s) provide each apparatus or device unit to receive a first sample data set in a first time period, and receive a second sample data set in a second time period, and receive a N sample data set in a corresponding N time period; to save or store each of the at least two distinct sample data sets; to automatically compare the at least two sample data sets to determine a change-in-state or“delta”.
  • the database receives and stores at least the first of the at least two data sets and also stores the delta.
  • the stored delta values provide for quick analytics and regeneration of the actual values of the sample sets from the delta values, which advantageously contributes to the near real time results of the present invention.
  • the at least one apparatus is continuously scanning the environment for signals, deltas from prior at least one sample data set, and combinations, which are categorized, classified, and stored in memory.
  • the systems, methods and apparatus embodiments of the present invention include hardware and software components and requirements to provide for each of the apparatus units to connect and communicate different data they sense, measure, analyze, and/or store on local database(s) in memory on each of the units with the remote server computer and database.
  • the master database or“SigDB” is operable to be applied and connect to the units, and may include hardware and software commercially available, for example SQL Server 2012, and to be applied to provide a user the criteria to upgrade/update their current sever network to the correct configuration that is required to operate and access the SigDB.
  • the SigDB is preferably designed, constructed and as a full hardware and software system configuration for the user, including load testing and network security and configuration.
  • Other exemplary requirements include that the SigDB will include a database structure that can sustain a multiplicity of apparatus units’ information; provide a method to update the FCC database and/or historical database according a set time (every
  • a GUI interface based on a Web Application software is provided; in one embodiment, the SigDB GUI is provided in any appropriate software, such as by way of example, in Visual Studio using .Net/Asp.Net technology or JavaScript.
  • the SigDB GUI preferably operates across cross platform systems with correct browser and operating system (OS) configuration; provides the initial requirements of a History screen in each apparatus unit to access sever information or query a remote apparatus unit containing the desired user information; and, generates .csv and .pdf reports that are useful to the user.
  • OS operating system
  • Various reports for describing and illustrating with visualization the data and analysis of the device, system and method results from spectrum management activities include at least reports on power usage, RF survey, and/or variance, as well as interference detection, intermodulation detection, uncorrelated licenses, and/or open space identification.
  • the systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable spectrum management by identifying, classifying, and cataloging signals of interest based on radio frequency measurements.
  • signals and the parameters of the signals may be identified and indications of available frequencies may be presented to a user.
  • the protocols of signals may also be identified.
  • the modulation of signals, devices or device types emitting signals, data types carried by the signals, and estimated signal origins may be identified.
  • FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment for scanning and finding open space.
  • a plurality of nodes are in wireless or wired communication with a software defined radio, which receives information concerning open channels following real-time scanning and access to external database frequency information.
  • FIG. 18 is a diagram of an embodiment of the invention wherein software defined radio nodes are in wireless or wired communication with a master transmitter and device sensing master.
  • FIG. 19 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment method of temporally dividing up data into intervals for power usage analysis and comparison.
  • the data intervals are initially set to seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks, but can be adjusted to account for varying time periods (e.g., if an overall interval of data is only a week, the data interval divisions would not be weeks).
  • the interval slicing of data is used to produce power variance information and reports.
  • FIG. 20 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment wherein frequency to license matching occurs.
  • the center frequency and bandwidth criteria can be checked against a database to check for a license match.
  • Both licensed and unlicensed bands can be checked against the frequencies, and, if necessary, non-correlating factors can be marked when a frequency is uncorrelated.
  • FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for reporting power usage information, including locational data, data broken down by time intervals, frequency and power usage information per band, average power distribution, propagation models, atmospheric factors, which is capable of being represented graphical, quantitatively, qualitatively, and overlaid onto a geographic or topographic map.
  • FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for creating frequency arrays. For each initialization, an embodiment of the invention will determine a center frequency, bandwidth, peak power, noise floor level, resolution bandwidth, power and date/time. Start and end frequencies are calculated using the bandwidth and center frequency and like frequencies are aggregated and sorted in order to produce a set of frequency arrays matching power measurements captured in each band.
  • FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method for reframe and aggregating power when producing frequency arrays.
  • FIG. 24 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of reporting license expirations by accessing static or FCC databases.
  • FIG. 25 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of reporting frequency power use in graphical, chart, or report format, with the option of adding frequencies from FCC or other databases.
  • FIG. 26 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of connecting devices. After acquiring a GPS location, static and FCC databases are accessed to update license information, if available. A frequency scan will find open spaces and detect interferences and/or collisions. Based on the master device ID, set a random generated token to select channel form available channel model and continually transmit ID channel token. If node device reads ID, it will set itself to channel based on token and device will connect to master device. Master device will then set frequency and bandwidth channel. For each device connected to master, a frequency, bandwidth, and time slot in which to transmit is set. In one embodiment, these steps can be repeated until the max number of devices is connected. As new devices are connected, the device list is updated with channel model and the device is set as active. Disconnected devices are set as inactive. If collision occurs, update channel model and get new token channel. Active scans will search for new or lost devices and update devices list, channel model, and status accordingly. Channel model IDs are actively sent out for new or lost devices.
  • FIG. 27 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment method of addressing collisions.
  • FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the invention illustrating a virtualized computing network and a plurality of distributed devices.
  • FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, illustrating components of a cloud- based computing system and network for distributed communication therewith by mobile communication devices.
  • FIG. 28 illustrates an exemplary virtualized computing system for embodiments of the present invention loyalty and rewards platform. As illustrated in FIG.
  • the system 2800 comprises at least one remote server computer 2810 with a processing unit 2811 and memory.
  • the server 2810 is constructed, configured and coupled to enable communication over a network 2850.
  • the server provides for user interconnection with the server over the network with the at least one apparatus as described herein above 2840 positioned remotely from the server.
  • Apparatus 2840 includes a memory 2846, a CPU 2844, an operating system 2847, a bus 2842, an input/output module 2848, and an output or display 2849.
  • the system is operable for a multiplicity of devices or apparatus embodiments 2860, 2870 for example, in a client/server architecture, as shown, each having outputs or displays 2869 and 2979, respectively.
  • interconnection through the network 2850 using the at least one device or apparatus for measuring signal emitting devices, each of the at least one apparatus is operable for network-based communication.
  • alternative architectures may be used instead of the client/server architecture.
  • a computer communications network, or other suitable architecture may be used.
  • the network 2850 may be the Internet, an intranet, or any other network suitable for searching, obtaining, and/or using information and/or communications.
  • the system of the present invention further includes an operating system 2812 installed and running on the at least one remote server 2810, enabling the server 2810 to communicate through network 2850 with the remote, distributed devices or apparatus embodiments as described herein above, the server 2810 having a memory 2820.
  • the operating system may be any operating system known in the art that is suitable
  • FIG. 29 shows a schematic diagram of aspects of the present invention.
  • FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the invention illustrating a computer system, generally described as 3800, having a network 3810 and a plurality of computing devices 3820, 3830, 3840.
  • the computer system 3800 includes a cloud-based network 3810 for distributed communication via the network’s wireless communication antenna 3812 and processing by a plurality of mobile communication computing devices 3830.
  • the computer system 3800 is a virtualized computing system capable of executing any or all aspects of software and/or application components presented herein on the computing devices 3820, 3830, 3840.
  • the computer system 3800 may be implemented using hardware or a combination of software and hardware, either in a dedicated computing device, or integrated into another entity, or distributed across multiple entities or computing devices.
  • the computing devices 3820, 3830, 3840 are intended to represent various forms of digital devices 3820, 3840 and mobile devices 3830, such as a server, blade server, mainframe, mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a desktop computer, a netbook computer, a tablet computer, a workstation, a laptop, and other similar computing devices.
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • the components shown here, their connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations of the invention described and/or claimed in this document.
  • the computing device 3820 includes components such as a processor 3860, a system memory 3862 having a random access memory (RAM) 3864 and a read-only memory (ROM) 3866, and a system bus 3868 that couples the memory 3862 to the processor 3860.
  • the computing device 3830 may additionally include components such as a storage device 3890 for storing the operating system 3892 and one or more application programs 3894, a network interface unit 3896, and/or an input/output controller 3898. Each of the components may be coupled to each other through at least one bus 3868.
  • the input/output controller 3898 may receive and process input from, or provide output to, a number of other devices 3899, including, but not limited to, alphanumeric input devices, mice, electronic styluses, display units, touch screens, signal generation devices (e.g., speakers) or printers.
  • other devices 3899 including, but not limited to, alphanumeric input devices, mice, electronic styluses, display units, touch screens, signal generation devices (e.g., speakers) or printers.
  • the processor 3860 may be a general-purpose microprocessor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microcontroller, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a controller, a state machine, gated or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any other suitable entity or combinations thereof that can perform calculations, process instructions for execution, and/or other manipulations of information.
  • CPU central processing unit
  • GPU graphics processing unit
  • DSP Digital Signal Processor
  • ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
  • FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
  • PLD Programmable Logic Device
  • a computing device 3840 may use multiple processors 3860 and/or multiple buses 3868, as appropriate, along with multiple memories 3862 of multiple types (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core).
  • multiple types e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core).
  • multiple computing devices may be connected, with each device providing portions of the necessary operations (e.g., a server bank, a group of blade servers, or a multi processor system).
  • a server bank e.g., a server bank, a group of blade servers, or a multi processor system.
  • some steps or methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.
  • the computer system 3800 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to local and/or remote computing devices 3820, 3830, 3840 through a network 3810.
  • a computing device 3830 may connect to a network 3810 through a network interface unit 3896 connected to the bus 3868.
  • Computing devices may communicate communication media through wired networks, direct-wired connections or wirelessly such as acoustic, RF or infrared through a wireless communication antenna 3897 in communication with the network’s wireless communication antenna 3812 and the network interface unit 3896, which may include digital signal processing circuitry when necessary.
  • the network interface unit 3896 may provide for communications under various modes or protocols.
  • the instructions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combinations thereof.
  • a computer readable medium may provide volatile or non-volatile storage for one or more sets of instructions, such as operating systems, data structures, program modules, applications or other data embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein.
  • the computer readable medium may include the memory 3862, the processor 3860, and/or the storage device 3890 and may be a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed computer system) that store the one or more sets of instructions 3900.
  • Non-transitory computer readable media includes all computer readable media, with the sole exception being a transitory, propagating signal per se.
  • the instructions 3900 may further be transmitted or received over the network 3810 via the network interface unit 3896 as communication media, which may include a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any delivery media.
  • modulated data signal means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics changed or set in a manner as to encode information in the signal.
  • Storage devices 3890 and memory 3862 include, but are not limited to, volatile and non-volatile media such as cache, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH memory or other solid state memory technology, disks or discs (e.g., digital versatile disks (DVD), HD- DVD, BLU-RAY, compact disc (CD), CD-ROM, floppy disc) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the computer readable instructions and which can be accessed by the computer system 3800.
  • volatile and non-volatile media such as cache, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH memory or other solid state memory technology
  • disks or discs e.g., digital versatile disks (DVD), HD- DVD, BLU-RAY, compact disc (CD), CD-ROM, floppy disc
  • CD-ROM compact disc
  • floppy disc any other medium that can be used to store the computer readable instructions and which can be accessed
  • the computer system 3800 may not include all of the components shown in FIG. 30, may include other components that are not explicitly shown in FIG. 30, or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown in FIG. 30.
  • the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, elements, circuits, and algorithms described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this
  • the present invention further provides for aggregating data from at least two apparatus units by at least one server computer and storing the aggregated data in a database and/or in at least one database in a cloud-based computing environment or virtualized computing environment, as illustrated in FIG. 28 or FIG. 30.
  • the present invention further provides for remote access to the aggregated data and/or data from any of the at least one apparatus unit, by distributed remote user(s) from corresponding distributed remote device(s), such as by way of example and not limitation, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, mobile computers with wireless communication operations, smartphones, mobile communications devices, and combinations thereof.
  • the remote access to data is provided by software applications operable on computers directly (as a“desktop” application) and/or as a web service that allows user interface to the data through a secure, network-based website access.
  • Automatic modulation detection and machine“learning” includes automatic signal variance determination by at least one of the following methods: date and time from location set, and remote access to the apparatus unit to determine variance from different locations and times, in addition to the descriptions of automatic signal detection and threshold
  • the present invention provides for automatic signal detection using a sample of measured and sensed data associated with signals over time using the at least one apparatus unit of the present invention to provide an automatically adjustable and adaptable system. For each spectrum scan, the data is automatically subdivided into“windows”, which are sections or groups of data within a frequency space.
  • Real-time processing of the measured and sensed data on the apparatus unit(s) or devices combined with the windowing effect provides for automatic comparison of signal versus noise within the window to provide for noise approximation, wherein both signals and noise are measured and sensed, recorded, analyzed compared with historical data to identify and output signals in a high noise environment. It is adaptive and iterative to include focused windows and changes in the window or frequency ranges grouped. The resulting values for all data are squared in the analysis, which results in signals identified easily by the apparatus unit as having significantly larger power values compared with noise; additional analytics provide for selection of the highest power value signals and review of the original data corresponding thereto.
  • the at least one apparatus automatically determines and identifies signals compared to noise in the RF spectrum.
  • the apparatus unit or device of the present invention further includes a temporal anomaly detector (or "learning channel”).
  • the first screen shot illustrated in FIG. 31 shows the blank screen
  • the second screen shot illustrated in FIG. 32 shows several channels that the system has "learned”.
  • This table can be saved to disk as a spreadsheet and reused on subsequent surveys at the same location.
  • the third screen shot shown in FIG. 33 displays the results when run with the "Enable OOB Signals” button enabled.
  • OOB means "Out Of Band” or rogue or previously unidentified signals.
  • the user can load a spreadsheet that they have constructed on their own to describe the channels that they expect to see in a given environment, as illustrated in FIG. 34.
  • the screen shot shows the detection of signals that were not in the user configuration. These rogue signals could be a possible source of interference, and automatic detection of them can greatly assist the job of an RF Manager.
  • FIGS. 31-34 illustrate the functions and features of the present invention for automatic or machine“learning” as described hereinabove.
  • Automatic signal detection of the present invention eliminates the need for a manual setting of a power threshold line or bar, as with the prior art.
  • the present invention does not require a manual setting of power threshold bar or flat line to identify signals instead of noise, instead it uses information learned directly from the changing RF environment to identify signals.
  • the apparatus unit or device may be activated and left unattended to collect data continuously without the need for manual interaction with the device directly.
  • the present invention allows remote viewing of live data in real time on a display of a computer or communications device in network-based connection but remotely positioned from the apparatus unit or device, and/or remote access to device settings, controls, data, and combinations thereof.
  • the network-based communication may be selected from mobile, satellite, Ethernet, and functional equivalents or improvements with security including firewalls, encryption of data, and combinations thereof.
  • the present invention apparatus units are operable to replay data and to review and/or replay data saved based upon an unknown event, such as for example and not limitation, reported alarms and/or unique events, wherein the FFT replay is operable to replay stored sensed and measured data to the section of data nearest the reported alarm and/or unique event.
  • an unknown event such as for example and not limitation, reported alarms and/or unique events
  • prior art provides for recording signals on RF spectrum measurement devices, which transmit or send the raw data to an external computer for analysis, so then it is impossible to replay or review specific sections of data, as they are not searchable, tagged, or otherwise sectioned into subgroups of data or stored on the device.
  • FIG. 35 is an example of a receiver that has marked variations on baseline behavior across a wide spectrum (9MHz - 6GHz).
  • FIG. 38 illustrates a spectrum from l.9GHz to 2.0GHz, along with some additional lines that indicate the functions of the new algorithm.
  • Line 1 (brown) at the bottom displays the existing calibration vector created by running the receiver with no antenna. It is clear to see that, if used as is, it is too low to be used to de-bias the data shown as line 2 (dark blue). Also, much of the elevations in noise floor will wind up being part of the signals that are detected. In order to compensate for this, the user was given a control (called "Bias”) that allowed them to raise or lower the calibration vector to hopefully achieve a more reasonable result. But, as illustrated in FIG. 37, no adjustment will suffice when the noise floor has been distorted due to the injection of large amounts of energy.
  • Line 3 (light purple) in FIG. 38 is the result of using a 60-sample smoothing filter to average the raw data. It clearly follows the data, but it removes the "jumpiness". This can be better seen in FIG. 39 which is a closeup view of the first part of the overall spectrum. The difference between the smoothed data shown as line 3 (light purple) and the original data shown as line 2 (dark blue) is displayed clearly.
  • the new Gradient Detection algorithm is applied to the smoothed data to detect locations where the slope of the line changes quickly. In places where the slope changes quickly in a positive direction, the algorithm marks the start of a signal. On the other side of the signal the gradient again changes quickly to become more horizontal. At that point the algorithm determines it is the end of a signal. A second smoothing pass is performed on the smoothed data, but this time, those values that fall between the proposed start and end of signal are left out of the average. The result is line 4 (baby blue) in FIGS. 38 and 39, which is then used as the new calibration vector. This new calibration vector shown as ling 4 (baby blue) is then used to de-bias the raw data which is then passed to the existing square and detect ASD algorithm.
  • One of the other user-tunable parameters in the existing ASD system was called "Sensitivity". This was a parameter that essentially set a threshold of energy, above which each FFT bin in a block of bins averaged together must exceed in order for that block of bins to be considered a signal. In this way, rather than a single horizontal line to divide signal from noise, each signal can be evaluated individually, based on its average power. The effect of setting this value too low was that tiny fluctuations of energy that are actually noise would sometimes appear to be signals. Setting the value too high would result in the algorithm missing a signal.
  • the new system uses a "Quality of Service" feedback from the Event Compositor, a module that processes the real-time events from the ASD system and writes signal observations into a database.
  • the Event Compositor has a parameter called a "Pre-Recognition Delay” that sets the minimum number of consecutive scans that it must see a signal in order for it to be considered a candidate for a signal observation database entry (in order to catch large fast signals, an exception is made for large transients that are either high in peak power, or in bandwidth).
  • the Event Compositor Since the random fluctuations seldom persist for more than 1 or 2 sweeps, the Event Compositor ignores them, essentially filtering them out. If there are a large number of these transients, the Event Compositor provides feedback to the ASD module to inform it that its sensitivity is too low. Likewise, if there are no transients at all, the feedback indicates the sensitivity is too high. Eventually, the system arrives at an optimal setting for the sensitivity parameter.
  • the result is a fully automated signal detection system that requires no user intervention or adjustment.
  • the black brackets at the top of FIG. 38 illustrate the signals recognized by the system, clearly indicating its accuracy.
  • the system in the present invention uses statistical learning techniques to observe and learn an RF environment over time and identify temporal features of the RF environment (e.g., signals) during a learning period.
  • a knowledge map is formed based on learning data from a learning period.
  • Real-time signal events are detected by an ASD system and scrubbed against the knowledge map to determine if the real-time signal events are typical and expected for the environment, or if there is any event not typical nor expected.
  • the knowledge map consists of an array of normal distributions, where each distribution column is for each frequency bin of the FFT result set provided by a software defined radio (SDR). Each vertical column corresponds to a bell-shaped curve for that frequency. Each pixel represents a count of how many times that frequency was seen at that power level.
  • SDR software defined radio
  • a learning routine takes power levels of each frequency bin, uses the power levels as an index into each distribution column corresponding to each frequency bin, and increments the counter in a location corresponding to a power level.
  • FIG. 40 illustrates a knowledge map obtained by a TFE process.
  • the top window shows the result of real-time spectrum sweep of an environment.
  • the bottom window shows a knowledge map, which color codes (e.g., black, dark blue, light blue) the values in each column (normal distribution) based on how often the power level of that frequency (column) has been at a particular level.
  • color codes e.g., black, dark blue, light blue
  • the TFE function monitors its operation and produces a“settled percent.”
  • the settled percent is the percentage of the values of the incoming FFT result set that the system has seen before. In this way, the system can know if it is ready to interpret the statistical data that it has obtained. Once it reaches a point where most of the FFT values have been seen before (99.95% or better), it can then perform an interpretation operation.
  • FIG. 41 illustrates an interpretation operation based on a knowledge map. Similar to FIG. 40, the bottom of FIG. 41 displays a knowledge map, which color codes (e.g., black, dark blue, baby blue) the values in each column (normal distribution) based on how often the power level of that frequency (column) has been at a particular level.
  • color codes e.g., black, dark blue, baby blue
  • the system extracts valuable signal identification from the knowledge map. Some statistical quantities are identified. For each column, the power level at which a frequency is seen the most is determined (peak of the distribution curve), which is represented by line a (red) in FIG. 41. A desired percentage of power level values is located between the high and low boundaries of the power levels (shoulders of the curve), which are represented by lines b (white) in FIG. 41. The desired percentage is adjustable. In FIG. 41, the desired percentage is set at 42% based on the learning data. In one embodiment, a statistical method is used to obtain a desirable percentage that provides the highest degree of “smoothness”— lowest deviation from column to column. Then, a profile is drawn based on the learning data, which represents the highest power level at which each frequency has been seen during learning. In FIG. 41, the profile is represented by line c (green).
  • Gradient detection is then applied to the profile to identify areas of transition.
  • An algorithm continues to accumulate a gradient value as long as the“step” from the previous cell to this cell is always non-zero and the same direction. When it arrives at a zero or different direction step, it evaluates the accumulated difference to see if it is significant, and if so, considers it a gradient.
  • a transition is identified by a continuous change (from left to right) that exceeds the average range between the high and low boundaries of power levels shown as line b (white) in FIG. 41. Positive and negative gradients are matched, and the resulting interval is identified as a signal.
  • FIG. 42 shows the identification of signals, which are represented by the black brackets above the knowledge display. Similar to FIG. 41, the knowledge map in FIG.
  • FIG. 43 shows more details of the narrow band signals at the left of the spectrum around 400 MHz in FIG. 42. Similar to FIG. 41, the knowledge map in FIG. 43 color codes (e.g., black, dark blue, baby blue) the values in each column (normal distribution) based on how often the power level of that frequency (column) has been at a particular level. Lines b (white) represents the high and low boundaries of a desirable percentage of power level. Line c (green) represents a profile of the RF environment comprising the highest power level at which each frequency has been seen during learning. The red cursor at 410.365 MHz in FIG. 43 points to a narrow band signal. The real-time spectrum sweep on the top window shows the narrow band signal, and the TFE process identifies the narrow band signal as well.
  • color codes e.g., black, dark blue, baby blue
  • the narrow band signal hidden within a wideband signal is not distinguishable or detectable.
  • the systems and methods and devices of the present invention are operable to scan a wideband with high resolution or high definition to identify channel divisions within a wideband, and identify narrowband signals hidden within the wideband signal, which are not a part of the wideband signal itself, i.e., the narrow band signals are not part of the bundled channels within the wideband signal.
  • FIG. 44 shows more details of the two wide band signals around 750 MHz and a similar signal starting at 779 MHz.
  • the present invention detects the most prominent parts of the signal starting at 779 MHz.
  • the transmitters of these two wide band signals are actually in the distance, and normal signal detectors, which usually have a fixed threshold, are not able to pick up these two wide band signals but only see them as static noises.
  • the TFE system in the present invention uses an aggregation of signal data over time, it can identify these signals and fine tune the ASD sensitivity of individual segments.
  • the system in the present invention is able to detect signals that normal radio gear cannot.
  • ASD in the present invention is enhanced by the knowledge obtained by TFE and is now able to detect and record these signals where gradient detection alone would not have seen them.
  • the threshold bar in the present invention is not fixed, but changeable.
  • FIG. 45 illustrates the operation of the ASD in the present invention.
  • Line A (green) shows the spectrum data between 720 MHz and 791 MHz.
  • I st and 2 nd derivatives of the power levels are calculated inside spectrum on a cell by cell basis, displayed as the overlapping line B (blue) and line C (red) at the top.
  • the algorithm picks the most prominent derivatives and performs a squaring function on them as displayed by line D (red).
  • the software matches positive and negative gradients, to identify the edges of the signals, which are represented by the brackets on the top.
  • Two wideband signals are identified, which may be CDMA, LTE, or other communication protocol used by mobile phones.
  • Line E (red) at the bottom is a baseline established by averaging the spectrum and removing areas identified by the gradients. At the two wideband signals, line E (red) is flat. By subtracting the baseline from the real spectrum data, groups of cells with average power above baseline are identified, and the averaging algorithm is run against those areas to apply the sensitivity measurement.
  • the ASD system has the ability to distinguish between large eruptions of energy that increase the baseline noise and the narrow band signals that could normally be swamped by the additional energy because it generates its baseline from the spectrum itself and looks for relative gradients rather than absolute power levels. This baseline is then subtracted from the original spectrum data, revealing the signals, as displayed by the brackets at the top of the screen. Note that the narrow-band signals are still being detected (tiny brackets at the top that look more like dots) even though there is a hump of noise super-imposed on them.
  • TFE is a learning process that augments the ASD feature in the present invention.
  • the ASD system enhanced with TFE function in the present invention can automatically tune parameters based on a segmented basis, the sensitivity within an area is changeable.
  • the TFE process accumulates small differences over time and signals become more and more apparent.
  • the TFE takes 40 samples per second over a 5-minute interval.
  • the ASD system in the present invention is capable of distinguishing signals based on gradients from a complex and moving noise floor without a fixed threshold bar when collecting data from an environment.
  • the ASD system with TFE function in the present invention is unmanned and water resistant. It runs automatically 24/7, even submerged in water.
  • the TFE is also capable of detecting interferences and intrusions. In the normal environment, the TFE settles, interprets and identifies signals. Because it has a statistical knowledge of the RF landscape, it can tell the difference between a low power, wide band signal that it normally sees and a new higher power narrow band signal that may be an intruder. This is because it“scrubs” each of the FFT bins of each event that the ASD system detects against its knowledge base. When it detects that a particular group of bins in a signal from ASD falls outside the statistical range that those frequencies normally are observed, the system can raise an anomaly report.
  • the TFE is capable of learning new knowledge, which is never seen before, from the signals identified by a normal detector.
  • a narrow band signal (e.g., a pit crew to car wireless signal) impinges on an LTE wideband signal
  • the narrow band signal may be right beside the wideband signal, or drift in and out of the wideband signal.
  • a narrow band signal with a bandwidth of 12 kHz or 25-30 kHz in a wideband signal with a bandwidth of 5 MHz over a 6 GHz spectrum just looks like a spike buried in the middle. But, because signals are characterized in real time against learned knowledge, the proposed ASD system with TFE function is able to pick out narrow band intruder immediately.
  • the present invention is able to detect a narrow band signal with a bandwidth from 1- 2 kHz to 60 kHz inside a wideband signal (e.g., with a bandwidth of 5 MHz) across a 6 GHz spectrum.
  • the frequency resolution is 19.5 kHz, and a narrow band signal with a bandwidth of 2-3 kHz can be detected.
  • the frequency resolution is based on the setting of the FFT result bin size.
  • Statistical learning techniques are used for extracting temporal feature, creating a statistical knowledge map of what each frequency is and determining variations and thresholds and etc.
  • the ASD system with TFE function in the present invention is capable of identifying, demodulating and decoding signals, both wideband and narrowband with high energy.
  • a narrowband signal is close to the end of wideband LTE signal, the wideband LTE signal is distorted at the edge. If multiple narrowband signals are within a wideband signal, the top edge of the wideband signal is ragged as the narrow band signal is hidden within the wide band signal. If one narrow band signal is in the middle of a wideband signal, the narrow band signal is usually interpreted as a cell within the wideband signal.
  • the ASD system with TFE function in the present invention leams power levels in a spectrum section over time, and is able to recognize the narrow band signal immediately.
  • the present invention is operable to log the result, display one a channel screen, notify operator and send alarms, etc.
  • the present invention auto records spectrum, but does not record all the time. When a problem is identified, relevant information is auto recorded in high definition.
  • the ASD system with TFE in the present invention is used for spectrum management.
  • the system in the present invention is set up in a normal environment and starts learning and stores at least one learning map in it.
  • the learning function of the ASD system in the present invention can be enabled and disabled.
  • the ASD system is exposed to a stable environment and has learned what is normal in the environment, it will stop its learning process.
  • the environment is periodically reevaluated.
  • the learning map is updated at a predetermined timeframe. After a problem is detected, the learning map will also be updated.
  • the ASD system in the present invention can be deployed in stadiums, ports, airports, or on borders.
  • the ASD system leams and stores the knowledge in that environment.
  • the ASD system downloads prior knowledge and immediately displays it.
  • an ASD device can leam from other ASD devices globally.
  • the ASD system then collects real time data and compares to the learning map stored for signal identification.
  • Signals identified by the ASD system with TFE function may be determined to be an error by an operator. In that situation, an operator can manually edit or erase the error, essentially“coaching” the learning system.
  • the systems and devices in the present invention create a channel plan based on user input, or external databases, and look for signals that are not there.
  • Temporal Feature Extraction not only can define a channel plan based on what it learns from the environment, but it also "scrubs" each spectrum pass against the knowledge it has learned. This allows it to not only identify signals that violate a prescribed channel plan, but it can also discern the difference between a current signal, and the signal that it has previously seen in that frequency location. If there is a narrow band interference signal where there typically is a wide band signal, the system will identify it as an anomaly because it does not match the pattern of what is usually in that space.
  • the device in the present invention is designed to be autonomous. It learns from the environment, and, without operator intervention, can detect anomalous signals that either were not there before, or have changed in power or bandwidth. Once detected, the device can send alerts by text or email and begin high resolution spectrum capture, or IQ capture of the signal of interest.
  • FIG. 40 illustrates an environment in which the device is learning. There are some obvious signals, but there is also a very low level wide band signal between 746 MHz and 755MHz. Typical threshold-oriented systems would not catch this. But, the TFE system takes a broader view over time. The signal does not have to be there all the time or be pronounced to be detected by the system. Each time it appears in the spectrum serves to reinforce the impression on the learning fabric. These impressions are then interpreted and characterized as signals.
  • FIG. 43 shows the knowledge map that the device has acquired during its learning system, and shows brackets above what it has determined are signals. Note that the device has determined these signals on its own without any user intervention, or any input from any databases. It is a simple thing to then further categorize the signals by matching against databases, but what sets the device in the present invention apart is that, like its human counterpart, it has the ability to draw its own conclusions based on what it has seen.
  • FIG. 44 shows a signal identified by the device in the present invention between 746 MHz and 755 MHz with low power levels. It is clear to see that, although the signal is barely distinguishable from the background noise, TFE clearly has identified its edges.
  • the device in the present invention can pick out these signals with a sensitivity that is far superior to a simple threshold system, the threat does not have to present an obvious presence to be detected and alerted.
  • Devices in prior art merely make it easy for a person to analyze spectral data, both in real time and historically, locally or remotely. But the device in the present invention operates as an extension of the person, performing the learning and analysis on its own, and even finding things that a human typically may miss.
  • the device in the present invention can easily capture signal identifications, match them to databases, store and upload historical data. Moreover, the device has intelligence and the ability to be more than a simple data storage and retrieval device.
  • the device is a watchful eye in an RF environment, and a partner to an operator who is trying to manage, analyze, understand and operate in the RF environment.
  • the prior art is dependent upon a synchronized receiver for power, phase, frequency, angle, and time of arrival, and an accurate clock for timing, and significantly, requires three devices to be used, wherein all are synchronized and include directional antennae to identify a signal with the highest power.
  • the present invention does not require synchronization of receivers in a multiplicity of devices to provide geolocation of at least one apparatus unit or device or at least one signal, thereby reducing cost and improving functionality of each of the at least one apparatus in the systems described hereinabove for the present invention.
  • the present invention provides for larger frequency range analysis, and provides database(s) for capturing events, patterns, times, power, phase, frequency, angle, and combinations for the at least one signal of interest in the RF spectrum.
  • the present invention provides for better measurements and data of signal(s) with respect to time, frequency with respect to time, power with respect to time, geolocation, and combinations thereof.
  • geolocation is provided automatically by the apparatus unit using at least one anchor point embedded within the system, by power measurements and transmission that provide for“known” environments of data.
  • the known environments of data include measurements from the at least one anchorpoint that characterize the RF receiver of the apparatus unit or device.
  • the known environments of data include a database including information from the FCC database and/or user-defined database, wherein the information from the FCC database includes at least maximum power based upon frequency, protocol, device type, and combinations thereof.
  • each apparatus unit or device includes at least one receiver for receiving RF spectrum and location information as described hereinabove. In the case of one receiver, it is operable with and switchable between antennae for receiving RF spectrum data and location data; in the case of two receivers, preferably each of the two receivers are housed within the apparatus unit or device.
  • a frequency lock loop is used to determine if a signal is moving, by determining if there is a Doppler change for signals detected.
  • Location determination for geolocation is provided by determining a point (x, y) or Lat Lon from the at least three anchor locations (xl, yl); (x2, y2); (x3, y3) and signal measurements at either of the node or anchors.
  • Signal measurements provide a system of non-linear equations that must be solved for (x, y) mathematically; and the measurements provide a set of geometric shapes which intersect at the node location for providing determination of the node.
  • d 0 is the reference distance derived from the reference transmitter and signal characteristics (e.g., frequency, power, duration, bandwidth, etc.); P 0 is the power received at the reference distance; P r is the observed received power; and n is the path loss exponent; and Distance from observations is related to the positions by the following equations:
  • a geolocation application software operable on a computer device or on a mobile communications device, such as by way of example and not limitation, a smartphone, is provided. Method steps are illustrated in the flow diagram shown in FIG.
  • Equation 1 for calculating distance based on selected propagation model Equation 1 for calculating distance based on selected propagation model:
  • MS_AntGainFunc 3.2*(logl0(ll.75*MS_AntHeight)) 2 -4.97
  • Constant (C) ParameterA+ParameterB*loglO(Frequency)-l3.82*loglO(BS_AntHeight)- MS AntGainFunc
  • Equation 3 (same as equation 2) for second device
  • Equation 4 (same as equation 2) for third device
  • DRSS Differential Received Signal Strength
  • two or more devices or units are used to provide nodes. More preferably, three devices or units are used together or“joined” to achieve the geolocation results. Also preferably, at least three devices or units are provided.
  • Software is provided and operable to enable a network-based method for transferring data between or among the at least two device or units, or more preferably at least three nodes, a database is provided having a database structure to receive input from the nodes (transferred data), and at least one processor coupled with memory to act on the database for performing calculations, transforming measured data and storing the measured data and statistical data associated with it; the database structure is further designed, constructed and configured to derive the geolocation of nodes from saved data and/or from real-time data that is measured by the units; also, the database and application of systems and methods of the present invention provide for geolocation of more than one node at a time. Additionally, software is operable to generate a visual representation of the geolocation of the nodes as a point on a map location.
  • TDOA and FDOA equations are derived to help solve inconsistencies in distance calculations. Several methods or combinations of these methods may be used with the present invention, since geolocation will be performed in different environments, including but not limited to indoor environments, outdoor environments, hybrid (stadium) environments, inner city environments, etc.
  • the present invention provides systems and methods for unmanned vehicle recognition.
  • the present invention relates to automatic signal detection, temporal feature extraction, geolocation, and edge processing disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No.
  • automatic signal detection in an RF environment is based on power distribution by frequency over time (PDFT), including the first derivative and the second derivative values.
  • PDFT frequency over time
  • a PDFT processor is provided for automatic signal detection.
  • the PDFT processor increments power values in a 2-Dimentional (2D) array from a frequency spectrum over a set length of time.
  • the length of time is user- settable. For example, the length of time can be set at 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 1 day. The length of time can be set as low as 1 second. Typically, the smallest time interval for setting the environment is 5 seconds.
  • a histogram with frequency as the horizontal axis and power as the vertical axis can be used to describe power values across a spectrum during a certain period of time, which is called the Power Bin Occurrence (PBO).
  • PBO Power Bin Occurrence
  • power levels are collected for a specified length of time, and statistical calculations are performed on the PBO to obtain the power distribution by frequency for a certain time segment (PDFT).
  • PDFT time segment
  • the statistical calculations create baseline signals and identify what is normal in an RF environment, and what are changes to the RF environment.
  • PBO data is constantly updated and compared to baseline to detect anything unique in the RF environment.
  • the PDFT collects power values and describes the electromagnetic environment with collected power values by frequency collected over the time range of the collection.
  • the electromagnetic environment includes infrared radiation, visible lights, and RF spectrum.
  • the PDFT processor learns what should be present in the electromagnetic environment in a certain area during the time segment from 3pm to 5pm. If there is a deviation from historical information, the PDFT processor is configured to send an alarm to operators.
  • PBO is used to populate a 3-Dimentional (3D) array and create the Second Order Power Bin Occurrence (SOPBO).
  • SOPBO Second Order Power Bin Occurrence
  • the time segment of the PBO is a factor of the length of the SOPBO time segment.
  • the first two dimensions are the same as in PBO, but the third dimension in SOPBO describes how often the corresponding frequency bin and power bin is populated over the SOPBO time segment.
  • the result can be described as a collection of several 2D histograms across a percent of occurrence bins such that each histogram represents a different frequency bin and power bin combination. This provides a percentage of utilization of the frequency for non-constant signals such as RADAR, asynchronous data on demand links or push-to-talk voice.
  • the PBO, PDFT, and SOPBO data sets are used for signal detection. For example, statistical calculations of PBOs during a certain time segment are used along with a set of detection parameters to identify possible signals.
  • a frequency- dependent noise floor is calculated by taking the spectral mean from the PDFT data and applying a type of median filter over subsets of frequency.
  • detection parameters include known signals, basic characteristics, databases of telecom signals, and etc.
  • median filter types include Standard Median Filter (MF), Weighted Median Filter (WMF), Adaptive Median Filter (AMF) and Decision Based Median Filter (DBMF).
  • the noise floor is then assessed for large changes in power, which indicates the noise floor values are following the curvature of possible signals. At these frequencies, the noise floor is adjusted to adjacent values. Power values below the noise floor are ignored in the rest of the signal detection process.
  • the first derivative is calculated from a smoothed PDFT frequency spectrum.
  • Derivative values exceeding a threshold set based on the detection parameters are matched to nearby values along the frequency spectrum that are equal and opposite within a small uncertainty level. Once frequency edges are found, power values are used to further classify signals. The whole process including the noise floor calculation is repeated for different time segments. The detection parameters are adjusted over time based on signals found or not found, allowing the signal detection process to develop as the PDFT processor runs.
  • the first derivative of the FFT data is used to detect signals, measure power, frequency and bandwidths of detected signals, determine noise floor and variations, and classify detected signals (e.g., wideband signals, narrowband signals).
  • the second derivative of the FFT data is used to calculate velocity (i.e., change of power) and acceleration (i.e., rate of change of power), and identify movements based on changes and/or doppler effect.
  • the second derivative of the FFT data in an RF environment can be used to determine if a signal emitting device is near road or moving with a car.
  • a SOPBO is the second derivative (i.e., a rate of change of power).
  • the second derivative shows if a signal varies over time.
  • the power level of the signal varies over time.
  • a simplex network has base station signals transmitting at certain time segments and mobile signals in a different time segment.
  • the SOPBO can catch the mobile signals while the first order PBO cannot.
  • signals that vary in time such as Time Division Duplex (TDD) LTE or a Radar, SOPBO is important.
  • FIG. 47 illustrates a configuration of a PDFT processor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a PDFT processor for automatic signal detection comprises a management plane, at least one RF receiver, a generator engine, and an analyzer engine.
  • the management plane is operable to configure, monitor and manage job functions of the PDFT processor.
  • the at least one RF receiver is operable to receive RF data, generate I/Q data based on the received RF data, and perform FFT analysis.
  • the generator engine is configured to perform a PBO process, and generate PDFT data and SOPBO data based on PBO data.
  • the analyzer engine is configured to calculate noise floor, smooth max hold, generate a PDFT baseline, and identify signals.
  • the smooth max hold function is a curve fitting process with a partial differential equation to provide a running average across adjacent points to reject impulse noise that can be present in the FFT data.
  • the analyzer engine is further configured to calculate a SOPBO baseline based on the SOPBO data.
  • FIG. 48 is a flow chart for data processing in a PDFT processor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a job manifest is created for initial configuration of a PDFT generator engine or updating the configuration of the PDFT generator engine.
  • the job manifest also starts an RF receiver to receive radio data from an RF environment.
  • the received radio data is transmitted to an FFT engine for FFT analysis.
  • the PDFT generator engine pulls FFT data stream from the FFT engine to build up a based PBO and run a PBO process continuously.
  • An SOPBO process and a PDFT process are performed based on PBO data.
  • SOPBO data from the SOPBO process and PDFT data from the PDFT process is published and saved to storage.
  • the data from the PDFT generator engine is transmitted to an PDFT analyzer engine for analytics including signal detection and classification, event detection and environment monitoring, mask creation, and other analyzer services.
  • FIG. 49 illustrates data analytics in an analyzer engine according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Classical RF techniques and new RF techniques are combined to perform data analytics including environment monitoring and signal classification.
  • Classical RF techniques are based on known signals and initial parameters including demodulation parameters, prior knowledge parameters, and user provided parameters.
  • New RF techniques use machine learning to learn signal detection parameters and signal properties to update detection parameters for signal classification. New signals are found and used to update learned signal detection parameters and taught signal properties based on supervised and unsupervised machine learning.
  • the automatic signal detection process includes mask creation and environment analysis using masks.
  • Mask creation is a process of elaborating a representation of an RF environment by analyzing a spectrum of signals over a certain period of time.
  • a desired frequency range is entered by a user to create a mask, and FFT streaming data is also used in the mask creation process.
  • a first derivative is calculated and used for identifying maximum power values.
  • Amoving average value is created as FFT data is received during a time period selected by the user for mask creation. For example, the time period is 10 seconds.
  • the result is an FFT array with an average of maximum power values, which is called a mask.
  • FIG. 50 illustrates a mask according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the mask is used for environment analysis. In one embodiment, the mask is used for identifying potential unwanted signals in an RF environment.
  • Each mask has an analysis time. During its analysis time, a mask is scanned and live FFT streaming data is compared against the mask before next mask arrives. If a value is detected over the mask range, a trigger analysis is performed. Each mask has a set of trigger conditions, and an alarm is triggered into the system if the trigger conditions are met. In one embodiment, there are three main trigger conditions including alarm duration, db offset, and count.
  • the alarm duration is a time window an alarm needs to appear to be considered as one. For example, the time window is 2 seconds. If a signal is seen for 2 seconds, it passes to the next condition.
  • the db offset is the db value a signal needs to be above the mask to be considered as a potential alarm.
  • the count is the number of times the first two conditions need to happen before an alarm is triggered into the system.
  • FIG. 51 illustrates a workflow of automatic signal detection according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a mask definition is specified by a user for an automatic signal detection process including creating masks, saving masks, and performing environment analysis based on the masks created and FFT data stream from a radio server. If trigger conditions are met, alarms are triggered and stored to a local database for
  • FIG. 52 is a screenshot illustrating alarm visualization via a graphical user interface (GUI) according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • current alarms, acknowledged alarms, and dismissed alarms in a certain RF environment are listed with information including types, counts, durations, carrier frequencies, technologies, and band allocations.
  • a detection algorithm is used for alarm triggering.
  • the detection algorithm detects power values over the mask considering the db offset condition, but does not trigger an alarm yet.
  • FIG. 53 illustrates a comparison of live FFT stream data and a mask considering a db offset according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the db offset is 5 db, so the detection algorithm only identifies power values that are at least 5 db higher than the mask.
  • the detection algorithm then identifies peaks for power values above the mask after considering the db offset.
  • a flag is used for identifying peak values.
  • a flag is a Boolean value used for indicating a binary choice.
  • FIG. 54 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm defining a flag according to one embodiment of the embodiment. If the flag is TRUE, the detection algorithm keeps looking for peak values. AforEach function analyzes each value to find the next peak. Once reaching a peak value, it goes down to the value nearest to the mask, and the flag is set to FALSE.
  • FIG. 55 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm identifying peak values according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • live FFT stream data has multiple peaks before falling under the mask.
  • FIG. 56 illustrates a complex spectrum situation according to one embodiment of the present invention. Live FFT stream data in two alarm durations have multiple peaks before falling under the mask.
  • FIG. 57 is an analysis of the live FFT stream data above the mask in the first alarm duration in FIG. 56 according to one embodiment of the present invention. A first peak is identified, and the power value starts to decrease. A first value nearest to the mask after the first peak is identified, the flag is still TRUE after comparing the first value nearest to the mask and mask, so the detection algorithm keeps looking for peaks. Then, a second peak is identified, and the power value starts to decrease. A second value nearest to the mask after the second peak is identified.
  • the second value is greater than the first value, the flag is still TRUE, so the detection algorithm keeps looking for peak values. Then a third peak value is identified and a third value nearest to the mask is also identified. The third value is on the mask considering the offset value, and the flag is set to FALSE. By comparison, the third peak value is considered as the real peak value for the power values above the mask in the first alarm duration of FIG. 56. Once all the peaks are found, the detection algorithm checks the alarm duration, which is a time window where a signal needs to be seen in order to be considered for alarm triggering. The first time that the detection algorithm sees the peak, it saves the time in memory.
  • FIG. 58 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm checking the alarm duration according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the detection algorithm analyzes the count condition. If the amount of times specified in the count condition is met, the detection algorithm triggers the alarm. In one embodiment, all alarms are returned as a JSON array, and a forEach function creates the structure and triggers the alarm.
  • FIG. 59 is a snippet of the code of the detection algorithm triggering an alarm according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the present invention provides spectrum monitoring and management, spectrum utilization improvements, critical asset protection/physical security, interference detection and identification, real time situational awareness, drone threat management, and signal intelligence (SigINT).
  • the automatic signal detection in the present invention provides automated and real-time processing, environmental learning, autonomous alarming and operations (e.g., direction finding, demodulation), wideband detection, etc.
  • the automatic signal detection in the present invention is of high speed and high resolution with low backhaul requirements, and can work in both portal and fixed modes with cell and land mobile radio (LMR) demodulation capability.
  • LMR cell and land mobile radio
  • the automatic signal detection system in the present invention is operable to integrate with third party architecture, and can be configured with distributed architecture and remote management.
  • the automatic signal detection of the present invention is integrable with any radio server including any radio and software defined radio, for example, Ettus SDR radio products.
  • spectrum solutions provided by the automatic signal detection technology in the present invention have the following advantages: task automation, edge processing, high-level modular architecture, and wideband analysis.
  • FIG. 60 is a screenshot illustrating a job manager screen according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 61 illustrates trigger and alarm management according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Task automation enables an operator to send a job to one or multiple systems distributed across a geography.
  • Each job contains a pre-built, editable manifest, which can configure receivers and outline alarm conditions with appropriate actions to execute.
  • the system automatically scans multiple blocks of spectrum in UHF, VHF, Telco bands and ISM bands such as 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, stores multiple derivatives regarding signal and noise floor activity, produces an automated report showing activity and occupancy over a specified time, analyzes signal activity to correctly channelize activity by center frequency and bandwidth, and combines customer supplied or nationally available databases with data collected to add context (e.g., license, utilization, etc.).
  • the baseline analysis task provides an operator with a view into a spectral environment regarding utilization and occupancy.
  • Multiple radios along with multiple systems across a geography can be commanded to begin gathering data in the appropriate frequency bands.
  • Resolution bandwidth and attenuation levels are adjustable, coordination is made simple, and actionable information is returned without significant manual effort.
  • the systems provided in the present invention is operable to process electromagnetic (EM) data (e.g., RF data, infrared data, visible light data) and perform data manipulation directly at the sensor level. All data can be pushed to a server, but by processing the data first at the sensor, much like in IoT applications, more can be done with less. Overall, edge processing makes information more actionable and reduces cost.
  • the systems of the present invention also leverage machine learning to drive automation at the edge to a higher level, which makes solutions provided by the present invention more intuitive, with greater capability than other remote spectrum monitoring solutions. Edge processing also reduces the bandwidth requirements for the network by distilling data prior to transfer. A reduction in storage requirements, both on the physical system and for a data pipe, enables more deployment options and strategies.
  • different deployment options and strategies include vehicle mounted (e.g., bus or UPS trucks mapping a geography with cellular backhaul), transportable (e.g., placed in a tower on a limited basis) where ethemet is not available, and man-portable (e.g., interactive unit connected to other mobile or fixed units for comparative analysis).
  • vehicle mounted e.g., bus or UPS trucks mapping a geography with cellular backhaul
  • transportable e.g., placed in a tower on a limited basis
  • man-portable e.g., interactive unit connected to other mobile or fixed units for comparative analysis
  • Core capabilities processed on the node at the edge of the network include spectrum reconnaissance, spectrum surveillance with tip and cue, and signal characterization.
  • Spectrum reconnaissance includes automatic capture and production of detail regarding spectrum usage over frequency, geography and time. More actionable information is provided with edge processing, distributed architecture and intelligent data storage.
  • Spectrum surveillance includes automated deconfliction over widebands by comparing real-time data to user supplied, regional and learned data sets and producing alarms. Nodes can also work with third party systems, such as cameras, making them smarter.
  • Signal characterization provides actionable information signals of interest are decoded and demodulated by the system, with location approximation or direction, to improve situational intelligence.
  • edge processing of the present invention includes four steps.
  • first and second derivative FFT analysis is performed in near real time, providing noise floor estimates and signal activity tracking.
  • FIG. 62 is a screenshot illustrating a spectrum with RF signals and related analysis.
  • FIG. 63 is a screenshot illustrating identified signals based on the analysis in FIG. 62. Spectrum in the shaded areas in FIG. 63 are identified as signals.
  • analysis is aggregated, signal bandwidths and overall structure are defined, and data is stored to create baselines and be used in reporting.
  • incoming FFT is compared to existing baselines to find potential conflicts to the baseline. When conflicts are detected, parameters are sent to an event manager (e.g., a logic engine).
  • the event manager utilizes user supplied knowledge, publicly available data, job manifests and learned information to decide appropriate actions. Action requests such as creating an alarm, sending an e-mail, storing I/Q data, or performing DF are sent to a controller.
  • FIG. 64 is a diagram of a modular architecture according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a modular design enables different components to be integrated and updated easily, without the need for costly customization or the never-ending purchase of new equipment, and makes it easier to add in additional hardware/software modules.
  • the loosely coupled modular approach provides standardization, consolidation, scalability and governance while reducing cost of operation.
  • the spectrum management systems provided in the present invention are operable to detect and report on incidents in near real time.
  • Remote sensors are placed at site with the capability of capturing and processing RF activity from 40 MHz to 6 GHz. Highly accurate baselines are constructed for automated comparison and conflict detection.
  • Systems are connected to a centralized monitoring and management system, providing alarms with details to a network operations center.
  • On-site systems can also provide messages to additional security systems on-site, such as cameras, to turn them to the appropriate azimuths.
  • information such as the presence of a transmission system can be used in an unmanned vehicle recognition system (UVRS) to detect the presence of an unmanned vehicle.
  • the unmanned vehicle can be air-bome, land-based, water-borne, and/or submerged.
  • the detection of certain modulation schemes can be used to identify the presence of mobile phones or mobile radios. This information, coupled with direction finding, provides situational intelligence for informed decision making and rapid response.
  • Measurements and signal intelligence regarding an RF spectrum assist in reducing the risk of financial losses due to theft, vandalism, and power disruptions, providing additional safety for employees and visitors, making other security technologies, such as thermal cameras and IP videos smarter by working in tandem to identify and locate the presence of threats, and capturing and storing complex time-based data, real-time data, and frequency-based data, which can be utilized as evidence for legal proceedings.
  • FIG. 65 illustrates a communications environment according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a signal characterization engine is configured to provide information including location information and direction, operator name, drone transmission type, and MAC address. All these are actionable information enabling swift resolution.
  • FIG. 66 illustrates an UVRS interface with positive detections, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 67 lists signal strength measurements according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the systems of the present invention can be used for mitigating drone threats, identifying and locating jammers, and ensuring communications.
  • the systems of the present invention are designed to identify illicit activity involving use of the electromagnetic spectrum such as drone threats, directed energy/anti-radiation weapons aimed at degrading combat capability (e.g., jammers).
  • the systems of the present invention also bring structure to largely unstructured spectral data enabling clearer communications (interference reduction) and efficient communication mission planning.
  • FIG. 68 illustrates a focused jammer in a mobile application according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 69 illustrates a swept RF interference by a jammer according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 70 illustrates data collection, distillation and reporting according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the systems provided in the present invention have the capability of building baselines, detecting when signals exist which are not common for the environment, and creating alerts and automatically starting processes such as direction finding.
  • FIG. 71 is a comparison of multiple methodologies for detecting and classifying UAS. Of the methods listed in FIG. 72, RF detection provides the highest level of accuracy in classifying an object as a UAS.
  • An RF -based counter-UAS system comprises multiple receivers in a single platform. In one embodiment, there are four receivers. Each receiver is operable to scan multiple bands of spectrum looking for UAS signatures. For example, the multiple bands of spectrum include 433 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 5.8 GHz Base. Each receiver has the capability of scanning a spectrum from 40 MHz to 6 GHz. The receivers are capable of working in tandem for DF applications. Multiple RF -based counter-UAS systems can communicate with each other to extend range of detection and enhance location finding accuracy. The RF -based counter-UAS systems of the present invention comprise proprietary intelligence algorithm on one or multiple GPUs with execution time less than 10 ms. FIG. 72 lists capabilities of an RF-based counter-UAS system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The capabilities of an RF-based counter-UAS system include detection, classification, direction finding, and message creation.
  • an RF-based counter-UAS systems can be deployed as a long distance detection model as illustrated in FIG. 73.
  • Four omni-directional antennas are used to create an array for detection and direction finding.
  • Gimbal-mounted (rotating) defeat antenna can be added.
  • the long-distance detection model is simple to install.
  • extremely long-distance detection can be obtained with arrays utilizing masts with a height of 8 to 10 meters.
  • FIG. 74 illustrates features of drones in the OcuSync family.
  • FIG. 75 illustrates features of drones in the Lightbridge family.
  • the long ranges, adaptability, and ubiquity of OcuSync and Lightbridge systems make them potentially very dangerous.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems in the present invention are operable to detect and defeat UASs using these systems.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems in the present invention are operable to detect UASs over a distance of 1.5 kilometers with direction. UASs can be detected and categorized faster than other systems.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems can easily integrated into third party active and passive systems (e.g., RADAR and camera systems), or act as the common operating platform for other systems for command and control.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems are capable for wideband detection from 70 MHz to 6 GHz, enabling detection of UASs at 433 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 5.8 GHz.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems are capable of detecting and direction finding UAS controllers. In one embodiment, unknown and anomalous signals can be categorized as UAS.
  • the RF-based counter-UAS systems in the present invention can be used for detecting other unmanned vehicles such as land-based, water-borne, or submerged unmanned vehicles in addition to detecting unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • the present invention provides an autonomous and intelligent spectrum monitoring system capable of detecting the presence of wireless activity across extremely wide bands, capturing and performing analysis on highly intermittent signals with short durations automatically, and converting RF data from diverse wireless mobile communication services (e.g., cellular, 2-way, trunked) into knowledge.
  • the autonomous and intelligent spectrum monitoring system of the present invention are advantageous with edge processing, modular architecture, j ob automation, and distributed sensor network.
  • Edge processing enables the delivery of a truly autonomous sensor for automated signal recognition and classification and near real-time alarming 24/7, equipped with machine learning algorithms.
  • a modular architecture increases speed and efficiency, enables more bandwidth to be analyzed (with superior resolution), reduces latency and network traffic (i.e., low backhaul requirements).
  • Logic engines produce relevant alarms, thus limiting false positives.
  • Job automation allows hardware solutions to be customized to meet operational needs with inclusion of additional receivers and GPUs, cloud or client hosted backend, and third- party integration.
  • a distributed sensor network supports feature specific applications such as direction finding and drone threat management, capable of LMR and cellular demodulation and assisting prosecution efforts with data storage.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention represents a paradigm shift in spectrum management. Edge processing migrates away from the inefficiencies of manual analysis, or the time delays of backhauling large data sets.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention performs real-time, automated processing at the device level, providing knowledge faster, reducing network traffic and improving application performance with less latency.
  • Modular architecture makes additional development, integration of new features and the incorporation of third party systems easy, and also future-proof capital expenditure. Job automation simplifies operations (e.g., data collection, setting triggers) by enabling the execution of multiple complex tasks, with one click on a user interface.
  • Distributed sensors provide security to critical assets spread across large geographies, linked to a network operations center. Data can be shared to perform location finding and motion tracking.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention learns what is common for a communications environment and creates alarms when an anomalous signal is detected in close proximity. Alerts, along with details such as signal type (e.g., LMR, Mobile, Wi-Fi) and unique characteristics (e.g., radio ID) are posted to a remote interface for further investigation.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention which is capable of learning, analyzing and creating alarms autonomously provides a heightened level of security for critical assets and infrastructure.
  • FIG. 76 illustrates a spectrum monitoring system detecting an anomalous signal in close proximity of critical infrastructure.
  • the spectrum monitoring system derives intelligence by collecting, processing, and analyzing spectral environments in near real time. The unique characteristics and signatures of each transmitter are compared automatically to either user supplied or historical data sets. Potential threats are identified quickly and proactively, reducing acts of vandalism, theft and destruction.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention reduces the risk of financial losses due to theft, vandalism, and power disruptions, provides additional safety for employees and visitors, makes other security technologies including thermal cameras and IP video smarter by working in tandem to identify and locate the presence of threats (with DF functionality), and captures and stores data, which can be utilized as evidence for legal proceedings.
  • FIG. 77 illustrates a system configuration and interface according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Alarms generated at the site are sent to a remote interface, enabling perimeters to be monitored 24/7 from anywhere.
  • Alarm details including transmitter type (e.g., mobile phone), unique identifiers (e.g., radio ID), UAV type, and directions are presented on the interface.
  • Job automation restructures work flow and the need for configuration management, greatly reducing manual efforts regarding receiver configuration, trigger and alarm management, analytics and reporting, system health management, and conflict and anomalous signal detection.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention is equipped with logic to determine the typical makeup of an environment (e.g., common signals based on time of day), proximity, and duration (e.g., time on site). The logic limits false positives to produce alarms that are meaningful. Parameters can be adjusted as required.
  • FIG. 78 is a screenshot illustrating no alarm going off for an anomalous signal from LMR traffic not in proximity of the site according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the signal at 467.5617 MHz and -73.13 dBm does not cause an alarm to go off.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention enables 24/7 scanning of a local environment, identification of new activities (e.g., LMR, cellular, Wi-Fi), threat assessment capability (e.g., proximity and duration analysis), and alarm creation with details sent via email and posted to a user interface.
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention supports a powerful user interface simplifying remote monitoring, greatly improves receiver sensitivity and processing enabling identification of intermittent signals with millisecond durations (e.g., registration events, WhatsApp messaging, background applications), and provides an enhanced logic engine which is operable to identify both signals with long durations (e.g., voice calls, video streaming, data sessions) and repetitive short bursts (e.g., Facebook updates).
  • millisecond durations e.g., registration events, WhatsApp messaging, background applications
  • an enhanced logic engine which is operable to identify both signals with long durations (e.g., voice calls, video streaming, data sessions) and repetitive short bursts (e.g., Facebook updates).
  • the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention is capable of mobile phone identification from 800-2600 MHz (covering all mobile activity at site), recognition of intermittent and bursting signals associated with cellular applications, identification of LMR, Wi-Fi, and UAV activity, and determining proximity and limiting false alarms with logic engines.
  • Node devices in a spectrum monitoring system of the present invention are operable to produce data sets tagged with geographical node location and time.
  • the data sets can be stored on the node devices, or fed to a cloud-based analytics system for historical trend analysis, prediction models, and customer driven deep learning analytics.
  • Analytics provided by the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention can be used to identify the presence of constant or periodic signals. For example, recognition of the presence of wireless cameras can indicate potential surveillance of a critical asset site. Also for example, the presence of constant or periodic signals can indicate existence of organized groups, attempting to determine normal access patterns for the purpose of espionage or theft. [0413] Analytics provided by the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention can also be used to review patterns before and during an intrusion at several sites and predict next targeted sites.
  • Analytics provided by the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention can also be used to track contractor and employee visits, both planned and unplanned to the site, to augment data for work flow improvements.
  • FIG. 79 illustrates a GUI of a remote alarm manager according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 80 labels different parts of a front panel of a spectrum monitoring device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 81 lists all the labels in FIG. 79 representing different part of the front panel of the spectrum monitoring device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 82 illustrates a spectrum monitoring device scanning a spectrum from 40 MHz to 6 GHz according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 83 lists the capabilities of a spectrum monitoring system according to 5 main on- network mobile phone states plus 1 no-network mobile phone state.
  • a mobile phone in the first main state is active on network, and activities also include short-duration (e.g., milliseconds) activities (e.g., text messages, WhatsApp messages and registration events) besides completing a voice call, engaging in a data session, and streaming video.
  • the first main state lasts 6 to 8 hours typically.
  • Receiver sensitivity for speed and bandwidth and processing are enhanced to enable the capability of intercepting these activities and producing an alarm by the spectrum monitoring system of the present invention.
  • receivers in the spectrum monitoring system are doubled (e.g., 2 to 4), the bandwidth of each receiver is doubled (e.g., 40 MHz to 80 MHz), and software is developed to enhance the system to process the increase in sample (e.g., lOx).
  • FIG. 84 illustrates a mobile event analysis per one minute intervals according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Events on a mobile phone include background apps (e.g., Facebook, Email, location services, sync apps) with a probability of 90%, active apps (e.g., mobile search, gaming) with a probability of 30%, messaging (e.g., SMS, WhatsApp, Snapchat) with a probability of 15%, voice calls with a probability of 10%.
  • background apps e.g., Facebook, Email, location services, sync apps
  • active apps e.g., mobile search, gaming
  • messaging e.g., SMS, WhatsApp, Snapchat
  • voice calls e.g., SMS, WhatsApp, Snapchat
  • FIG. 85 is a site cellular survey result according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the site cellular survey result reveals there is not active GSM network on site, which means the vast majority of the mobile phones need to be UMTS and LTE capable to have service.
  • the spectrum management node device is in network
  • the at least one camera includes multiple lenses with a focal length which allows image focus up to 2 kilometers.
  • there are 19 lenses in a camera and the synthesized aperture is between 70 degrees and 150 degrees.
  • the at least one camera is mounted on a defend gimbal.
  • the at least one camera is stationary.
  • the at least one camera has pan/tilt/zoom feature. Images from the multiple lenses are stitched together as video data and relayed to the spectrum management node device.
  • the multiple lenses in a camera work individually. For example, there are 19 video feeds from all the 19 lenses in a camera, which are to be processed independently. In another embodiment, the multiple lenses work in groups. For example, the
  • a server platform is operable to process one video feed with 4 video processing cards, which is considered as basic processing power. When there are 2 video feeds, the processing power of the server platform needs to be 4 times the basic processing power. When there are 4 video feeds, the processing power of the server platform needs to be
  • the server platform is operable to process video feeds from up to 500 lenses.
  • the present invention leverages RF analytics data to provide a focus area of the camera systems.
  • the RF analytics data provides a reference point with distance and angle for the camera systems on a map to point to.
  • the camera system then adjusts its focal length and frame of reference to detect drones or other unmanned vehicles.
  • the camera system can detect if there is only one drone or a swarm of drones in the direction provided by the RF analytics data.
  • the present invention is operable to lock the camera system onto the one or more detected drones or unmanned vehicles without human beings looking at them.
  • the spectrum management node device comprises a video analytics module.
  • the video analytics module is operable to analyze the video data based on an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm in real time.
  • AI artificial intelligence
  • the video analytics module applies a modified You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm for detecting and grouping bounding boxes of drones identified in an image.
  • YOLO modified You Only Look Once
  • the video analytics module is operable to determine a distance of an unmanned aerial vehicle and an inclination/declination of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
  • the video analytics module is further operable to classify unmanned aerial vehicle types and detect future payload (e.g., is there any bomb or aerosol dispenser attached to a drone?). In one embodiment, the video analytics module is further operable to determine if an unmanned aerial vehicle is utilizing more than one camera based on the video data combined with RF analytics data. In one embodiment, the video analytics module is further operable to determine if there are multiple drones in the monitored RF environment when the RF analytics detects multiple drone controller signals and/or when the RF analytics detects multiple drone radio signals. In one embodiment, the video analytics module is further operable to detect if the multiple drones are on the same flight path, and if the multiple drones are in a tethered operation or non-tethered operation.
  • the spectrum management node device is operable to measure deterministic approximations of the flight path of multiple drones or swarms of drones, which aides in determining posture and threat categorization.
  • the video analytics module of the spectrum management node device is operable to track the formation of multiple drones, and determines if the multiple drones are in a single formation or multiple formations. Multiple formations of multiple non- tethered drones indicate there are multiple controllers with ability to operate independently.
  • the video analytics module is operable to detect humans, animals, and land-based large vehicles from the video data. In one embodiment, the video analytics module is operable for facial recognition for known database lookups. In one embodiment, the video analytics module is operable for reading license plate and querying databases.
  • the spectrum management node device is operable to assist a single camera or a camera system to detect and track a drone by identifying a location in the sky to monitor based on direction finding and line of bearing.
  • the camera system is provided with points of reference not existing previously, the accuracy of drone identification is increased, and single-drone and multi-drone tracking abilities are enhanced.
  • spectrum management node devices are in network
  • FIG. 86 illustrates a system of a spectrum management node device in network communication with a video sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the spectrum management node device comprising an RF analytics module, a DF module, and a video analytics module, is in network communication with at least one video sensor.
  • the RF analytics module is operable to analyze RF data and detect drone related signals.
  • the DF module is operable to determine a line of bearing of a detected drone.
  • the video analytics module is operable to receive video data streaming from the video sensor and analyze the video data for drone detection and location.
  • the video analytics module is further operable to control the video sensor based on the analytics to enhance the video sensor tracking abilities.
  • FIG. 87 is a diagram of a cluster layout for multiple systems illustrated in FIG. 86 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Four RF/video systems are in network communication with a multi-node analytics and control platform.
  • Each RF/video system comprises a spectrum management node device and at least one video sensor.
  • the multi-node analytics and control platform provides a portal with human user interface.
  • the multi-node analytics and control platform is accessible via an authorized third-party or proprietary single pane of glass user interface.
  • an orchestrator is in network communication with a spectrum management device and a camera system to orchestrate or coordinate the activities of the spectrum management device and the camera system.
  • the orchestrator is a module in the spectrum management device.
  • the orchestrator is an individual device between the spectrum management device and the camera system.
  • an orchestrator the spectrum management node devices and the camera systems in communication with the multi-node analytics and control platform.
  • the orchestrator is a module on the multi-node analytics and control platform.
  • the orchestrator is an individual device.
  • a camera system detects one or more drones, it feeds the information related to the one or more drones to the spectrum management device and/or the analytics and control platform, including distance data and angle data.
  • the information is organized into a vector including exact altitude data and a reference point on earth for a detected drone.
  • the detected drones are illustrated in one or more bounding boxes in a video image dynamically.
  • the orchestrator is operable to orchestrate the process in the spectrum management node devices and that in the camera systems so that the spectrum management node devices monitor the environment for new threats and the camera systems focus on existing detected threats.
  • the spectrum management node devices include 12 RF sensor monitoring the environment and detecting signals of interest, and there are 6 cameras detecting and monitoring unmanned vehicles related to the signals of interest in the environment.
  • the present invention is operable to detect unmanned vehicles (UVs) and corresponding controllers outside of a UV library stored in the spectrum management device and/or the analytics and control platform.
  • the PDFT process in a spectrum management node device is operable to detect RF signals in an RF environment.
  • One drone controller may emit signals hopping between different frequency bands or channels, with different modulations and/or protocols.
  • Video signals from the camera sensors are operable to detect drones and other unmanned vehicles in the environment.
  • the video signals have 10-20 MHz bandwidth.
  • the video signals are not continuous videos but groups of frames.
  • the video signals are compressed and interleaved to correlate with RF signals for drone detection and monitoring.
  • the present invention is operable to detect UVs outside the normal RF detection range by orchestrating and correlating video signals and RF signals. For example, the present invention is operable to detect a drone controller 4 kilometers away from a detected drone.
  • the present invention provides systems, methods and apparatus for detecting unmanned aerial vehicles in an RF environment.
  • An apparatus comprises at least one RF receiver, an RF analytics module, a direction finding (DF) module, and a video analytics module.
  • the apparatus is in network communication with at least one video sensor.
  • the at least one video sensor is configured to capture images of the RF environment and stream video data to the apparatus.
  • the at least one RF receiver is configured to receive RF data and generate fast Fourier transform (FFT) data based on the RF data.
  • the RF analytics module is configured to identify at least one signal based on a first derivative and a second derivative of the FFT data.
  • the DF module is configured to measure a direction from which the at least one signal is transmitted.
  • the video analytics module is configured to analyze the video data, thereby creating analyzed video data, identify at least one unmanned aerial vehicle to which the at least one signal is related in real time based on the analyzed video data, the RF data, and the direction from which the at least one signal is transmitted, and control the at least one video sensor based on the analyzed video data.
  • the present invention provides systems and methods for unmanned vehicle recognition.
  • the present invention relates to automatic signal detection, temporal feature extraction, geolocation, and edge processing disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No.
  • ISM Band industrial, scientific, and medical radio band
  • DSSS Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
  • OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
  • FHSS Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
  • FAS ST Fataba Advanced Spread Spectrum Technology
  • the present invention provides systems and methods for unmanned vehicle recognition including detection, classification and direction finding.
  • Unmanned vehicles comprise aerial, terrestrial or water borne unmanned vehicles.
  • the systems and methods for unmanned vehicle recognition are operable to counter threats from the aerial, terrestrial or water home unmanned vehicles.
  • a multiplicity of receivers captures RF data and transmits the RF data to at least one node device.
  • the at least one node device comprises a signal processing engine, a detection engine, a classification engine, and a direction finding engine.
  • the at least one node device is configured with an artificial intelligence algorithm.
  • the detection engine and classification engine are trained to detect and classify signals from unmanned vehicles and their controllers based on processed data from the signal processing engine.
  • the direction finding engine is operable to provide lines of bearing for detected unmanned vehicles.
  • a display and control unit is in network communication with the at least one node device for displaying locations and other related data for the detected unmanned vehicles.
  • the present invention provides systems and methods for unmanned vehicle (UV) recognition in a radio frequency (RF) environment a multiplicity of RF receivers and a displaying device are in network communication with a multiplicity of node devices.
  • the multiplicity of RF receivers is operable to capture the RF data in the RF environment, convert the RF data to fast Fourier transform (FFT) data, and transmit the FFT data to the multiplicity of node devices.
  • the multiplicity of node devices each comprises a signal processing engine, a detection engine, a classification engine, a direction-finding engine, and at least one artificial intelligence (AI) engine.
  • the signal processing engine is operable to average the FFT data into at least one tile.
  • the detection engine is operable to group the FFT data into discrete FFT bins over time, calculate average and standard deviation of power for the discrete FFT bins, and identify at least one signal related to at least one UV and/or corresponding at least one UV controller.
  • the at least one AI engine is operable to generate an output for each of the at least one tile to identify at least one UV and
  • the classification engine is operable to classify the at least one UV and/or the at least one UV controller by comparing the at least one signal to classification data stored in a classification library in real time or near real time.
  • the direction-finding engine is operable to calculate a line of bearing for the at least one UV.
  • the displaying device is operable to display a classification of the at least one UV and/or the at least one UV controller the line of bearing of the at least one UV.
  • Each of the at least one tile is visually represented in a waterfall image via a graphical user interface on the displaying device.
  • FIG. 88 illustrates a system for unmanned vehicle recognition according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the system includes a multiplicity of antennas, a receiver and processing unit, and a display and control unit.
  • the receiver and processing unit includes a signal processing engine, a UAV detection engine, a UAV classification engine, a direction finding processing engine, and an internal GPS.
  • the receiver and processing unit is operable to receive RF data from the antennas and automatically process the RF data for UAV detection and classification and direction finding.
  • the display and control unit includes a human interface display. In one embodiment, the human interface display is provided by a remote web-based interface.
  • the display and control unit is operable to display lines of bearings for detected UAVs and controllers, classification for detected UAVs and controllers, received signal strength (RSS) values, and operating frequencies.
  • RSS received signal strength
  • the display and control unit is SigBase 4000 as shown in FIG. 1.
  • any computer, laptop, or tablet configured with the human interface display of the present invention is operable to function as a display and control unit.
  • the receiver and processing unit is a node device, and there are multiple node devices communicating with each other and forming a group of networked nodes for UAV detection, classification, and direction finding.
  • the present invention provides a more efficient methodology for UAV detection and identification, which takes advantage of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) over a short period of time and its derivation.
  • FFT Fast Fourier Transform
  • RF data received from antennas are directly converted to FFT data with finer granularity. This allows rapid identification of protocols used by high threat drones without demodulation, and the identification is probability based.
  • An analytics engine is operable to perform near real-time analysis and characterize signals within the spectrum under observation.
  • FIG. 89 illustrates signal characterization within a spectrum from 700 MHz to 900 MHz.
  • Temporal feature extraction is applied for signal characterization, which is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 15/412,982 filed January 23, 2017, U.S. Patent Application No. 15/681,521 filed August 21, 2017, U.S. Patent Application No. 15/681,540 filed August 21, 2017, U.S. Patent Application No. 15/681,558 filed August 21, 2017, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • multiple receivers in the present invention work together to ingest spectral activities across large blocks of spectrum.
  • the multiple receivers have an
  • the multiple receivers are configurable in 40 MHz and 125 MHz segment building blocks.
  • Input data are converted directly to FFT data and fed into process engines, which significantly decreases latency.
  • the process engines are designed for rapid identification of signals of interest (SOI).
  • SOI signals of interest
  • a direction finding process is initiated autonomously.
  • the direction finding process is configurable by an operator.
  • Wi-Fi is still the most popular protocol for command and control of UAVs and camera systems.
  • a remote controller of a UAV acts as a Wi-Fi access point and the UAV acts as a client.
  • Wi-Fi-based UAVs There are several limiting factors for Wi-Fi-based UAVs. For example, the operational range of a Wi-Fi-based UAV is typically limited to 150 feet (46 m) indoor and 300 feet (92 m) outdoor. There is significant latency for control and video behaviors. Interference by other Wi-Fi devices affects operational continuity of the Wi-Fi- based UAVs.
  • Lightbridge is developed for long range and reliable communication. Communication is available within a range up to 5 km. Lightbridge supports 8 selectable channels, and the selection can be manual or automatic. Drones with Lightbridge protocol also have the ability to assess interference and move to alternate channels for greater quality.
  • OcuSync is developed based on the LightBridge protocol. OcuSync uses effective digital compression and other improvements, which decreases knowledge required to operate. OcuSync provides reliable HD and UHD video, and OcuSync-based drones can be operated in areas with greater dynamic interference. Ocusync improves command and control efficiencies and reduces latency. With OcuSync, video communications are improved substantially, operational range is increased, command and control recovery are enhanced when interference occurs.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention for unmanned vehicle recognition are operable to detect and classify UAVs at a distance, provide directions of the UAVs, and take defensive measures to mitigate risks.
  • the detection and classification are fast, which provides more time to react and respond to threats. Exact detection range is based upon selection of antenna systems, topology, morphology, and client criteria. Classification of the detected UAVs provides knowledge of the UAVs and defines effective actions and capabilities for countering UAV threats.
  • the direction information of the UAVs provides orientation within the environment based on the location of the UAV detector.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention provides unmanned vehicle recognition solution targeting radio controlled and Wi-Fi based drones.
  • the overall system is capable of surveying the spectrum from 20 MHz to 6 GHz, not just the common 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz areas as in the prior art.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are applied to address 2 major categories: RC -based UAV systems and Wi-Fi-based UAV systems.
  • UAV systems utilize RC protocols comprising LightBridge and OcuSync.
  • UAV systems are Wi-Fi based, for example but not for limitation, 3DR Solo and Parrot SkyController.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are operable to detect UAVs and their controllers by protocol.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention maintain a state-of-the-art learning system and library for classifying detected signals by manufacturer and controller type.
  • the state-of-the-art learning system and library are updated as new protocols emerge.
  • classification by protocol chipset is utilized to provide valuable intelligence and knowledge for risk mitigation and threat defense.
  • the valuable intelligence and knowledge include effective operational range, supported peripherals (e.g., external or internal camera, barometers, GPS and dead reckoning capabilities), integrated obstacle avoidance systems, and interference mitigation techniques.
  • the state-of-the-art learning system of the present invention is highly accurate and capable of assessing detected UAV signals and/or controller signals for classification in less than a few seconds with a high confidence level.
  • the state-of-the-art learning system is operable to discriminate changes in the environment for non-drone signals as well as drone signals.
  • FIG. 90 is an illustration of Phantom 4 controller and drone signals.
  • a human interface is operable to display the classification results.
  • FIG. 91 illustrates a human interface display for drone detection according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention provides lines of bearing for direction finding for multiple UAVs flying simultaneously. Each line of bearing is color coded for display. Angles, along with frequencies utilized for uplink and downlink, are also displayed on the human interface.
  • an alert is posted to a counter UAV system operator (e.g., a network operation center, an individual operator) including azimuth of the UAV and other information.
  • the alert is transmitted via email, short message service (SMS) or third-party system integration.
  • the counter UAV system is operable to engage an intercession transmission, which will disrupt the communication between the UAV and its controller.
  • the UAV will invoke certain safety protocols, such as reduce height and hover, land, or return to the launch point.
  • the counter UAV system may have certain restrictions based on country and classification of the UAV.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are operable to update the UAV library with emerging protocols for classification purposes, and refine the learning engine for wideband spectrum analysis for other potential UAV signatures, emerging protocols and technologies.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are adaptable to any new and emerging protocols and technologies developed for unmanned vehicles.
  • multiple node devices in the present invention are deployed to operate as a group of networked nodes.
  • the group of networked nodes are operable to estimate geographical locations for unmanned vehicles.
  • two node devices are operable to provide a single line of bearing and approximate a geographical location of a detected drone or controller. The more node devices there are in the group of network nodes, the more lines of bearing can be provided, and the more accurate the geographical location is estimated for the detected drone or controller.
  • the geolocation function provides altitude and distance of a targeted drone.
  • the counter UAV system in the present invention is operable to alert when unexpected signal characteristics are detected in 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz areas and classify the unexpected signal characteristics as potential UAV activities. In another embodiment, the counter UAV system in the present invention is operable to alert when unexpected signal characteristics are detected anywhere from 20 MHz to 6 GHz and classify the unexpected signal characteristics as potential UAV activities. In another embodiment, the counter UAV system in the present invention is operable to classify the unexpected signal characteristics as potential UAV activities when unexpected signal characteristics are detected anywhere from 40 MHz to 6 GHz.
  • the automatic signal detection engine and analytics engine are enhanced in the counter UAV system to recognize potential UAV activities across a great portion of the spectrum. In one embodiment, any blocks of spectrum from 40 MHz to 6 GHz can be selected for UAV recognition.
  • vector-based information including inclinations, declinations, topology deviations, and user configurable Northing map orientation is added to the WGS84 mapping system for direction finding and location estimation.
  • earth- centered earth-fixed vector analysis is provided for multi-node systems to estimate UAV locations, derive UAV velocities from position changes over time, and determine UAV trajectory vectors in fixed nodal processing.
  • a group of networked node devices are operable to continually provide lines of bearing over time, approximate geographical locations of a detected unmanned vehicle on or above the earth, and track the movement of the detected unmanned vehicle from one estimated location to another.
  • the group of networked node devices are operable to determine velocities of the detected unmanned vehicle based on estimated locations and travel time. In one embodiment, the group of networked node devices are operable to estimate a trajectory of the detected unmanned vehicle based on the estimated geographical locations over time. In one embodiment, the group of networked node devices are operable to estimate accelerations and decelerations of the unmanned vehicle based on the velocities of the unmanned vehicles over time.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are operable for UAV detection and direction finding for different modulation schemes including but not limited to DSSS, OFDM, FHSS, FASST, etc.
  • the counter UAV system in the present invention is configured with cameras for motion detection. The cameras have both day and night vision.
  • systems and methods of the present invention provides training for unmanned vehicle recognition.
  • RF data is captured for a Phantom 3 drone and its controller and a Phantom 4 drone and its controller, both of which use Lightbridge protocol.
  • RF data is also captured for a Mavic Pro drone and its controller, which uses OcuSync protocol.
  • the RF data is recorded at different channels, different RF bandwidths, and different video quality settings inside and outside an Anechoic Chamber.
  • FIG. 92 shows a setup for RF data capture in an Anechoic Chamber according to one embodiment of the present invention. The recordings are overlaid on the RF environment, and fading and channel hopping are simulated.
  • FIG. 93 illustrates a simulation for fading and channel hopping of an OcuSync drone.
  • the recorded RF data is used to train and calibrate an inception based convolutional neural network comprised in a drone detection system.
  • FIG. 94 is an illustration of an inception based convolutional neural network.
  • U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0137406 titled“Efficient Convolutional Neural Networks and Techniques to Reduce Associated Computational Costs” is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • the inception based convolutional neural network generates probabilities that drones or their controllers are detected. The detection probabilities are updated multiple times per second.
  • the trained inception based convolutional neural network is operable to identify Lightbridge 1 controller and drone, Lightbridge 2 controller and drone, and OcuSync controller and drone.
  • the trained inception based convolutional neural network is operable to identify Lightbridge and Ocusync controllers and drones at the same time.
  • the drone detection system comprising the trained inception based
  • convolutional neural network is operable to search an instantaneous bandwidth of 147.2 MHz.
  • the drone detection system of the present invention includes an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm running on a single board computer (e.g., Nvidia Jetson TX2) with an execution time less than 10 ms.
  • AI artificial intelligence
  • the drone detection system is operable to separate Phantom 3 and Phantom 4 controllers. Waveforms for Phantom 3 and Phantom 4 controllers are sufficiently different to assign separate probabilities.
  • FIG. 95 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with just noise.
  • FIG. 96 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Phantom 4 controller and drone.
  • FIG. 97 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with two Mavic Pro drones.
  • FIG. 98 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller only.
  • FIG. 99 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with one Mavic Pro drone only.
  • FIG. 100 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with one Phantom 3 controller only.
  • FIG. 101 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a
  • FIG. 102 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and drone in wideband mode.
  • FIG. 103 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro drone in wideband mode.
  • FIG. 104 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and drone.
  • FIG. 105 illustrates a scenario for an RF environment with a Mavic Pro controller and a Phantom 4 controller.
  • Each scenario is illustrated with 6 waterfall images. Each waterfall represents ⁇ 80 ms of time and 125 MHz of bandwidth. The top left image is the waterfall before an AI processing. The other five images are waterfalls after the AI processing. For each signal type, the areas of the waterfall that are likely for the RF signal type are highlighted. Areas that are not for the signal type are grayed out. The overall probability that a signal exists in the image is printed in the title of each waterfall image.
  • the AI algorithm is securely integrated with a state engine and a detection process of the present invention.
  • a method for drone detection and classification comprises applying FFT function to RF data, converting FFT data into logarithmic scale in magnitude, averaging converted FFT into 256 by 256 array representing 125 MHz of bandwidth and 80ms of time as a base tile, applying normalization function to the base tile, applying a series of convolutional and pooling layers, applying modified You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm for detection, grouping bounding boxes displayed in the waterfall images (e.g., waterfall plots in FIGS. 95-105), classifying signals based on the shape of detection output, verifying results with a second level recurrent neural network (RNN) based pattern estimator.
  • RNN second level recurrent neural network
  • a method for training comprises recording clean RF signals, shifting RF signals in frequency randomly, creating truth data for YOLO output, adding a simulated channel to the RF signals, recording typical RF backgrounds, applying FFT function to RF data, converting FFT data into logarithmic scale in magnitude, averaging converted FFT into 256 by 256 array representing 125 MHz of bandwidth and 80ms of time as a base tile, applying normalization function to the base tile, applying a series of convolutional and pooling layers, applying modified You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm for detection, grouping bounding boxes displayed in the waterfall images (e.g., waterfall plots in FIGS. 95-105), applying a sigmoid cross entropy function, and applying an Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) based back propagation algorithm.
  • YOLO modified You Only Look Once
  • a drone detection engine is operable to convert FFT flows from a radio to a tile. For each channel, the drone detection engine is operable to standardize the FFT output from the radio at a defined resolution bandwidth, and group high resolution FFT data into distinct bins overtime. The drone detection engine is further operable to calculate average and standard deviation of power for discrete FFT bins, assign a power value to each channel within the tile. Each scan or single stare at the radio is a time slice, and multiple time slices with power and channel assignment create a tile. Tiles from different frequency spans and center frequencies are identified as a tile group by a tile group number. Receivers in the drone detection system are operable to be re-tuned to different frequencies and spans. In one embodiment, the drone detection system comprises multiple receivers to generate tiles and tile groups.
  • a tile is sent to a YOLO AI Engine. Outputs of a decision tree in the YOLO AI engine are used to detect multiple drones and their controllers. Drones of the same type of radio protocol can be identified within the tile. Controllers of the same type of radio protocol can be identified within the tile. Drones of different radio protocols can also be identified within the tile. Controllers of different radio protocols can also be identified within the tile. FIG. 106 is an illustration of identifying drones and controllers based on signal edge detection.
  • a plurality of tiles is sent to the YOLO AI engine.
  • a tile group is sent to the YOLO AI engine.
  • the YOLO AI engine generates an output for each tile to identify drones and their controllers with a probability. An average probability is calculated based on outputs for multiple tiles in the tile group. For each tile group, the YOLO AI engine computes outputs for several tiles per second.
  • a state engine controls the flows of tiles and tile groups into one or more AI engines.
  • AI engines do not use frequency values for analytics.
  • the one or more AI engines are operable for any frequency and frequency span that a drone radio supports.
  • the state engine further correlates output of the one or more AI engines to appropriate tiles and tile groups.
  • the systems and methods of the present invention are operable for direction finding of drones and their controllers. Outputs from the AI engine are denoted with time basis for the drones and their controllers.
  • Drones typically maintain the same frequency unless their firmware detects interference. Then the drones may negotiate a change with their controllers. This does not create an issue for detection as long as the new frequency and span is monitored by the systems and methods of the present invention.
  • Drone controllers typically use a frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or other Frequency hopping system (e.g., Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK)).
  • FHSS frequency hopping spread spectrum
  • GFSK Gaussian frequency shift keying
  • the systems and method of the present invention are operable to approximate a start time of a line of bearing for a direction finding (DF) system.
  • the time intervals are either known or estimated based upon the behavior monitored by the AI engine and state engine. This allows the time slice and frequency of each individual drone and/or controller to be passed to the DF system.
  • three or four receivers are coordinated to collect information in appropriate frequency segments, wherein the frequency segments are similar to tiles described earlier.
  • FIG. 107 is an illustration with averaged signal amplitudes and signal edges according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the AI engine examines the segments to determine if a drone or controller exists.
  • An azimuth of the drone or controller in an Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed coordinate system is determined based on other information collected from the three or four receivers using time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle of arrival (AO A), power correlative, or interferometry techniques.
  • TDOA time difference of arrival
  • AO A angle of arrival
  • power correlative power correlative
  • 108 displays a detection range of less than 500 meters based on equipment specification and location.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • a general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine.
  • a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Alternatively, some steps or methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.
  • the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a non-transitory computer- readable medium or non-transitory processor-readable medium. The steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable software module which may reside on a non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable storage medium. Non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable storage media may be any storage media that may be accessed by a computer or a processor.
  • non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, FLASH memory, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer.
  • Disk and disc includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne des systèmes, des procédés, et des dispositifs permettant la détection d'un véhicule sans pilote (UAV) dans un environnement RF. Un dispositif de nœud est construit et configuré pour une communication réseau avec au moins une caméra. La ou les caméras capturent des images de l'environnement RF et transmettent des données vidéo à l'appareil. Le dispositif de nœud reçoit des données RF et génère des données FFT sur la base des données RF, identifie au moins un signal sur la base d'une première dérivée et d'une seconde dérivée des données FFT, mesure une direction à partir de laquelle le ou les signaux sont transmis, analyse les données vidéo. Le dispositif de nœud identifie ensuite au moins un UAV auquel le ou les signaux sont liés sur la base des données vidéo analysées, et commande la ou les caméras sur la base de la direction depuis laquelle le ou les signaux sont transmis.
PCT/US2019/018040 2018-02-19 2019-02-14 Systèmes, procédés et dispositifs de détection de véhicule sans pilote et de gestion de menace WO2019161076A1 (fr)

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US201862632276P 2018-02-19 2018-02-19
US62/632,276 2018-02-19
US201862722420P 2018-08-24 2018-08-24
US62/722,420 2018-08-24
US16/180,690 2018-11-05
US16/180,690 US10459020B2 (en) 2017-01-23 2018-11-05 Systems, methods, and devices for automatic signal detection based on power distribution by frequency over time within a spectrum
US16/274,933 2019-02-13
US16/274,933 US10498951B2 (en) 2017-01-23 2019-02-13 Systems, methods, and devices for unmanned vehicle detection
US16/275,575 US10529241B2 (en) 2017-01-23 2019-02-14 Unmanned vehicle recognition and threat management
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