Method for monitoring distortion of a radio signal, associated receiver, and associated system

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a method comprising the steps of receiving, by a radio receiver, a radio frequency signal from a radio transmitter; synchronizing, by the radio receiver, a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; and correlating, by the radio receiver, the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function comprising a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay, the method further comprising the step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain a chip domain observation.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for monitoring distortion in (GNSS) radio signals, an associated system, and an associated radio receiver. [Background technology]

[0002] Monitoring and quickly detecting distortions in received GNSS radio signals that may result in unacceptable bias of delay-locked loop (DLL) tracking points is particularly important in satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), such as the European EGNOS and US WAAS systems that provide integrity services. Such distortions, as perceived by the receiver, may be caused by impairments in the signal transmission and / or environmental effects, such as multipath reflections and interfering signals.

[0003] In operational space-based augmentation systems, such as EGNOS and WAAS, and in their evolution, the conventional method of monitoring radio signal distortion consists of using so-called multi-correlator GNSS receivers. Multi-correlator GNSS receivers are distinguished from conventional GNSS receivers by introducing additional correlators beyond the leading and trailing correlators (usually used for the discriminator in the delay-locked loop) and the prompt correlator (usually used for the phase-locked loop and data retrieval, navigation message demodulation). The number and location of these additional correlators are integrity service specific (depending on the integrity and continuity requirements assigned to the signal distortion monitoring function). So-called signal quality monitoring (SQM) indicators are generated by combining the values ​​of these correlators.

[0004] Instead of monitoring distortion in the "correlation domain," an alternative technique is configured to monitor distortion of the received radio frequency signal in the "chip domain." This technique is also known as "chip domain observation" (CDO). CDO may potentially provide better information on signal distortion than "correlation" observation, and therefore serves better as input for the detection process. However, this advantage comes at the cost of complexity due to additional specific signal processing that needs to be implemented in a dedicated GNSS radio receiver.

[0005] WO 2005 / 060118 discloses a method for detecting the spreading code of a received spread signal, in particular with regard to spreading codes that identify spacecraft in the GPS system.

[0006] The method includes correlating a received spread signal with a reference signal to detect the presence of one of the reference spreading codes, the correlation further including differentiating at least one of the received spread signal, the reference signal, and the correlation signal, the correlation resulting in a differentiated correlation signal. Summary of the Invention

[0007] It is an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a method and system for chip-domain monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals, whereby chip-domain monitoring of radio signal distortion can be performed using a simple receiver architecture, without using specialized and complex hardware receiver architectures of the known type described above.

[0008] Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal in a radio frequency system comprising a radio transmitter for transmitting a radio frequency signal and a radio receiver for receiving said radio frequency signal, said method comprising: receiving, by the wireless receiver, the radio frequency signal from the wireless transmitter; synchronizing, by the radio receiver, a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating, by the radio receiver, the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay; the method further comprising: differentiating the obtained first correlation function to obtain chip area observations. The present invention is characterized by comprising:

[0009] A subsequent embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations comprises: 2. A method for chip-domain monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 1, characterized in that both are obtained by calculating the difference between each correlation function point belonging to said first correlation function and its preceding and succeeding correlation functions.

[0010] In another embodiment of the present invention, the step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations comprises: offsetting, by the radio receiver, the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal; generating, by the radio receiver, a second correlation function between the received radio frequency signal and the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal by correlating the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal, the second correlation function comprising a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay; generating, by the receiver, the chip-area observation of the received signal by differentiating (subtracting) the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function; The present invention relates to a method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 1, characterized in that it is obtained by:

[0011] In another embodiment of the present invention, the step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations comprises: generating, by the wireless receiver, a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch; generating, by the wireless receiver, the chip-domain observation of the received signal by differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function; The present invention relates to a method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 1, characterized in that it is obtained by:

[0012] Yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to a radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal, in a radio receiver (Rx) of the radio frequency system, said radio frequency system further comprising a radio transmitter (Tx) for transmitting said radio frequency signal to said radio receiver, said radio receiver comprising: a signal receiving means (SRM) configured to receive said radio frequency signal from said wireless transmitter; synchronizing a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal with the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; Correlating the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay. and a signal processing means (SPM) configured as follows: and the signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: The first correlation function is differentiated to obtain a chip-domain observation of the received radio frequency signal in the chip domain.

[0013] In another embodiment of the present invention, the signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations: A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 5, characterized in that both are configured to calculate the difference between each correlation function point belonging to said first correlation function and its preceding correlation function.

[0014] In another embodiment of the present invention, the signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations: offsetting the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal to generate a second correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal at a different delay; Differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function to generate the chip area observations. The present invention relates to a radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal, characterized in that it is configured as follows:

[0015] In another embodiment of the present invention, the signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations: generating a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch; A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-domain monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal according to claim 5, characterized in that it is configured to differentiate said second correlation function with respect to said first correlation function to generate said chip-domain observations.

[0016] A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a radio frequency system for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received (digital) radio frequency signal in a radio receiver Rx of the radio frequency system, characterized in that the radio frequency system further comprises a radio transmitter Tx for transmitting a radio frequency signal to the radio receiver, the radio frequency system comprising a radio receiver according to any of claims 5 to 8.

[0017] In fact, this object is achieved by first synchronizing a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal that is well synchronized with the received radio frequency signal, then using the receiver to correlate the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function comprising a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay, and then differentiating the obtained first correlation function to obtain chip domain observations belonging to / corresponding to the received radio frequency signal in the chip domain.

[0018] The synchronization of the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to the received radio frequency signal may be obtained, for example, by a closed-loop time delay estimation technique such as a delay-locked loop (DLL) or a combination thereof with a phase-locked loop (PLL) and / or a frequency-locked loop (FLL) estimation technique.

[0019] The correlation of the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function may be performed using a multi-correlator.

[0020] The "prompt" correlator remains at the peak of the correlation function so that synchronization is achieved, and based on the synchronization value, multiple additional correlators are used, whether they are trailing or leading the prompt correlator, and at what intervals, and the number of samples does not need to be an integer to obtain other values ​​of the correlation function required to use this method.

[0021] The step of generating a differentiated first correlation function may be obtained by selecting a point in the correlation function consisting of multiple subsequent correlation function points and subtracting that value from its neighbor to the right to provide a first bin of chip area observations. Proceeding similarly for that neighbor and its neighbor to the right results in a second CDO bin, and so on. This sequence is repeated until the final correlation function point of the correlation function is reached.

[0022] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of generating a differentiated first correlation function may be obtained by calculating the difference between each correlation function point and its preceding and succeeding correlation function points, both of which belong to the first correlation function. Here, a point in the first correlation function is selected, which consists of a number of succeeding correlation function points, and its value is subtracted from its right-neighbor correlation function point to provide a first bin of the CDO. Proceeding in the same manner for the aforementioned neighbor and its right-neighbor successive neighbors, a second CDO bin is obtained, and so on. This sequence is repeated until the final correlation function point of the correlation function is reached.

[0023] A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for monitoring distortion of a received radio frequency signal in the chip domain, wherein the step of generating a differentiated first correlation function to obtain the chip domain observation is obtained by first offsetting, by the receiver, the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal, and then correlating, by the receiver, the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal to generate a second correlation function between the received radio frequency signal and the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal.

[0024] The intended correlation function comprises a plurality of correlation function points, each representing a replica radio frequency signal at a different delay, and the second correlation function is differentiated with respect to the first correlation function, i.e., subtracted, to generate the chip domain observation CDO of the received signal.

[0025] The "prompt" correlator remains at the peak of the correlation function, so synchronization is achieved, and based on that synchronization value, multiple additional correlators are used (either trailing or leading the prompt correlator, regardless of the degree of spacing, taking into account that in this alternative embodiment the spacing must be an integer number of samples to obtain other values ​​of the correlation function required for use of the method).

[0026] An alternative embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for monitoring distortion of a received radio frequency signal in the chip domain, wherein the step of generating a differentiated first correlation function to obtain the chip domain observation is obtained by first generating, by the receiver, a second synchronized correlation function by delaying or offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch (domain), and then generating, by the receiver, the chip domain observation of the received signal by differentiating, i.e., subtracting, the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function.

[0027] The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent, and the invention itself will be best understood, by referring to the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0028] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates a system for monitoring distortion of a received radio frequency signal within the chip area in a radio receiver Rx of the radio frequency system. [Figure 2] 2 illustrates functional elements of a radio transmitter TX and a radio receiver RX according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3]The structure of the tip area observations is represented by correlating the incoming signal with the derivative of the local replica. [Figure 4] We present the construction of a tip area observation by differentiating the replica before multiplying it with the incoming signal. [Figure 5] 1 illustrates a structure for observing a tip area by differentiating a correlation function according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0029] The present specification and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the principles of the present invention may be embodied and practiced without being explicitly described or shown herein. Included It is understood that various configurations can be devised. Moreover, all examples set forth herein are expressly intended for educational purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to the development of this technology, and are not to be construed as being limited to the examples and conditions so specifically set forth. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the present invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

[0030] Those skilled in the art should understand that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the invention. Similarly, any flowcharts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudocode, or the like, may be substantially represented in a computer-readable medium and are understood to represent various processes that may be performed by such a computer or processor, whether or not a computer or processor is explicitly shown.

[0031] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are schematic only and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements has been exaggerated for illustrative purposes and may not be drawn to scale. The dimensions and relative dimensions do not necessarily correspond to actual reductions to practicing the invention.

[0032] Furthermore, the terms first, second, third, etc. in this specification and claims are used to distinguish between similar elements and are not necessarily used to describe an order or chronology. The terms are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, and embodiments of the invention may operate in orders other than those described or illustrated herein.

[0033] Furthermore, terms such as top, bottom, above, below, etc. in this specification and claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily to describe relative positions. The terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, and the embodiments of the invention described herein may operate in orientations other than those described or illustrated herein.

[0034] The term "comprising" used in the claims should not be interpreted as being limited to the means listed thereafter, nor does it exclude other elements or steps. This term must be interpreted as specifying the presence of the mentioned and stated features, integers, steps, or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to a device consisting only of components A and B. This means that, in the context of the present invention, the relevant components of the device are only A and B.

[0035] Similarly, it should be noted that the term "coupled" as used in the claims should not be interpreted as being limited to only direct connections. Thus, the scope of the expression "device A coupled to device B" should not be limited to devices or systems in which the output of device A is directly connected to the input of device B. This means that there is a path between the output of A and the input of B, which may be a path including other devices or means.

[0036] It should be noted that the described functional means of the system may be distributed in the first communication device and / or in one or more further network elements, such as, for example, a server device, as described in the further appended claims.

[0037] In the following paragraphs, with reference to the drawing in FIG. 1, an implementation of a radio frequency system for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal in a radio receiver Rx of said radio frequency system will be described.

[0038] In further paragraphs, all connections between the mentioned elements are defined.

[0039] Subsequently, all relevant functional means of the radio transmitter Tx and radio receiver Rx presented in FIG. 2 are subsequently explained followed by a description of all interconnections.

[0040] In the following paragraphs, the actual implementation of the system is described.

[0041] The radio frequency system comprises a radio transmitter Tx for transmitting a radio frequency signal to said radio receiver configured to receive said radio frequency signal.

[0042] It should be noted that although for clarity only one radio transmitter Tx and one radio receiver Rx are disclosed, a system according to the present invention may comprise multiple radio transmitters and respective radio receivers.

[0043] A radio navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention may be a satellite radio navigation system, such as a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), or a single positioning beacon or a network of positioning beacons, such as a pseudolite, or may be a terrestrial system, such as a wireless communication network requiring synchronization to a user terminal.

[0044] Such a radio transmitter Tx may be a GNSS transmitter, which is a satellite transmitting radio navigation signals, a satellite part of a satellite communication network, a pseudolite, or a transmitting device implemented in a terrestrial communication network, for example a base transceiver station (BTS), a fixed or mobile radio transmitter of a wireless communication network, or a device implemented in a V2V or V2X communication network.

[0045] A second essential element of the radio frequency system for monitoring distortion of received radio frequency signals is a user's radio receiver Rx, which is configured to receive radio frequency signals transmitted by a radio transmitter Tx of a radio navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Such a radio receiver may be a GNSS receiver implemented by any kind of radio receiver.

[0046] Such a radio receiver may be, for example, a GNSS receiver integrated into a user device such as a navigation device or a personal mobile device such as a smartphone, and is a device comprising a processor with associated memory and interface means such as a display and a keyboard.

[0047] Such mobile computing devices are configured to install many different types of applications, the execution of each such application being for performing a different type of task, such as navigation.

[0048] Alternatively, such a radio receiver embodiment may comprise a (hardware) receiver implemented in the ground segment of SBAS (e.g. EGNOS, WAAS) or a receiver such as a Software Defined Radio (SDR) receiver, dedicated to monitoring for anomalous waveforms, in which case application of embodiments of the present invention is applicable to end users to locally assess signal quality (user-based integrity monitoring).

[0049] The first essential element of the radio transmitter Tx is a transmitting means adapted to transmit a radio signal to said radio receiver via a radio network RN. TM The transmitted radio signal may be any GNSS radio signal that can be processed using only one spectral lobe, such as for example the GPS C / A L1 or GLONASS C / A codes transmitted in the L1 band. This also applies to other GNSS signals that may have multiple spectral lobes (usually two) but can be processed taking into account only one, such as for example the Galileo E1 or Beidou B1 signals, which have two spectral lobes but are often tracked with so-called single sideband tracking that focuses on only one lobe.

[0050] Such radio frequency signals may employ waveform modulation such as binary phase shift keying (BPSK) in the case of GPS C / A signals, or binary offset carrier (BOC) in the case of Galileo E1-B / -C or GPS L1C.

[0051] An essential element of a radio receiver Rx for chip-area monitoring of distortions in a received radio frequency signal is a signal reception means SRM adapted to receive said radio frequency signal from said radio transmitter Tx, said signal processing means SRM comprising: synchronizing a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal with the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay; generating the first correlation function to obtain chip-domain observations of the received radio frequency signal in the chip domain; It is configured as follows.

[0052] Such signal processing means SPM may in particular comprise a microprocessor for processing the transmitted signals, and the processing means may further comprise a memory device coupled to said microprocessor for storing electronic information, e.g. computer instructions, results of the signal processing including final and intermediate results, and further information.

[0053] The radio receiver Rx further comprises storage means SM, which is an internal memory SM for storing the program, intermediate results and final results of the actual execution of the method for monitoring distortions in a received radio signal.

[0054] A second related function of the storage means SM may be to store a software application for monitoring distortions in received radio signals. The storage means SM is configured to store at least one further application for execution by the computer processing means CPM. Such memory SM may be a local computing memory device, but may alternatively be an external computing memory, optionally a distributed external computing memory.

[0055] In a first embodiment, the signal processing means SPM is configured to differentiate the first correlation function to obtain said chip area observation by first selecting a point in the correlation function of a plurality of correlation function points and subtracting its value from a neighboring correlation function point to the right to provide a first bin of the CDO. Proceeding in a similar manner for said neighbor and its subsequent neighbors to the right to obtain a second CDO bin, and so on. This sequence is repeated until the final correlation function point of the correlation function is reached, resulting in the corresponding CDO.

[0056] In an alternative embodiment, the signal processing means SPM further comprises the steps of: differentiating said first correlation function to obtain said chip area observations; offsetting the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal to generate a second correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal at a different delay; Differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function to generate the chip area observations. It is configured as follows.

[0057] In yet another alternative embodiment, the signal processing means SPM further comprises the steps of: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain said chip area observations; generating a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch; Differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations. It is configured as follows.

[0058] The transmitting means TM is coupled via a radio transmission path to the receiving means RM of the radio receiver Rx.

[0059] The receiving means RM of the radio receiver may further be coupled to signal processing means SPM, which in turn may be coupled to CDO output means CDO_OM.

[0060] Furthermore, the signal processing means SPM is coupled to storage means SM.

[0061] In the following paragraphs, a practical implementation of a system for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal according to an embodiment of the present invention is described.

[0062] For purposes of describing embodiments of the present invention, it is assumed that the intended radio transmitter Tx transmits a radio frequency signal, such as a current GPS C / A signal transmitted in the LI band, e.g. a GNSS signal modulated with a BPSK waveform.

[0063] Alternatively, signals that can be processed using only one spectral lobe, such as Galileo E1 or Beidou B1 signals, which have two spectral lobes but are often referred to as a single spectral lobe, are used, for example, for tracking. In other words, any signal that can be processed by using a single side lobe, which is essentially all GNSS, may be applicable and relevant to embodiments according to the present invention.

[0064] The signal receiving means SRM of the radio receiver Rx then receives the transmitted GNSS signal modulated with a BPSK waveform as the current GPS C / A signal transmitted in the L1 band 41 from the radio transmitter Tx, as shown in FIG.

[0065] Upon receiving the intended GNSS signal, the signal processing means SPM synchronizes a replica radio frequency signal of said received radio signal to said received radio frequency signal 41 to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal 42, as shown in FIG. 4, and then performs a correlation 45 between said received radio frequency signal and said synchronized replica radio frequency signal of said received radio signal to obtain a first correlation function 47, as shown in FIG. 4, which first correlation function comprises a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay, as shown in FIG. 4.

[0066] Finally, the first correlation function 47 is further differentiated by the signal processing means SPM to obtain chip-domain observations of the received radio frequency signal in the chip domain.

[0067] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of generating a differentiated first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations may be performed by calculating the difference between each correlation function point and its preceding and succeeding correlation function points, both of which belong to the first correlation function. Here, a point within the first correlation function, which is comprised of a plurality of succeeding correlation function points, is selected, and its value is subtracted from its right-hand neighbor correlation function point to provide a first bin of the CDO. Proceeding similarly for the aforementioned neighbor and its right-hand neighbor, a second CDO bin is obtained, and so on. This sequence is repeated until the final correlation function point of the correlation function is reached.

[0068] In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, as shown in Fig. 4, the signal processing means SPM further offsets the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal (see Fig. 4, 44) in order to differentiate the first correlation function to obtain the chip domain observation, and then correlates 46 the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal to generate a second correlation function signal (see Fig. 4, 48), the second correlation function comprising a plurality of correlation function points, each such correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay. Finally, the signal processing means SPM differentiates (see Fig. 4, 49) the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function in order to generate the chip domain observation 50 by subtracting 49 the second correlation function from the first correlation function.

[0069] In another advantageous embodiment of the invention as shown in Figure 5, the signal processing means SPM alternatively generates a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in the correlation sample epoch (region) 55 in order to differentiate the first correlation function to obtain said chip region observation, and finally differentiates 56 said second correlation function with respect to said first correlation function in order to generate said chip region observation 57 by subtracting 56 said second correlation function from said first correlation function.

[0070] Finally, the embodiments of the present invention have been described above in terms of functional blocks. From the functional description of these blocks provided above, it will be clear to a person skilled in the art of electronic device design how the embodiments of these blocks can be manufactured using well-known electronic components. Therefore, detailed architectures of the contents of the functional blocks will not be described.

Claims

1. 1. In a radio frequency system comprising a radio transmitter for transmitting a radio frequency signal and a radio receiver for receiving said radio frequency signal, a method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal, comprising: receiving, by the wireless receiver, the radio frequency signal from the wireless transmitter; synchronizing, by the radio receiver, a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating, by the radio receiver, the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal of a different delay; the method further comprising: differentiating the obtained first correlation function to obtain chip area observations. A method comprising:

2. The step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations includes:

2. A method for chip-domain monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that both are obtained by calculating the difference between each correlation function point belonging to said first correlation function and its preceding and succeeding correlation functions.

3. The step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations includes: offsetting, by the radio receiver, the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio signal relative to the received radio frequency signal over one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal; generating, by the radio receiver, a second correlation function between the received radio frequency signal and the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal by correlating the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal, the second correlation function comprising a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay; generating, by the receiver, the chip-domain observation of the received signal by differentiating (subtracting) the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function; 2. A method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 1, characterized in that it is obtained by:

4. The step of differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations includes: generating, by the wireless receiver, a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch; generating, by the wireless receiver, the chip-domain observation of the received signal by differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function; 2. A method for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 1, characterized in that it is obtained by:

5. A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received radio frequency signal in a radio receiver (Rx) of the radio frequency system, the radio frequency system further comprising a radio transmitter (Tx) for transmitting the radio frequency signal to the radio receiver, the radio receiver comprising: a signal receiving means (SRM) configured to receive said radio frequency signal from said radio transmitter; synchronizing a replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal with the received radio frequency signal to obtain a synchronized replica radio frequency signal; Correlating the received radio frequency signal with the synchronized replica radio frequency signal of the received radio frequency signal to obtain a first correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal with a different delay. A signal processing means (SPM) configured as follows: and the signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: A radio receiver (Rx) configured to differentiate said first correlation function to obtain chip-domain observations of said received radio frequency signal in said chip domain.

6. The signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations; 6. A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-domain monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 5, characterized in that both are configured to calculate the difference between each correlation function point belonging to said first correlation function and its preceding correlation function point.

7. The signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations; offsetting the replica radio frequency signal of the received radio signal relative to the received radio frequency signal by one sample period to obtain an offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal; correlating the received radio frequency signal with the offset synchronized replica radio frequency signal to generate a second correlation function having a plurality of correlation function points, each correlation function point representing a replica radio frequency signal at a different delay; Differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function to generate the chip area observations. A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 5, characterized in that it is configured as follows:

8. The signal processing means (SPM) further comprises: differentiating the first correlation function to obtain the chip area observations; generating a second synchronized correlation function by offsetting the first correlation function by one sample period in a correlation sample epoch; Differentiating the second correlation function with respect to the first correlation function to generate the chip area observations. A radio receiver (Rx) for chip-area monitoring of distortion of received radio frequency signals according to claim 5, characterized in that it is configured as follows:

9. 9. A radio frequency system for chip-area monitoring of distortion of a received (digital) radio frequency signal in a radio receiver Rx of a radio frequency system, said radio frequency system further comprising a radio transmitter Tx for transmitting a radio frequency signal to said radio receiver, said radio frequency system comprising a radio receiver according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

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