A modular system for detecting, tracking, and transmitting identified objects

Abstract

A modular radio frequency ("RF") system includes one or more directional antennas and is configured with both hardware and software components that enable the RF system to monitor (e.g., detect or track signals or objects) and / or interact with (e.g., track signals or objects or transmit signals) objects in a particular direction. The RF system includes one or more machine learning models to determine one or more signals to transmit based on received signals.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] (Cross - Reference to Related Applications) This application is a continuation of each of the following, namely, U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 051743, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 051801, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978736, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978822, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978701, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978807, filed on November 1, 2022; U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978868, filed on November 1, 2022; and U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 978821, filed on November 1, 2022. Each of the applications listed above claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 365115, filed on May 20, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 420247, filed on October 28, 2022. The entire disclosure of each of the above items is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

[0002] Any application in which foreign or domestic priority is identified in the application data sheet filed together with this application is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes under 37 CFR 1.57 and with respect to all that it contains.

[0003] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to modular directional transceiver systems and methods for detecting, tracking, and / or transmitting to identified objects. Embodiments of the present disclosure further relate to devices, systems, and methods for locating or identifying an object in three - dimensional space, tracking the movement or location of the object, determining a property associated with one or more signals emitted from or near the object, generating one or more signals, and transmitting them in the direction of the object.

Background Art

[0004] The approaches described in this section are approaches that can be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Thus, unless otherwise indicated, none of the approaches described in this section should be assumed to be regarded as prior art solely by virtue of its inclusion in this section.

[0005] A radio frequency (“RF”) system may provide monitoring and / or transmission functionality for a particular radio frequency. Such an RF system may generally include an omnidirectional antenna and may be configured to perform either transmission or reception of a particular radio frequency.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The systems, methods, and devices described herein each have several aspects, but only any one of them is not involved in its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure, several non-limiting features will be briefly described here.

[0007] For monitoring an ambient area, a plurality of specialized devices can be disposed to identify objects, track objects, and transmit signals towards the objects. Conventional devices and, where applicable, their associated software components are typically manufactured and / or programmed for only one function or purpose and may be limited to such pre-configured functions. These conventional systems cannot be easily adjusted and, in some cases, they cannot be adjusted at all. For example, if a system can monitor over a particular RF range, the system cannot be easily updated to monitor an additional RF range without significant cost or effort (e.g., new hardware, software rewrite, and / or equivalents). Such systems can also not be moved or disposed around new locations or orientations without testing, calibration, new hardware, and equivalents. Further, such systems may utilize omnidirectional antennas that irradiate or receive from many directions simultaneously, which can preclude the opportunity to target signal transmission in a particular direction and can have high power requirements.

[0008] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure (generally, collectively referred to herein as the "RF system") can overcome one or more of these disadvantages and can include modular, adaptable, and movable systems that can be updated and / or reprogrammed to perform multiple or different purposes and functions.

[0009] The hardware components of the radio frequency (“RF”) system described can include, among other hardware components described in more detail herein, one or more directional broadband antennas, one or more module enclosures, one or more processing modules, and one or more RF modules. One or more directional antennas can be physically positioned and configured to transmit or receive at one or more specific directions at variable power levels and frequencies such that the antennas, collectively, provide better directivity and sensitivity in a certain direction than in other directions. The hardware components of the system described can also include a direction finder, also referred to herein as a radio direction finder or direction finding antenna. The direction finder can use the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which an object is located. In various embodiments, the source of transmission may be located (e.g., via triangulation or other similar means) by combining direction information from multiple sources (e.g., other direction finders in the area, other systems, or one or more of the directional broadband antennas, and / or equivalents). In various embodiments, each directional antenna and its associated circuitry can operate independently and in a coordinated manner with other directional antennas. The antennas can also be configured to have automated or manual adjustment capabilities with respect to the vertical angle such that the antennas can be adjusted to point more downward toward the ground or more upward toward the sky.

[0010] The RF system is advantageously modular and can enable multiple configurations for various applications. The modularity of the RF system can be found in both a particular RF system that can operate independently (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors) and multiple RF systems that can operate in cooperation with each other (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors). For example, the RF system can be implemented with one module enclosure, two module enclosures, or more than two module enclosures. In an example of two or more module enclosures, the module enclosures of the RF system may be integrated together by one or more integrated enclosures. Thus, in one implementation, the RF system can include two stacked module enclosures that are integrated together by an integrated enclosure. In various implementations, the RF system may further include components for mounting the RF system, such as one or more mounts, clips, slides, pins, and / or equivalents. Advantageously, the RF system can be appropriately configured for a given application and mounted on a tripod, vehicle, building, and / or equivalent, assuming its modularity.

[0011] Each module enclosure may store one or more processing modules, one or more RF modules, and one or more power supply modules, as described herein. In various embodiments, a single module enclosure can be connected to two directive wideband antennas, and the antennas can be installed in a single location or the antennas can be installed at a distance from each other (e.g., 5, 10, 100 feet apart) and connected to the same module enclosure. In various embodiments, the RF module can include power amplifier technology and positioning, navigation, and timing ("PNT") capabilities (in some implementations, it may be provided within a direction finder).

[0012] In various embodiments, the processing module can include machine learning components that can be used to assist the RF system in detecting and / or identifying one or more RF signals captured by the connected antenna. For example, the machine learning components can implement machine learning (“ML”) algorithms, artificial intelligence (“AI”) algorithms, and / or any other type of algorithm (collectively, generally referred to herein as “AI / ML algorithms,” “AI / ML models,” or simply, “ML algorithms,” “ML models,” and / or equivalents) that can be implemented, for example, by one or more processors. Having the ML model identify RF signals can advantageously provide significant improvements compared to conventional systems because many detected signals can contain a certain level of interference, be relatively weak and difficult to detect, or otherwise be difficult to identify due to other factors. In various embodiments, the machine learning components can implement one or more models or parameter functions for detection / identification using one or more machine learning algorithms. The machine learning components can be configured to apply a model that can help detect the type of RF signal (e.g., the range of the RF signal, a specific frequency or combination of frequencies, and / or equivalents) that indicates the type of object. Thus, the model can be applied by the RF system to the received or captured RF signal for identification purposes. For example, in various embodiments, the machine learning model of the RF system can be trained by (1) raw signal sampling, (2) application of the trained model, and / or (3) output of classes and probabilities (e.g., associated with the type of object). Then, for example, the processing module can identify the type of object based on the output of (3) classes and probabilities. Also, in various embodiments, the application of the trained machine learning model can include a preliminary step of (0) filtering baseline signals and / or harmless signals.

[0013] In various embodiments, an RF system (e.g., via one or more processing modules and / or one or more RF modules) can use the identified type of object (e.g., output from an applied machine learning model) to generate one or more new signals and transmit the new signals using one or more of the directional antennas. The new signals may be transmitted in the direction of the identified signal or one or more objects. Based on the identified signal, generating the signals can be beneficial, advantageously, due to increased power efficiency / optimization. For example, instead of transmitting signals across all frequency bands, only signals within a specific frequency or narrow range of frequencies are transmitted instead, thereby increasing power efficiency and / or signal power and being able to reach farther distances.

[0014] In various embodiments, among other functions, other sensors or systems (e.g., including other RF systems within the area) that can be connected to the RF system and provide additional data can be used to (1) further train the machine learning model, (2) assist the RF system in continuing to track or starting to track an object or signal, and / or (3) generate a specific signal, transmit it in the direction of the object, or continue to generate and transmit.

[0015] In various embodiments, the RF system can include, among other things described herein, a configurable antenna mount that can be deployed without tools and enable adjustment of the angle of the directional antenna, a physical modular configuration and materials that efficiently dissipate heat from the components of the system and enable the RF system to operate in high temperature and / or extreme environments, e.g., a physical modular configuration that provides physical protection for the components for use in dirty or extreme environments, and / or an electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) shield for the components of the RF system, and may include many other advantageous properties, features, functionalities, and / or aspects.

[0016] Further, according to various embodiments, various bidirectional graphical user interfaces can be provided to enable various types of users to interact with the systems and methods described herein and, for example, generate, review, and / or modify data that is captured or used by one or more RF systems or connected systems.

[0017] The bidirectional and dynamic user interfaces described herein are enabled by innovations in the efficient interaction between the user interface and underlying systems and components. For example, what is disclosed herein are improved methods for receiving user input, converting and delivering those inputs to various system components, automatically and dynamically executing complex processes in response to input delivery, automatically interacting between various components and processes of the system, and automatically and dynamically updating the user interface. The interaction and presentation of data via the bidirectional user interfaces described herein can, therefore, provide cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems.

[0018] Thus, in various embodiments, large amounts of data may be automatically and dynamically collected and analyzed in response to user input and configuration, and the analyzed data may be efficiently presented to the user. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the systems, devices, configuration capabilities, graphical user interfaces, and equivalents described herein are more efficient compared to previous systems and / or equivalents.

[0019] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements to various technologies and technical fields and practical applications of various technical features and advancements. For example, as described above, some existing systems are limited in various respects, and various embodiments of the present disclosure provide significant improvements over such systems and practical applications of such improvements. Additionally, various embodiments of the present disclosure are inseparably linked to computer technology and provide practical applications thereof. In particular, various embodiments rely on special hardware and software components disposed in specific locations to improve energy and processing efficiency. Such features and others are closely linked to computer technology, artificial intelligence, and digital signal technology, thereby being enabled by them and would not exist without computer technology, artificial intelligence, and digital signal technology. For example, the RF systems, processing modules, RF modules, and signal detection, generation, and transmission functionality, and the interaction with detected objects / signals described herein with reference to various embodiments cannot be reasonably implemented by humans alone without a computer and the technology on which they are implemented. Furthermore, the implementation of various embodiments of the present disclosure via computer technology enables many of the advantages described herein, including more efficient interaction and analysis with various types of electronic data and equivalents.

[0020] Various combinations of the features, embodiments, and aspects listed above and below are also disclosed and contemplated by the present disclosure.

[0021] Additional embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the appended claims, which may serve as additional explanation of the present disclosure.

[0022] In various embodiments, a system and / or a computer system is disclosed that includes a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, and one or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system and / or the computer system to perform operations comprising one or more aspects of the embodiments described above and / or below (including one or more aspects of the appended claims).

[0023] In various embodiments, a computer-implemented method is disclosed, wherein one or more aspects of the embodiments described above and / or below (including one or more aspects of the appended claims) are implemented and / or performed by one or more processors executing program instructions.

[0024] In various embodiments, a computer program product is disclosed that includes a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising one or more aspects of the embodiments described above and / or below (including one or more aspects of the appended claims). The present invention provides, for example, the following items. (Item 1) A system for monitoring an object surrounding an area, the system comprising: A first RF system, comprising: One or more first antennas positioned to face a first direction; A first processing module communicating with the one or more first antennas, the first processing module comprising: A computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions and a machine learning model, the machine learning model being trained to identify the type of an object associated with a first set of RF signals; One or more first processors, the one or more first processors executing first program instructions to cause the first RF system to: Collect a first set of RF signal data associated with a first object using the one or more first antennas; Identify the type of the object associated with the first object by applying the machine learning model; Generate and cause to be transmitted a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals, at least in part based on the type of the object, using the one or more first antennas; Transmit a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals to a second RF system based on a determination that the first object is moving away from the first direction and towards a second direction corresponding to one or more second antennas; One or more first processors configured to perform the above; A first processing module comprising the above; A first RF system comprising the above; A second RF system, comprising: One or more second antennas positioned to face a second direction different from the first direction; A second processing module communicating with the one or more second antennas and comprising one or more second processors, the one or more second processors executing second program instructions to cause the second RF system to: Receive the data packet from the first RF system; Generate a second set of the RF signals using the one or more than one second antennas and cause the transmission thereof A second processing module configured to cause the above to be performed A second RF system comprising the above A system comprising the above (Item 2) The system according to item 1, wherein the one or more than one first antennas and the one or more than one second antennas have directivity, wide bandwidth, or both (Item 3) The system according to item 1 or item 2, wherein both the first direction and the second direction face outward from the area (Item 4) The system according to item 3, wherein the area corresponds to a building or a plurality of buildings (Item 5) The system according to any one of items 1-4, wherein the transmission of the second set of the RF signals by the one or more than one first antennas is transmitted in the first direction (Item 6) The system according to any one of items 1-5, wherein the transmission of the second set of the RF signals by the one or more than one second antennas is transmitted in the second direction (Item 7) The one or more than one first processors execute the first program instructions and cause the first RF system to In response to the determination that the first object has deviated from the first direction and is moving in the second direction, reduce the power output of the transmission of the second set of the RF signals by the one or more than one first antennas over a period The system according to any one of items 1-6, configured as above (Item 8) The one or more than one second processors execute the first program instructions and cause the second RF system to In response to the reception of the data packet, increase the power output of the transmission of the second set of the RF signals by the second antenna over the period The system according to item 7, configured as above (Item 9) The system according to any one of items 1-8, wherein the object has a speed (Item 10) The system according to any one of items 1-9, wherein the one or more than one first antennas include a first antenna that irradiates or receives a signal at 80 degrees to 110 degrees in a direction configured to face the first antenna over an area (Item 11) The one or more first antennas, the system according to any one of items 1-10, comprising two, three, or four antennas. (Item 12) The one or more first antennas, the system according to any one of items 1-11, configured to be adjustable with respect to the elevation angle or the angle of inclination as compared to the plane where the first RF system is located. (Item 13) The first processing module further One or more graphical processing units (GPUs) configured to execute the machine learning model The system according to any one of items 1-12, comprising. (Item 14) A computer-implemented method by a first RF system comprising one or more hardware processors that execute program instructions, comprising: Receiving a first set of RF signals via one or more directional antennas; Identifying the type of object associated with the first set of RF signals by applying a machine learning model; Generating and causing the transmission of a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals, at least in part, based on the type of the object; Transmitting a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals to a second RF system based on a determination that a first object is moving away from the first direction and towards a second direction corresponding to the second one or more antennas Including a method. (Item 15) The computer-implemented method according to item 14, wherein the second RF system is configured to receive the data packet and cause the transmission of the second set of RF signals. (Item 16) The computer-implemented method according to item 14 or item 15, wherein the second set of RF signals is transmitted via one or more directional antennas. (Item 17) The computer-implemented method according to item 16, wherein the one or more directional antennas include a first set of directional antennas associated with the first RF system and a second set of directional antennas associated with the second RF system. (Item 18) The first set of the directional antennas is generally oriented in a first direction, and the second set of the directional antennas is generally oriented in a second direction different from the first direction, the computer-implemented method according to item 17. (Item 19) A system comprising: A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, a computer-readable storage medium; One or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to any of items 14-18, one or more processors; A system comprising. (Item 20) A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to any of items 14-18, a computer program product. (Item 21) A modular RF system comprising: A first module enclosure configured to store a first plurality of modules; One or more antennas coupled to the module enclosure on one or more outer surfaces of the module enclosure and configured to receive and transmit RF signals, one or more antennas; A first channel extending from a bottom portion of the first module enclosure through an interior portion of the first module enclosure to an upper portion of the first module enclosure, a first channel; One or more first heat sinks positioned within the first channel and thermally coupled to the first plurality of modules, one or more first heat sinks; At least one fan, wherein the at least one fan is positioned at the top or bottom of the first module enclosure and is configured to flow air through the first channel and the first one or more heat sinks. A modular RF system comprising the same. (Item 22) A direction detector, wherein the direction detector is coupled to the external surface of the RF system, communicates with at least one of the first plurality of modules, receives RF signals, and is configured to provide direction detection information to at least one of the first plurality of modules. The modular RF system according to item 21, further comprising the same. (Item 23) The modular RF system according to item 21 or item 22, wherein the one or more antennas comprise two first antennas, and the two first antennas are in electrical communication with at least two of the first plurality of modules. (Item 24) A second module enclosure, wherein the second module enclosure is configured to store a second plurality of modules and is coupled to the first module enclosure. A second channel, wherein the second channel extends from the bottom portion of the second module enclosure, through the interior portion of the second module enclosure, to the top portion of the second module enclosure, and the second channel is aligned with the first channel. A second one or more heat sinks, wherein the second one or more heat sinks are positioned within the first channel and are thermally coupled to the first plurality of modules. Further comprising the same. The at least one fan is configured to flow air through the first and second channels and through the first and second one or more heat sinks. The modular RF system according to any one of items 21-23. (Item 25) The one or more antennas include four antennas, and two of the four antennas communicate electrically with at least two of the first plurality of modules, and the other two of the four antennas communicate electrically with at least two of the second plurality of modules, the modular RF system according to item 24. (Item 26) The second module enclosure is coupled to the first module enclosure via an integrated enclosure, the modular RF system according to item 24 or item 25. (Item 27) An upper enclosure with an air vent, And a lower enclosure with an air vent The modular RF system according to any one of items 21-26, further comprising. (Item 28) A first fan is positioned within the upper enclosure, and a second fan is positioned within the lower enclosure, the modular RF system according to item 27. (Item 29) The first plurality of modules includes at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module, the modular RF system according to any one of items 21-28. (Item 30) The first plurality of modules surrounds the first channel and is stored within a peripheral portion of the first module enclosure configured to seal and enclose the first plurality of modules within the peripheral portion, the modular RF system according to any one of items 21-29. (Item 31) The one or more antennas include broadband directive antennas, the modular RF system according to any one of items 21-30. (Item 32) Each of the one or more antennas irradiates or receives greater power in a specific direction, The one or more antennas are configured to operate independently, Each of the one or more antennas is configured to operate in cooperation with one or more others of the one or more antennas, The modular RF system according to any one of items 21-31. (Item 33) The one or more antennas include a first antenna that irradiates or receives a signal at 80 degrees to 110 degrees in a direction configured to face the first antenna across the area, for the modular RF system according to any one of items 21 - 32. (Item 34) The one or more antennas include two, three, or four antennas, for the modular RF system according to any one of items 21 - 33. (Item 35) The one or more antennas are configured to be adjustable with respect to the elevation angle or the tilt angle as compared to the plane where the modular RF system is located, for the modular RF system according to any one of items 21 - 34. (Item 36) The first plurality of modules include at least a power supply module, two RF modules, and a processing module, for the modular RF system according to any one of items 21 - 35. (Item 37) The power supply module is configured to provide power to at least the two RF modules and the processing module, for the modular RF system according to item 36. (Item 38) Each individual one of the two RF modules communicates electrically with an individual one of the one or more antennas, and the two RF modules each communicate electrically with the processing module and are configured with at least a multiplexer, a receiving amplifier, and a transmitting amplifier, for the modular RF system according to item 36 or item 37. (Item 39) Each of the RF modules receives an RF signal from an antenna among the one or more antennas, amplifies, filters, and / or limits the received RF signal, and provides the amplified, filtered, and / or limited received RF signal to the processing module and is configured to perform the above, for the modular RF system according to any one of items 36 - 38. (Item 40) Each of the RF modules receives an RF signal from the processing module, amplifies, filters, and / or limits the received RF signal, and transmits the amplified, filtered, and / or limited received RF signal via an antenna among the one or more antennas A modular RF system according to any one of items 36 - 39, configured to perform (Item 41) The processing module is Receiving an RF signal, Processing the RF signal, Based on the processed RF signal, determining an RF signal for transmission, Generating an RF signal for transmission, Causing transmission of the generated RF signal A modular RF system according to any one of items 36 - 40, configured to perform (Item 42) The processing module is at least a modular RF system according to any one of items 36 - 41, comprising a processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a software defined radio (SDR) transceiver, and a storage device. (Item 43) An antenna mounting part of the RF system, wherein the antenna mounting part A first coupling feature positioned within a track on the side surface of the RF system, the first coupling feature being slidably movable within the track, a first coupling feature, An antenna bracket coupled to the first coupling feature, the coupling between the antenna bracket and the first coupling feature providing a first pivot point, and an antenna being coupled to the antenna bracket, an antenna bracket, A fixed mounting part on the side surface of the RF system, A second coupling feature coupled to the fixed mounting part, the coupling between the fixed mounting part and the second coupling feature providing a second pivot point, and the second coupling feature being coupled to the antenna bracket and providing a third pivot point, a second coupling feature Comprising an antenna mounting part. (Item 44) The first coupling feature is slid along the track and configured to provide a target angle for the antenna by the movement of the first, second, and third pivot points, the antenna mounting part according to item 43. (Item 45) The antenna bracket is coupled to the first coupling feature by insertion at a first angle into a receiving locking portion of the first locking portion of the antenna bracket, and then rotation of the antenna bracket causes engagement between the first locking portion and the receiving locking portion, the antenna mounting part according to item 43 or item 44. (Item 46) The second coupling feature is an antenna mounting portion according to any one of items 43 - 45, which is coupled to the fixed mounting portion using a locking pin. (Item 47) The first coupling feature is an antenna mounting portion according to any one of items 43 - 46, which is releasably locked in a fixed position on the track using a locking component. (Item 48) An antenna mounting method in an RF system, the method comprising: providing a first coupling feature of an antenna mounting portion within a track on a side surface of the RF system, the first coupling feature being movable slidably within the track; providing a fixed mounting portion on the side surface of the RF system; coupling an antenna bracket to the first coupling feature, the coupling between the antenna bracket and the first coupling feature providing a first pivot point and the antenna being coupled to the antenna bracket; coupling a second coupling feature of the antenna mounting portion to the fixed mounting portion, the coupling between the fixed mounting portion and the second coupling feature providing a second pivot point and the second coupling feature being coupled to the antenna bracket and providing a third pivot point; sliding the first coupling feature along the track to provide a target angle for the antenna by movement of the first, second, and third pivot points A method comprising. (Item 49) Coupling the antenna bracket to the first coupling feature includes inserting a first locking portion of the antenna bracket into a receiving locking portion of the first coupling feature at a first angle and then rotating the antenna bracket to engage the first locking portion and the receiving locking portion, the method according to item 48. (Item 50) The second coupling feature is coupled to the fixed mounting portion using a locking pin, the method according to item 48 or item 49. (Item 51) further comprising locking the first coupling feature in a fixed position on the track using a locking component The method according to any one of items 48 - 50. (Item 52) An RF transceiver system, a first module enclosure, a first inner portion, the first inner portion comprising a first cavity that opens at an upper and a bottom of the first module enclosure portion A first peripheral portion that surrounds the first cavity and is configured to support one or more than one module, the first peripheral portion A first module enclosure comprising One or more than one heat sink positioned within the first inner portion of the first module enclosure One or more than one first thermal interface, the one or more than one first thermal interface being on at least one wall of the first inner portion of the first module enclosure and configured to provide a thermal coupling between the one or more than one heat sink and the one or more than one module A first fan configured to flow air through the first cavity and the one or more than one heat sink An RF transceiver system comprising (Item 53) The RF transceiver system according to item 52, wherein the one or more than one module includes at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module (Item 54) The RF transceiver system according to item 52 or item 53, wherein each of the one or more than one module includes a housing made of a thermally conductive material (Item 55) The RF transceiver system according to any one of items 52 - 54, wherein each of the one or more than one first thermal interface comprises a thermally conductive material (Item 56) The RF transceiver system according to any one of items 52 - 55, wherein the first module enclosure is configured to seal and enclose the one or more than one module within the first peripheral portion (Item 57) A lower enclosure coupled to the bottom of the first module enclosure and supporting the first fan, the lower enclosure including one or more than one vent through which air can flow The RF transceiver system according to any one of items 52 - 56, further comprising (Item 58) A second fan configured to flow air through the first cavity and the one or more than one heat sink The RF transceiver system according to any one of items 52 - 57, further comprising (Item 59) An upper enclosure that supports the second fan, the upper enclosure including one or more vents through which air can flow The RF transceiver system according to item 58, further comprising (Item 60) A second module enclosure, A second inner portion, the second inner portion comprising a second cavity that opens at the top and bottom of the second module enclosure portion, and A second peripheral portion, the second peripheral portion surrounding the second cavity and configured to support a second one or more modules A second module enclosure comprising One or more second heat sinks positioned within the second inner portion of the second module enclosure, and One or more second thermal interfaces, the one or more second thermal interfaces being on at least one wall of the second inner portion of the second module enclosure and configured to provide a thermal coupling between the one or more second heat sinks and the one or more second modules The RF transceiver system according to item 59, further comprising (Item 61) The RF transceiver system according to item 60, wherein the first module enclosure is coupled to the second module enclosure and provides alignment between the first cavity and the second cavity (Item 62) The RF transceiver system according to item 61, wherein the upper enclosure is coupled to the top of the second module enclosure (Item 63) A plug within the opening between the one or more first heat sinks and directing an air flow through the one or more first heat sinks The RF transceiver system according to any one of items 52 - 62, further comprising (Item 64) A method for thermal management of an RF system, the thermal management method comprising Providing one or more heat sinks on an inner portion of the RF system, wherein the inner portion comprises a cavity that opens at an upper and a bottom of the module enclosure portion within the module enclosure portion of the RF system Providing a thermal coupling between the one or more heat sinks and one or more modules via a thermal interface on the inner portion of the RF system, wherein the one or more modules include at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module Providing at least a first fan configured to draw air through the cavity and the one or more heat sinks and extract heat from the one or more modules A heat management method comprising the above (Item 65) The method according to item 64, wherein the one or more modules are positioned within a peripheral portion of the module enclosure surrounding the cavity (Item 66) The method according to item 65, wherein the one or more modules are hermetically sealed within the peripheral portion of the module enclosure (Item 67) The method according to any one of items 64 - 66, wherein the first fan is positioned within at least one of an upper portion or a lower portion of the RF system (Item 68) At least a second fan configured to draw air through the cavity and the one or more heat sinks and extract heat from the one or more modules The method according to any one of items 64 - 67, further comprising the above (Item 69) The method according to item 68, wherein the first fan is positioned within at least one of an upper portion or a lower portion of the RF system, and the second fan is positioned within at least one different one of an upper portion or a lower portion of the RF system (Item 70) The method according to any one of items 64 - 69, wherein the first and second fans are configured to draw air through the cavity in the same direction (Item 71) The method according to any one of items 64-70, wherein the first and second fans are configured to draw air from the lower part of the RF system to the upper part of the RF system. (Item 72) Further comprising activating at least the first and second fans The method according to any one of items 64-71. (Item 73) Further comprising activating at least the first fan The method according to any one of items 64-72. (Item 74) Providing at least one or more than one heat sink on a second inner part of the RF system, wherein the second inner part has a second cavity that opens at an upper and a bottom of a second module enclosure part of the RF system, and Providing a thermal coupling between the at least one or more than one heat sink and at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module via a thermal interface on the second inner part of the RF system, and Further comprising The second module enclosure part is coupled to the first module enclosure part such that at least the first fan is configured to draw air through the cavity, the at least one or more than one heat sink, the second cavity, and both the at least one or more than one heat sink, and extract heat from the at least one or more than one module and the at least one or more than one second module, and provide alignment between the cavity and the second cavity. The method according to any one of items 64-73. (Item 75) The method according to item 74, wherein the at least one or more than one second module is positioned within a peripheral part of the second module enclosure surrounding the second cavity. (Item 76) Further comprising providing a plug within an opening between the at least one or more than one heat sinks and directing an air flow through the at least one or more than one heat sink The method according to any one of items 64-74. (Item 77) A system comprising A first directional antenna, A first RF module communicating with the first directional antenna, A first processing module communicating with the first RF module comprising, the system is receiving a first RF signal via the first directional antenna and the first RF module; processing the first RF signal using the first processing module; generating a second RF signal using the first processing module; transmitting the second RF signal via the first RF module and the first directional antenna A system configured to perform. (Item 78) A second directional antenna; A second RF module communicating with the second directional antenna further comprising The first processing module communicates with the second RF module; The system further receives the first RF signal via the second directional antenna and the second RF module The system according to item 77, configured as such. (Item 79) The system further transmits the second RF signal via the second RF module and the second directional antenna The system according to item 78, configured as such. (Item 80) The system further selectively transmits the second RF signal at variable power via both the first RF module and first directional antenna and the second RF module and second directional antenna The system according to item 79, configured as such. (Item 81) Third and fourth directional antennas; Third and fourth RF modules communicating with the respective third and fourth directional antennas; A second processing module communicating with the third and fourth RF modules further comprising, the system further receives the first RF signal via the third directional antenna and the third RF module and via the fourth directional antenna and the fourth RF module The system according to item 80, configured as such. (Item 82) The system further transmits the second RF signal via the third directional antenna and the third RF module and via the fourth directional antenna and the fourth RF module The system according to item 81, configured as such. (Item 83) The system further Selectively transmit the second RF signal at variable power through all of the first RF module and the first directional antenna, the second RF module and the second directional antenna, the third RF module and the third directional antenna, and the fourth RF module and the fourth directional antenna The system according to item 82, configured as such. (Item 84) The system according to item 81, wherein the first and second processing modules are configured to communicate with each other and cooperate with each other. (Item 85) The system according to any one of items 77 - 84, wherein the RF module comprises at least a multiplexer, a receiving amplifier, and a transmitting amplifier. (Item 86) The system according to any one of items 77 - 85, wherein the processing module comprises at least a processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a software-defined radio (SDR) transceiver, and a storage device. (Item 87) A power supply module that communicates electrically with the first RF module and the processing module The system according to any one of items 77 - 86, further comprising. (Item 88) A method of assembling an RF system, the method comprising: Providing a module enclosure; Providing one or more modules within the module enclosure, the one or more modules including at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module; Providing one or more heat sinks that are within an internal portion of the module enclosure and thermally coupled to the one or more modules; Coupling an upper and a lower enclosure to the module enclosure, the upper and lower enclosures each comprising an individual fan; Providing communication links and power connections between the one or more modules A method comprising. (Item 89) Coupling one or more antennas to an external portion of the module enclosure; Providing a communication link between the one or more antennas and one or more of the one or more modules The method according to item 88, further comprising. (Item 90) Mounting the RF system such that the upper enclosure is oriented above the RF system The method according to item 89, further comprising this. (Item 91) A method of assembling an RF system, the method comprising: Providing a first module enclosure; Providing one or more than one first modules within the first module enclosure, wherein the one or more than one first modules include at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module; Providing one or more than one first heat sinks that are within an internal portion of the first module enclosure and are thermally coupled to the one or more than one first modules; Providing a second module enclosure; Providing one or more than one second modules within the second module enclosure, wherein the one or more than one second modules include at least one of a power supply module, an RF module, or a processing module; Providing one or more than one second heat sinks that are within an internal portion of the second module enclosure and are thermally coupled to the one or more than one second modules; Using an integrated enclosure to couple the first module enclosure to the second module enclosure; Coupling an upper enclosure to the first module enclosure, wherein the upper enclosure is provided with a fan; Coupling a lower enclosure to the second module enclosure, wherein the lower enclosure is provided with a fan; Providing communication links and power connections between the one or more than one first and second modules The method comprising. (Item 92) Coupling one or more than one antennas to an external portion of at least one of the first module enclosure or the second module enclosure; Providing a communication link between the one or more than one antennas and one or more than one of the one or more than one first modules and the one or more than one second modules; The method according to item 91, further comprising this. (Item 93) The method according to item 92, further comprising mounting the RF system such that the upper enclosure is oriented above the RF system. (Item 94) A computer-implemented method for applying a machine learning model to identify one or more RF signals, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, receiving raw RF signal data through two or more directional antennas, the two or more directional antennas being configured to be selectively activated, sampling the raw RF signal data, inputting the sampled RF signal data into a machine learning model, identifying the type of an object based on the output from the machine learning model comprising a computer-implemented method. (Item 95) By the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, selecting one or both of the two or more directional antennas for receiving the raw RF signal for activation, the two or more directional antennas comprising broadband directional antennas, further comprising the computer-implemented method according to item 94 or item 95. (Item 96) By the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, determining the location of the object based on the positioning of the two or more directional antennas further comprising the computer-implemented method according to item 95. (Item 97) By the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, filtering the raw RF signal data further comprising the computer-implemented method according to item 94. (Item 98) The computer-implemented method according to item 96 or item 97, wherein the filtering includes complete or partial suppression of one or more sides of the raw RF signal data, the raw RF signal data to be sampled, or a subset of the RF signal data. (Item 99) Said filtering comprises removing from said raw RF signal data (1) RF signals associated with harmless devices, (2) RF signals associated with devices manually or automatically flagged as harmless, or (3) one or more RF signals corresponding to a preconfigured whitelist or blacklist, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-98. (Item 100) Said sampling of said raw RF signal data comprises sampling said raw RF signal data at a preconfigured time step, the computer-implemented method according to item 94. (Item 101) Said preconfigured time step is from 0 ms to 15 ms, the computer-implemented method according to item 99 or item 100. (Item 102) Said preconfigured time step is further at least partially based on hardware components associated with the RF system implementing said method, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-101. (Item 103) The output of said machine learning model comprises predicted classes and probabilities corresponding to one or more RF signals identified by said machine learning model, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-102. (Item 104) Said identification of the type of the object is further based on bandwidth, channel, signal rate, associated with said one or more RF signals identified by said machine learning model, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-103. (Item 105) The output of said machine learning model comprises predicted classes and probabilities corresponding to one or more RF signals identified by said machine learning model, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-104. (Item 106) Further comprising training said machine learning model, and training said machine learning model comprises: at least partially generating a first subset of RF signal data corresponding to a signal of interest based on annotations corresponding to the signal of interest included in a spectrogram, said spectrogram being generated based on raw RF signal training data; Among the machine learning models, in order to train the machine learning model and identify the target signal, input a first subset of the RF signal data The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-105, including (Item 107) The raw RF signal training data is collected from one or more wideband directional antennas. The computer-implemented method according to item 106 (Item 108) The spectrogram comprises the raw RF signal training data as a function of frequency, time, and / or intensity. The computer-implemented method according to item 106 or item 107 (Item 109) The annotation further corresponds to the period during which the target signal exists on the spectrogram. The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 106-108 (Item 110) The annotation further corresponds to one or more frequencies or frequency bands associated with the target signal. The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 106-109 (Item 111) The generation of the first subset of the RF signal data includes removing at least a part of the raw RF signal training data that is not part of the target signal. The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 106-110 (Item 112) A system, A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. A computer-readable storage medium, One or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-111. One or more processors A system comprising (Item 113) A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 94-111. A computer program product (Item 114) A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, collecting, by a first set of antennas, a first set of RF signal data associated with a first object; inputting, into a machine learning model, the first set of RF signal data; identifying, based on an output from the machine learning model, a type of object associated with the first object; generating, at least in part based on the type of object, a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals; using a second set of antennas to generate and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals comprising. (Item 115) The computer-implemented method according to item 114, wherein the first set of antennas is directional, wideband, or both. (Item 116) The computer-implemented method according to item 114 or item 115, wherein the first set of RF signal data is sampled prior to inputting the first set of RF signal data into the machine learning model. (Item 117) by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, determining additional features associated with the first set of RF signals or the type of object further comprising. The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-116. (Item 118) The computer-implemented method according to item 117, wherein the additional features associated with the first set of RF signals include one or more of bandwidth, channel, and signal rate. (Item 119) The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-118, wherein the first set of antennas is the same as the second set of antennas. (Item 120) The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-119, wherein the first set of antennas is different from the second set of antennas. (Item 121) The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-120, wherein the transmission of the second set of RF signals includes transmission of the second set of RF signals in a direction associated with the first object. (Item 122) by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, Accessing a preconfigured list of RF frequencies, and prior to transmission of the second set of RF signals, filtering the second set of RF signals to remove one or more RF frequencies, at least in part, based on the preconfigured list The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-121, further comprising. (Item 123) By the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, automatically tracking the location of an object associated with the first set of RF signals while causing the transmission of the second set of RF signals The computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-122, further comprising. (Item 124) The computer-implemented method according to item 123, wherein the tracking of the location of the object is performed by a radio direction finder. (Item 125) A system, A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, a computer-readable storage medium, and One or more processors, the one or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-124, one or more processors A system comprising. (Item 126) A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 114-124. (Item 127) An RF system, A direction finder, and A plurality of antennas, Each of the plurality of antennas receives or irradiates an RF signal in a specific direction, The plurality of antennas are configured to operate independently, Each of the plurality of antennas is configured to operate in cooperation with one or more other antennas of the plurality of antennas, A plurality of antennas, An electronic circuit network, wherein the electronic circuit network comprises one or more hardware processors, the one or more hardware processors execute programmable instructions, and cause the RF system to track a first RF signal using a first antenna; using data collected from the direction detector or the first antenna; determine that the first RF signal is emitted from an object; and a velocity associated with the object; and based at least in part on the determination, cause a second antenna to be activated and continue tracking the first RF signal. An electronic circuit network configured to perform the above is provided. An RF system comprising the above. (Item 128) The RF system according to item 127, wherein the first RF signal is detected within a first area corresponding to the first antenna. (Item 129) Tracking the first RF signal is also based at least in part on information received from one or more other RF systems, devices, or sensors. The RF system according to item 127 or item 128. (Item 130) The RF system according to any one of items 127-129, wherein the object is moving relative to the first antenna. (Item 131) The RF system according to any one of items 127-130, wherein the object is moving out of the first area. (Item 132) The RF system according to any one of items 127-131, wherein the object is moving into a second area associated with the second antenna. (Item 133) The one or more hardware processors are further configured to cause the RF system to deactivate the first antenna at least in part based on the activation of the second antenna. The RF system according to any one of items 127-132, configured as above. (Item 134) The deactivation of the second antenna occurs simultaneously after the activation of the first antenna. The RF system according to item 133. (Item 135) The deactivation of the second antenna occurs after a period of time has elapsed after the activation of the first antenna. The RF system according to item 133 or item 134. (Item 136) ​ The RF system according to item 135, wherein the period is configured in advance or automatically configured based on the determined speed. (Item 137) A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, accessing or receiving detection data associated with a first object, the detected data being collected or generated by one or more of an RF system, a sensor, and a device configured to detect an RF signal or an object, collecting RF signal data associated with the first object using one or more antennas, identifying a first set of RF signal data associated with the first object, at least in part, based on the detection data and the RF signal data, identifying the type of object associated with the first object by applying a machine learning model, generating and causing transmission of a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals using the one or more antennas, at least in part, based on the type of object, A method comprising the steps of: (Item 138) The method according to item 137, wherein the detection data includes a part of the first set of RF signals. (Item 139) The method according to item 137 or 138, wherein the detection data indicates a physical location associated with the first object. (Item 140) The method according to item 139, wherein the one or more antennas are configured to be oriented in a direction corresponding to the physical location. (Item 141) The method according to any one of items 137-140, wherein the one or more antennas are directional, have a wide bandwidth, or both. (Item 142) The method according to any one of items 137-141, wherein causing transmission of the second set of RF signals includes transmitting the second set of RF signals in a direction associated with the first object. (Item 143) The machine learning model includes inputting the first set of RF signal data into the machine learning model such that the machine learning model outputs the type of object associated with the first object. The method according to any one of items 137-142. (Item 144) A system comprising: A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith; One or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 137-143; A system. (Item 145) A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 137-143. (Item 146) A computer-implemented method, the method comprising: Generating and causing transmission of a second set of RF signals using a first antenna corresponding to a first RF system based on a first set of RF signals associated with a first object and application of a machine learning model trained to identify a type of object associated with the first set of RF signals; Determining that the first object is moving from an area associated with the first antenna into an area associated with a second antenna; Based on the determination: Adjusting power supplied to the first antenna; Adjusting power supplied to the second antenna; Causing transmission of the second set of RF signals using the second antenna. A method. (Item 147) The computer-implemented method according to item 146, wherein the transmission of the second set of RF signals by the first antenna or the second antenna comprises transmission of the second set of RF signals in a direction associated with the first object. (Item 148) The determination that the first object is moving from an area associated with the first antenna into an area associated with a second antenna is performed using at least a direction detector, the computer-implemented method according to item 146 or item 147. (Item 149) The second antenna corresponds to the first RF system, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-148. (Item 150) The second antenna corresponds to a second RF system, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-149. (Item 151) Adjusting the power supplied to the first antenna includes stopping the transmission of a second set of the RF signals, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-150. (Item 152) Adjusting the power supplied to the second antenna includes starting the transmission of a second set of the RF signals, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-151. (Item 153) by the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, in response to the start of transmission of a second set of the RF signals by the second antenna, reducing the power output of transmission of a second set of the RF signals by the first antenna over a period, and simultaneously, increasing the power output of transmission of a second set of the RF signals by the second antenna over the period further comprising the computer-implemented method according to item 152. (Item 154) The second antenna corresponds to the first RF system, and the total power used by the first antenna and the second antenna at any instant remains constant, the computer-implemented method according to item 153. (Item 155) The second antenna corresponds to a second RF system, and the total power used by the first antenna and the second antenna at any instant remains constant, the computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-154. (Item 156) A system, A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, a computer-readable storage medium One or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions and cause the system to implement a computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-155, one or more processors and A system comprising. (Item 157) A computer program product, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium has program instructions embodied thereon, the program instructions are executable by one or more processors, and the one or more processors are caused to implement a computer-implemented method according to any one of items 146-155, a computer program product. (Item 158) An RF system, One or more antennas and An RF module electrically connected to the one or more antennas, the RF module comprising a power amplifier, an RF module and A processing module electrically connected to the RF module, the processing module comprising A first one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) and A computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions and a machine learning model, the machine learning model being trained to identify the type of object associated with a first set of RF signals, a computer-readable storage medium and One or more first processors, wherein the one or more first processors are configured to execute the program instructions and cause the first RF system to Receive a data packet comprising a software update and Deploy the software update and update the functionality of the RF system One or more first processors configured to perform and A processing module comprising An RF system comprising. (Item 159) The RF system according to item 158, wherein the one or more antennas are directional, broadband, or both. (Item 160) The software update includes one or more of a firmware update corresponding to a hardware component of the RF system, an update corresponding to a software component utilized by the RF system, and a machine learning model update, for the RF system according to item 158 or item 159. (Item 161) The data packet is received from a central processing server or another RF system, for the RF system according to any one of items 158 - 160.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0025] The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. Many aspects and attendant advantages of the present disclosure will become more readily understood as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

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[0051] Detailed Description Certain preferred embodiments and examples are disclosed below, but the subject matter of the present invention extends to other alternative embodiments and / or uses and modifications and their equivalents in addition to the specifically disclosed embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the claims appended hereto is not limited to any of the specific embodiments described below. For example, in any method or process disclosed herein, the acts or operations of the method or process may be performed in any suitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particular disclosed sequence. The various operations may be described as discrete operations in sequence, in a manner that may be useful in understanding certain embodiments. However, the order of description should not be construed as implying that these operations are order dependent. In addition, the structures, systems, and / or devices described herein may be embodied as integrated components or separate components. For purposes of comparing various embodiments, certain aspects and advantages of these embodiments are described. Not necessarily all such aspects or advantages are achieved by any particular embodiment. Thus, for example, the various embodiments may be performed in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages that may also be taught or suggested herein.

[0052] I. Overview As described above, for monitoring an ambient area, a plurality of specialized devices can be disposed to identify objects, track objects, and transmit signals toward the objects. Conventional devices, and, if applicable, their associated software components, are typically manufactured and / or programmed for only one function or purpose and may be limited to such preconfigured functions. These conventional systems cannot be easily adjusted and, in some cases, they cannot be adjusted at all. For example, if a system can monitor over a specific RF range, the system cannot be easily updated to monitor an additional RF range without significant cost or effort (e.g., new hardware, software rewrites, and / or equivalents). Such systems can also not be moved or disposed around new locations or orientations without testing, calibration, new hardware, and equivalents. Further, such systems may utilize omnidirectional antennas that irradiate or receive from many directions simultaneously, which can eliminate the opportunity to target signal transmission in a specific direction and can have high power requirements.

[0053] Also, as described above, the systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure (collectively, generally referred to herein as "RF systems") can overcome one or more of these disadvantages and can include modular, adaptable, and movable systems that can be updated and / or reprogrammed to perform multiple or different purposes and functions. Advantageously, RF systems can include the ability to be updated over time for new purposes not currently contemplated at the time of manufacture or deployment. The systems, methods, and devices described herein relate to hardware and software components associated with one or more modular, adaptable, and movable systems that can be reprogrammed to perform multiple purposes and functions at once or over time.

[0054] The hardware components of the radio frequency (“RF”) system described can include, among the hardware components described in more detail herein, one or more directional broadband antennas, one or more module enclosures, one or more processing modules, and one or more RF modules. With respect to directivity, one or more directional antennas can be physically positioned and configured to transmit or receive at one or more specific directions at variable power levels and frequencies such that the antennas can collectively provide better directivity and sensitivity in a certain direction than in other directions. A directional antenna can provide increased performance over a dipole antenna or an omnidirectional antenna when a greater radiation concentration in a certain direction is desired. Additionally, such a directional broadband antenna can be used to transmit, receive, or transmit and receive radio signals with a wide frequency spectrum. In various embodiments, the antenna can be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals within a subset of the wide frequency spectrum. For example, there may be nearby devices that emit signals within a specific frequency range where the antenna is directed, and the system can filter the received signals (e.g., using software) so as not to interfere with the analysis of the received signals and / or filter the transmitted signals (e.g., using software or additional digital signal filtering equipment) so as to minimize or eliminate interference with the operation of the nearby devices. Thus, the RF system may selectively transmit signals of variable power via various directional antennas.

[0055] The hardware components of the described system can also include, as also referred to herein as a wireless direction finder or direction finding antenna, a direction finder. A direction finder can use the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which an object is located within it. In various embodiments, the source of the transmission may be located (e.g., via triangulation or other similar means) by combining direction information from multiple sources (e.g., one or more of other direction finders within the area, other systems, or a directional wide bandwidth antenna and / or equivalents). A direction finder can be used to detect any radio source. A direction finder may communicate with one or more (or all) of the processing modules of the RF system in any given configuration.

[0056] In various embodiments, each directional antenna and its associated circuitry can operate independently and in a manner coordinated with other directional antennas. For example, a single directional antenna can be configured to face and monitor a 90 o field of view, and the four described directional antennas can be configured to monitor a full 360 o (or approximately 360 o ) field of view. In various embodiments, additional antennas can be used (e.g., five antennas each covering 72 o , six antennas each covering 60 o , seven antennas each covering approximately 52 o , and / or equivalents), fewer antennas can be used (e.g., one antenna covering 360 o , two antennas each covering 180 o , three antennas each covering 120 o ), and / or some fields of view can similarly overlap (e.g., each antenna covering 120 ocovering four antennas, or equivalents). The antennas can also be configured to have automated or manual adjustment capabilities with respect to the vertical angle so that the antennas can be adjusted to point more downward toward the ground or more upward toward the sky. In some applications, there may be an optimal angle at which the antennas can be adjusted, based on empirical data or artificial intelligence / machine learning.

[0057] In various embodiments, the directional wideband antennas and their associated circuitry can comprise multiple physical configurations. For example, the antennas and associated circuitry can be configured to be detachable and / or stackable so that multiple antennas can be used in one defined location. For example, two antennas may be present in one location, and each antenna may be configured to monitor a 90 o field of view, and the total field of view of 180 o is monitored by the two antennas.

[0058] The RF system is advantageously modular and can enable multiple configurations for various applications. The modularity of the RF system can be found in both a particular RF system that can operate independently (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors) and multiple RF systems that can operate in cooperation with each other (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors). For example, the RF system can be implemented with one module enclosure, two module enclosures, or more than two module enclosures. In an example of two or more module enclosures, the module enclosures of the RF system may be integrated together by one or more integrated enclosures. Thus, in an implementation where the RF system may include two stacked module enclosures, they are integrated together by the integrated enclosure. In various implementations, the RF system may also include an upper enclosure and a lower enclosure, and further may include components for mounting the RF system, such as one or more mounts, clips, slides, pins, and / or equivalents. Advantageously, the RF system, based on its modularity, can be appropriately configured for a given application and can be mounted on a tripod, vehicle, building, and / or equivalent.

[0059] Each module enclosure may store one or more processing modules, one or more RF modules, and one or more power supply modules, as described herein. In various implementations, the processing module may include a system-on-module (「SOM」) aspect and thus may be referred to herein as a 「SOM module」. The module enclosure, and the associated processing module, RF module, and power supply module may each support one or more directional antennas and / or direction finders, as described herein.

[0060] In one implementation, each module enclosure includes a single processing module / SOM module, two RF modules, and a power supply module. In this implementation, each RF module supports a single-directional antenna (thus, the module enclosure supports a maximum of two directional antennas), the processing module / SOM module supports the two RF modules, and the power supply module provides power to the processing module / SOM module and the two RF modules. Thus, in a configuration where the RF system includes one module enclosure, the RF system can support a maximum of two directional antennas, and in a configuration where the RF system includes two module enclosures, the RF system can support a maximum of four directional antennas. Additionally, in any of these configurations, the RF system can support one or more direction finders via one or more components of the module enclosure (e.g., the processing module / SOM module, the RF module, and / or the power supply module).

[0061] As described above, each module enclosure of the RF system can include a processing module and an RF module that include an electronic circuit network configured to connect to and operate one, two, three, four, or more individual directional wide-bandwidth antennas. For example, each processing module can include one or more motherboards, one or more processors, one or more graphics processing units (“GPUs”), one or more software-defined radio (“SDR”) transceivers, and / or the like, and can be configured to control and operate one or more directional antennas. In various embodiments, a single module enclosure can be connected to two directional wide-bandwidth antennas, and the antennas can be installed in a single location or the antennas can be separated from each other by a distance (e.g., 5, 10, 100 feet apart) and connected to the same module enclosure.

[0062] In various embodiments, the RF system can be manufactured or assembled with a modular enclosure (among other hardware components as described herein) and one or more antennas configured to have a compact, movable, and / or adaptable design. Additionally, in various embodiments, the RF system can be manufactured within a compact and / or lightweight design such that the RF system can be installed in various positions and locations. For example, in one implementation, the RF system may have an overall height (e.g., length) of from about 20 cm to about 250 cm and a total weight of from about 10 kg to about 100 kg. Additionally, a directional wideband antenna can be disconnected from the modular enclosure of the RF system and replaced with a different type of antenna that can provide different functionality (e.g., a wider or narrower field of view such as omnidirectional, longer range sensitivity, shorter range sensitivity, and the like) and / or different physical attributes for improved mobility or adaptability depending on the application (e.g., reduced or increased size, different shape, and the like). For example, if the RF system is to be moved from the roof of a building onto a vehicle, one or more different antennas may need to be used that are configured to be securely attached to the vehicle during operation of the vehicle while at the same time meeting new requirements associated with the installation. Such requirements may include being able to monitor a wider field of view than the previous location where it was installed on the side of the building, and the wider field of view can be achieved using additional antennas and / or different antennas configured differently.

[0063] The RF system can also advantageously include a physical modular configuration and materials that efficiently dissipate heat from the components of the system and enable the RF system to operate in high temperature and / or extreme environments. For example, the upper and lower enclosures can include fans, and the upper and lower enclosures, the module enclosures, and the integrated enclosure, when applicable, can together provide cavities or channels through which air flows through the RF system to cool the various components of the RF system. The module enclosure can include, for example, a heat sink that is thermally coupled to the processing module, the RF module, and the power supply module and is within the cavity or channel, through which air can flow and cool the components of the RF system as it is pushed or pulled by the fan. The fan can flow air from the lower enclosure upward through the heat sink of one or more module enclosures and out through the upper enclosure.

[0064] The RF system can also advantageously include a physical modular configuration that provides physical protection for components, for example, for use in dirty or extreme environments. For example, each module enclosure can include cavities in which a processing module, an RF module, and a power supply source module can be installed. The cavities can be sealed or hermetically sealed from the outside environment. The module enclosures and the upper, lower, and integrated enclosures can also include additional cavities for routing connections and wiring between the various components. These additional cavities can also be sealed or hermetically sealed from the outside environment. These various cavities can also advantageously provide shielding from electromagnetic interference ("EMI") for the various components of the RF system. The EMI shielding can be provided, for example, by constructing cavities of metal and / or other EMI shielding materials or components. In addition, the upper and lower enclosures include vents, grilles, filters, or the like to prevent the entry of sand or other debris into the cavities or channels of the RF system through which air can flow.

[0065] In various embodiments, an RF system that includes various components such as a module enclosure, upper and lower enclosures, a processing module, an RF module, and a power supply module, and / or an antenna can be manufactured to take into account and withstand high temperatures and / or extreme environments. For example, specific materials such as metals can be used to dissipate heat more rapidly. Additionally, for example, the processing module, RF module, and power supply module can each include an individual housing that can provide additional environmental protection, shock protection, and thermal conductivity for the internal components (e.g., to provide thermal conductivity and heat dissipation to the outside of the individual components). Thus, the RF system can advantageously provide shielding for sensitive components from weather, sunlight (e.g., heat), and other external threats (e.g., processor throttling due to high temperatures) that can damage the device or reduce its efficiency.

[0066] In various embodiments, the RF module can include power amplifier technology. For example, the RF module can include a radio frequency (「RF」) power amplifier as an electronic amplifier that converts a low-power radio frequency signal into a higher-power signal. The RF module can also include digital and / or analog filter technology. For example, a digital filter (e.g., in signal processing) can perform mathematical operations on a sampled discrete-time signal and reduce or improve certain aspects of that signal. The RF module can also include a multiplexer to provide reception and transmission via a directional antenna.

[0067] In various embodiments, an RF system, e.g., a processing module, may also include positioning, navigation, and timing (“PNT”) capabilities. Such PNT capabilities may be provided by one or more PNT components that include, for example, among other PNT functions, global positioning satellite system capabilities (e.g., global positioning system (“GPS”) capabilities). The one or more PNT components may further provide orientation information, altitude information, angle / tilt information, and / or the like. In some implementations, the PNT capabilities may be provided, in whole or in part, within and / or by a direction finder. The PNT capabilities of the RF system may be provided by one or more PNT components and / or the like. The PNT capabilities may also be referred to herein as “positioning capabilities,” and the one or more PNT components may also be referred to herein as “positioning components” and / or the like. The PNT capabilities of the RF system may be used, for example, in object location determination and / or tracking as described herein because such functionality may depend on the position, orientation, tilt, and / or the like of the RF system (e.g., such that a correctly oriented and tilted, correctly directional antenna may be used to detect or target an object).

[0068] In various embodiments, the processing module can include machine learning components that can be used to assist the RF system in detecting and / or identifying one or more RF signals captured by the connected antenna. For example, the machine learning components can implement a machine learning (“ML”) algorithm, an artificial intelligence (“AI”) algorithm, an ML model, other programmed algorithms, and / or the like (collectively generally referred to herein as “AI / ML algorithms,” “AI / ML models,” or simply “ML algorithms,” “ML models,” and / or the like) that can be executed, for example, by one or more processors. Having the AI / ML model identify RF signals can advantageously provide significant improvements compared to conventional systems because many detected signals can include a level of interference, be relatively weak and difficult to detect, or otherwise be difficult to identify due to other factors. In various embodiments, the machine learning components can implement one or more models or parameter functions for detection / identification using one or more machine learning algorithms. The machine learning components can be configured to apply a model that can help detect the type of RF signal (e.g., the range of the RF signal, a particular frequency or combination of frequencies, and / or the like) that indicates the type of object.

[0069] In various embodiments, the machine learning model of the RF system can be programmed or trained by (1) a raw sampled signal (e.g., captured from one or more connected antennas), (2) signal annotations (e.g., frequency, time, and intensity), (3) signal filtering, and (4) model training. The trained model can then be applied by the RF system to received or captured RF signals for identification purposes. For example, in various embodiments, the application of the trained machine learning model can comprise (1) raw signal sampling, (2) application of the trained model, and / or (3) output of classes and probabilities (e.g., associated with the type of an object). Then, for example, a processing module can identify the captured RF signal and / or the type of the object based on the output of (3) classes and probabilities. Also, in various embodiments, the application of the trained machine learning model can include a preliminary step of (0) filtering baseline signals and / or harmless signals.

[0070] In various embodiments, the sampled raw signal or raw signal (e.g., RF) data can include any form of data sampling. Data sampling can include, for example, statistical analysis techniques used to select, manipulate, and analyze a representative subset of data points to identify patterns and trends within a larger data set being examined. This can enable working with a smaller manageable amount of data that can represent a larger unmanageable amount of data. Sampling can advantageously enable the analysis of data sets that are too large to be efficiently analyzed completely or within a desired amount of time. In various embodiments, the RF system may sample the raw signal over a period (e.g., a few milliseconds such as 1 ms, 2 ms, 3 ms, 5 ms, 10 ms, 50 ms, etc., or some other period). In various embodiments, other or additional sampling methods may be employed.

[0071] In various embodiments, an RF system (e.g., via one or more processing modules and / or one or more RF modules) can use the identified type of object (e.g., output from an applied machine learning model) to generate one or more new signals and transmit the new signals using one or more of the directional antennas. The new signals may be transmitted in the direction of the identified signal or one or more objects. Thus, the RF system may selectively transmit signals of variable power via various directional antennas. In various embodiments, the identified signal corresponds to one or more moving objects (e.g., vehicles, boats, aircraft, drones, and / or the like), and the transmitted signal can affect communication in the vicinity of the moving object during transmission. In various embodiments, the detection or identification of an object or the identification of a signal corresponding to an object can be received from one or more other systems or sensors. Based on the identified signal, generating a signal can be beneficial, for example, due to increased power efficiency / optimization. For example, instead of transmitting signals across all frequency bands, only signals within a specific frequency or narrow range of frequencies are transmitted instead, thereby increasing power efficiency and / or signal power and being able to reach further distances. In various embodiments, the transmitted signal can be further filtered to limit interference with sensitive harmless systems within the area.

[0072] In various embodiments, the RF system can track the identified signal or object (e.g., regardless of whether the RF system is transmitting). In various embodiments, a direction finder can likewise provide more accurate tracking. For example, a direction finder, in conjunction with one or more antennas, can identify the direction from which the detected signal is emanating (e.g., regardless of whether the antenna is transmitting).

[0073] In various embodiments, among other functions, (1) a machine learning model is used to improve detections performed by an RF system, (2) the RF system is assisted in continuing to track or starting to track an object or signal, and / or (3) another sensor or system (e.g., including other RF systems within an area) that can be connected to the RF system, provide additional data, and be used to generate a specific signal, transmit it in the direction of an object, or continue to generate and transmit it may be present.

[0074] In various embodiments, each RF system may include software that includes a machine learning model or component that can be updated via wireless communication ("OTA") or via a wired electrical connection. For example, the RF system may connect to a central processing server and receive updates. As another example, when multiple RF systems are deployed within an area, it may be beneficial for the RF systems to connect to each other and update their machine learning models over time so that each RF system has the latest available data or model (e.g., by transmitting updated models or captured relevant data so that each RF system can be trained based on additional data). In various embodiments, the RF systems may be within the same area, but the differences between each RF system's field of view may be slight, resulting in one model that is more suitable for a first environment / area than another model that may be more suitable in a second environment / area, so it may be beneficial to share only a portion of the data or machine learning model between RF systems.

[0075] In various embodiments, a series of one or more RF systems can be installed within an area. For example, a first RF system can be installed at the northeast corner of a building with one antenna facing north and another antenna facing east. Also, a second RF system can be installed at the southwest corner of the same building with one antenna facing south and the other antenna facing west. Thus, the four antennas (and / or additional RF systems and associated antennas) connected to the two RF systems can monitor a 360 o area (or approximately 360 o area) around the building and, at the same time, omit any signal detection originating from the building itself. As a result of the orientation, any of the antennas can be for transmission signals, but the transmission can be made to be away from the building so that the building and any equipment or personnel within the building are not impacted or affected by any transmission. The orientation and signal filtering described herein can further limit interference to the harmless area and equipment in an improved manner.

[0076] Furthermore, according to various embodiments, various bidirectional graphical user interfaces can be provided to enable various types of users to interact with the systems and methods described herein and, for example, generate, review, and / or modify data captured or used by one or more RF systems or connected systems.

[0077] The bidirectional and dynamic user interfaces described herein are made possible by innovations in the efficient interaction between the user interface and underlying systems and components. For example, what is disclosed herein are improved methods for receiving user input, converting and delivering those inputs to various system components, automatically and dynamically executing complex processes in response to input delivery, automatically interacting between various components and processes of the system, and automatically and dynamically updating the user interface. The interaction and presentation of data via the bidirectional user interfaces described herein can, therefore, provide cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems.

[0078] Accordingly, in various embodiments, large amounts of data may be automatically and dynamically collected and analyzed in response to user input and configuration, and the analyzed data may be efficiently presented to the user. Thus, in some embodiments, the systems, devices, configuration capabilities, graphical user interfaces, and equivalents described herein are more efficient compared to previous systems and / or equivalents.

[0079] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide improvements to various technologies and technical fields and practical uses of various technical features and advancements. For example, as described above, some existing systems are limited in various respects, and various embodiments of the present disclosure provide significant improvements over such systems and practical uses of such improvements. In addition, various embodiments of the present disclosure are inseparably linked to computer technology and provide practical uses thereof. In particular, various embodiments rely on special hardware and software components disposed in specific locations to improve energy and processing efficiency. Such features and others are closely linked to computer technology, artificial intelligence, and digital signal technology, and are thereby enabled, and would not exist without computer technology, artificial intelligence, and digital signal technology. For example, the RF systems, processing modules, RF modules, and signal detection, generation, and transmission functionality, and the interaction with detected objects / signals described herein with reference to various embodiments cannot be reasonably implemented by humans alone without a computer and the technology on which they are implemented. Further, the implementation of various embodiments of the present disclosure via computer technology enables many of the advantages described herein, including more efficient interaction and analysis with various types of electronic data and equivalents.

[0080] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein is not intended to be construed in any limiting or restrictive manner simply because it is used in conjunction with a detailed description of a particular embodiment of the present disclosure. Further, embodiments of the present disclosure may include several novel features, but any single one of them is not necessarily involved in its desirable attributes or indispensable for practicing the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein.

[0081] II. Terms To facilitate understanding of the systems and methods discussed herein, several terms are defined below. The terms defined below and other terms used herein should be construed broadly as including the provided definitions, the ordinary and customary meaning of the terms, and / or any other implied meaning with respect to the individual terms. Accordingly, the following definitions are not intended to limit the meaning of these terms, but only provide exemplary definitions.

[0082] User input (also referred to as "input"): Any interaction, data, indication, and / or the like received by a system / device from a user, a representative of the user, an entity associated with the user, and / or any other entity or object. The input is intended to cause the system / device to receive and / or store, access a data item, and / or store it, analyze, integrate, and / or otherwise use a data item, update the data to be displayed, update the way the data is displayed, transmit or access the data, and / or perform the like. Non-limiting examples of user input may include keyboard input, mouse input, digital pen input, voice input, finger touch input (e.g., via a touch sensor display), gesture input (e.g., hand movement, finger movement, arm movement, movement of any other appendage, and / or body movement), and / or the like. Additionally, user input to the system may include input via tools and / or other objects operated by the user. For example, the user may move an object such as a tool, stylus, or wand to provide input. Further, user input may include movement, position, rotation, angle, alignment, orientation, configuration (e.g., fist, flat hand, extension of one finger, and / or the like), and / or the like. For example, user input may comprise the position, orientation, and / or movement of a hand or other appendage, body, 3D mouse, and / or the like.

[0083] Data Store: Any computer-readable storage medium and / or device (or a collection of data storage media and / or devices). Examples of data stores include, but are not limited to, optical disks (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and / or equivalents), magnetic disks (e.g., hard disks, floppy (registered trademark) disks, and / or equivalents), memory circuits (e.g., solid state drives, random access memory (RAM), and / or equivalents), and / or equivalents. Another example of a data store is a hosted storage environment (commonly referred to as "cloud" storage) that can be remotely accessible and, if needed, can be quickly provisioned, and includes a collection of physical data storage devices.

[0084] Database: Not limited to, but including relational databases (e.g., Oracle database, PostgreSQL database, and / or equivalents), non-relational databases (e.g., NoSQL databases, and / or equivalents), in-memory databases, spreadsheets, comma-separated value (CSV) files, extensible markup language (XML) files, text (TXT) files, flat files, spreadsheet files, and / or any other widely used or proprietary format for storing and / or organizing data, any dataset or data structure (and / or combinations of multiple datasets or data structures). Databases are typically stored within one or more data stores. Thus, each database referred to in this specification (e.g., the description of this specification and / or the figures of this application) should be understood to be stored within one or more data stores. Additionally, the present disclosure may show or describe data as being stored within combined or separate databases, but in various embodiments, such data may be combined and / or separated in any suitable manner within one or more databases, one or more tables of one or more databases, and / or equivalents. As used herein, a data source may refer to, for example, a table within a relational database. Also, in this specification, it may be referred to as a "dataset" and / or equivalents.

[0085] III. Exemplary Operating Environments FIG. 1A illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary operating environment 100 in which one or more aspects of the present disclosure may operate, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The operating environment 100 may include an RF system 102, an optional additional RF system 106, an additional system or sensor 104, a central processing server 107, and one or more user devices 110. Each RF system 102 (and optional additional RF system 106) may include various hardware components 103 and software components 105 and may provide various functionalities as further described herein.

[0086] In various embodiments, communication between the various components of the exemplary operating environment 100 may be accomplished via any suitable device, system, method, and / or equivalent. For example, the RF system 102 and optional additional RF system 106 may communicate with each other, the additional system or sensor 104, the central processing server 107, and one or more user devices 110 via a network 112 or any combination of any other wired or wireless communication network, method (e.g., Bluetooth®, Wifi, infrared, cellular, and / or equivalent), and / or any combination or equivalent of the foregoing. As further described below, the network 112 may comprise, for example, one or more internal or external networks, the Internet, and / or equivalent.

[0087] Further details and examples regarding the various components of the RF system 102 and the implementation, operation, and functionality of the exemplary operating environment 100 are described herein with reference to the various figures.

[0088] a. Network 112 Network 112 may include any wired network, wireless network, or combination thereof. For example, network 112 may be a personal area network, local area network, wide area network, wireless communication via broadcast network (e.g., for radio or television), cable network, satellite network, cellular telephone network, or combination thereof. As a further example, network 112 may potentially be a publicly accessible network of linked networks operated by various distinct parties, such as the Internet. In various embodiments, network 112 may be a private or semi-private network, such as a corporate or university intranet. Network 112 may include one or more wireless networks such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM (registered trademark)) network, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, C-band, mmWave, sub-6 GHz, or any other type of wireless network. Network 112 can use protocols and components to communicate via the Internet or any of the other aforementioned types of networks. For example, protocols used by network 112 may include Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure (HTTPS), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), and equivalents. Protocols and components for communicating via the Internet or any of the other aforementioned types of communication networks are well known to those skilled in the art and are thus not described in further detail herein.

[0089] In various embodiments, network 112 can represent a network, such as a private or semi-private network, that can be local to a particular organization, such as a corporate or university intranet. In some implementations, devices (e.g., RF system 102, RF system 106, additional system or sensor 104, central processing server 107, device 110, and / or the like) may communicate via network 112 without traversing an external network such as the Internet. In some implementations, devices connected via network 112 may be protected from accessing the Internet, e.g., network 112 may not be connected to the Internet. Thus, for example, user device 110 may communicate with RF system 102, RF system 106, or additional system or sensor 104 without using the Internet, either directly (via wired or wireless communication) or via network 112. Accordingly, if network 112 or the Internet goes down, RF system 102, RF system 106, or additional system or sensor 104 may continue to communicate and function via direct communication (and / or via network 112).

[0090] In various implementations, various other aspects of network 112 and / or operating environment 100 may incorporate “mesh” type communication between components and / or secure communication between components. Examples of such mesh and / or secure communication are described in U.S. Patent No. 10,506,436, entitled “Lattice Mesh,” issued on December 10, 2019 (the ’436 patent), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. For example, in some embodiments as described herein, the detection and / or identification of an object and / or response to such detection and / or identification (e.g., by transmitting one or more RF signals) can be performed by one or more systems (e.g., an RF system), devices, sensors, or the like. For example, any device and / or sensor can communicate with one or more of the RF systems as described herein, and any information transmitted between devices can be used, in whole or in part (e.g., in combination with one or more of the RF system’s own detections), to initiate a response (e.g., transmit one or more RF signals).

[0091] b. Additional system or sensor 104 The additional system or sensor 104 may include, for example, various sensors and monitoring devices. For example, non-limiting examples of the additional system or sensor 104 include sensors / monitors (e.g., temperature, positioning / geolocation, PNT, direction finder, altitude, angle / tilt, level, vibration, power, pressure, and / or the like), video cameras (e.g., video, audio, position, motion, heat, and / or the like), antennas (e.g., long range, short range, and / or the like), radar devices, light detection and ranging (“LIDAR”) devices, mobile systems or sensors (e.g., sensors on vehicles or aerial drones), stationary systems or sensors (e.g., sensors on tower stations), other types of systems or sensors, and / or any combination of the foregoing. As described herein, additional examples of systems or sensors 104 that may be included within the operating environment 100 and provide information to or receive information from the RF systems 102, 106 are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020 / 0167059, titled “Interactive Virtual Interface” (the ’059 publication), filed Nov. 27, 2018, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020 / 0363824, titled “Counter Drone System” (the ’824 publication), filed May 17, 2019 (the entire disclosures of each of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein).

[0092] As described herein, RF system 102 may communicate with, provide information to, or receive information from additional system or sensor 104. Similarly, RF system 102 may communicate with, provide information to, or receive information from one or more RF systems 106. Similarly, RF system 106 may communicate with, provide information to, or receive information from additional system or sensor 104. In various embodiments, communication between various components of operating environment 100 may be accomplished via intermediate communication with a monolithic server or database (e.g., central processing server 107) that may store data associated with additional system or sensor 104. Alternatively, additional system or sensor 104 may communicate with and / or be configured via communication with user device 110. Data and information collected from additional system or sensor 104 may be provided to RF system 102, either directly or indirectly.

[0093] In various implementations, one or more of RF system 102, RF system 106, and / or user device 110, or combinations thereof, may provide an application programming interface (“API”) by which communication may be accomplished with additional system or sensor 104.

[0094] Various communications between components of operating environment 100 may be used, as described herein, via various methods to determine the location of an object (which may include a movable object). Examples of such communications and methods for determining the location of an object are provided, for example, in Publication No. ’059 and Publication No. ’824.

[0095] c. Central processing server The central processing server 107 may include one or more computing systems connected (e.g., via network 112) to, for example, RF systems (e.g., 102 and 106), additional systems or sensors 104, and / or user devices 110. For example, data and information collected from the additional systems or sensors 104, RF system 102, or RF system 106 may be provided directly or indirectly to the central processing server 107 for storage, analysis, and / or transmission to other connected systems. For example, one RF system 106 may detect / identify specific signals and / or objects, and the RF system 106 may transmit that data to the central processing service 107, which may then transmit an indication of the detected signal to other systems (e.g., RF system 102). For example, in some embodiments described herein, the RF systems (e.g., 102 and 106) may cooperate within the network and detect signals around a specified area or location (e.g., a building) because each RF system includes an antenna that faces only in one direction. In various embodiments, the central processing server 107 may communicate with and / or be configured via communication with the user device 110.

[0096] As described above, the various components of the operating environment 100 may be used to determine the location of an object (which may include a movable object) via various methods, as described herein. Examples of such methods for determining the location of an object are provided, for example, in Publication No. ’059 and Publication No. ’824. Thus, the central processing server 107 and / or the user device 110 of the present disclosure may be similar, in whole or in part, to the bidirectional virtual interface system of Publication No. ’059 in that various sensor data and location determinations may be integrated together. Such location information may further be shared among the various components of the operating environment 100, such as the RF systems 102, 106, and may enable cooperation between the components to transmit the generated signals to the object (which may include a movable object) to be located. Further, as described above, the communication between the various components of the operating environment 100 may be provided via various methods, some examples of which are described in Patent No. ’436.

[0097] In various embodiments, the central processing server 107 can comprise hardware similar to that of the computer system described herein with reference to FIG. 3. Alternatively, in various embodiments, the central processing server 107 can exist via software, thereby enabling several RF systems and any other optional additional systems or sensors to be linked together so that the systems or sensors can share information among themselves (in such an implementation, the various set components of the RF system may provide functionality similar to that of the computer system described with reference to FIG. 3). In various embodiments, the central processing server 107 can create a mesh network, an example of which is described in the '436 patent (as described above). For example, the central processing server 107 can comprise an interface and a processor. The interface can be configured to receive requests for registration from a host, and the requests for registration can include a key and a set of asset identifications ("IDs") that the host desires to claim. The processor can be configured to sign the key, generate a resource authority ("RA") certificate signed key together with the RA certificate, update the asset database with the RA certificate signed key, distribute the host public key signed with the RA certificate across the network, and provide the RA certificate signed key to the host. In various embodiments, the server can further comprise a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide instructions to the processor. The system for the mesh network can include a secure mechanism for communication between nodes (e.g., RF system 102, RF system 106, additional system or sensor 104, user device 110, and / or equivalents) that is enabled for messages having targeted destinations in both two-point mode and for public institutions where messages can be targeted to multiple destinations. The security for communication can be designed to prevent a compromised node from being used to obtain significant message traffic from the network once the node has been compromised.In addition, the network can prioritize real-time data despite variable performance of network links. The network can also ensure security by establishing secure routing using two-point authentication. The network can also strategically cache data flowing within the network so that data can be transmitted when the channel is available. The mesh network can be an improvement over other networks due to improved security. The network can be designed to overcome the potential for unstable communication links and nodes to become endangered. The mesh network can use a security system to secure messages, secure routes, and secure backfilling of messages waiting to be transmitted across the network to overcome potential problems.

[0098] In various implementations, the central processing server 107 may provide an application programming interface ("API"), whereby communication may be accomplished with the RF system 102, the RF system 106, the user device 110, and / or additional systems or sensors 104. For example, data collected or generated by the RF system 102 may be sent to the central processing server 107, combined with other data collected (e.g., from the RF system 106 and / or additional systems or sensors 104), and stored for later transmission (e.g., via the Internet using the API) to any system on or outside the network 112. In various embodiments, the central processing server 107 may also implement some or all of the machine learning and / or data or signal processing performed, for example, by the RF systems (e.g., 102 and 106).

[0099] d. Exemplary User Device The user device 110 may comprise a computing device that provides means for a user or an administrator to interact with devices (e.g., RF system 102, RF system 106, additional systems or sensors 104, or central processing server 107). The user device 110 may comprise a user interface or dashboard that connects the user to machines, systems, or devices generally used within an industrial process. In various implementations, the user device 110 comprises a computer device with a display and a mechanism for user input (e.g., mouse, keyboard, voice recognition, touch screen, and / or the like). In various implementations, the user device 110 comprises a tablet computing device, a laptop computing device, or a smartphone.

[0100] As described above, user device 110 may communicate with RF system 102, RF system 106, additional system or sensor 104, and / or central processing server 107 via direct (e.g., network - independent) wired and / or wireless communication and / or via network (e.g., local network) wired and / or wireless communication. Advantageously, according to various embodiments, a user may configure a bi - directional user interface layout and then push the bi - directional user interface layout configuration to one or more than one RF system 102 and / or 106. In various embodiments, RF system 102 and / or 106 may then remotely provide the configured bi - directional user interface to any user device 110 that connects to RF system 102 and / or 106. Advantageously, such functionality may enable a remote and unified configuration of the bi - directional user interface without requiring direct programming or interaction with RF system 102 and / or 106 or user device 110. Advantageously, according to various embodiments, the connection interface is provided by RF system 102 and / or 106, such that multiple user devices 110 may access and / or communicate with RF system 102 and / or 106 simultaneously, and the current configuration / status of RF system 102 and / or 106 may be accurately maintained / synchronized up - to - date from and between such devices.

[0101] In various implementations, a user may operate the RF system 102 (and / or, among other components of the operating environment 100, the RF system 106) via one or more user interfaces accessible via the device 110 (and / or other user interfaces of the central processing server 107). Through such a user interface, the user may examine and / or set the configuration or status of the RF system 102, receive an indication of an identified object from the RF system 102 (and / or the central processing server 107, which may provide coordination among various components of the operating environment 100), provide approval to the RF system 102 (and / or the central processing server 107, which may provide coordination among various components of the operating environment 100), initiate transmission to the identified object, examine the battery health of the RF system 102, access an automated log associated with the RF system 102 (and / or the central processing server 107), and / or perform equivalents thereof.

[0102] In various embodiments, the user device 110 may comprise a relatively efficient two-way graphical user interface. For example, the two-way user device 110 may comprise relatively few large buttons, whereby the user may choose to stop the currently active configuration, select a different configuration from a list, search for a different configuration, and / or monitor the current status of the input / output, analysis, machine learning model, and / or equivalents (such as those described above).

[0103] In addition, note that the design of computer user interfaces that are "usable by humans and easily learned" is "an important issue for software developers" (Dillon, A. (2003) User Interface Design. MacMillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Vol. 4, London: MacMillan, 453-458). This disclosure describes various embodiments of a bidirectional and dynamic graphical user interface that is the result of significant development. This significant development has led to the graphical user interface described herein, which can provide significant cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems. The bidirectional and dynamic graphical user interface includes improved human-computer interaction that can provide reduced mental workload, improved decision-making, improved capabilities, reduced job stress, and / or the like for the user. For example, user interaction with the bidirectional graphical user interface via the input described herein can provide an optimized display and interaction with a video gateway device or a controller device, enabling the user to access, navigate, evaluate, and understand analyzed, configured, received / operational data, and / or the like more quickly and accurately than with previous systems.

[0104] Furthermore, the bidirectional and dynamic graphical user interfaces described herein are enabled by innovations in the efficient interaction between the user interface and underlying systems and components. For example, what is disclosed herein is an improved method of receiving user input (including ways of interacting with and selecting the received data), converting those inputs and delivering them to various system components (e.g., RF systems 102 and / or 106), automatically and dynamically executing composite processes in response to the input delivery (e.g., executing configurations on RF systems 102 and / or 106), automatically interacting between processes of various components and systems, and automatically and dynamically updating the user interface (e.g., for displaying information related to RF systems 102 and / or 106). The interaction and presentation of data via the bidirectional graphical user interfaces described herein can, therefore, provide cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems.

[0105] IV. RF System RF system 102 can comprise hardware and software components and can be a modular, adaptable, and mobile system that includes one or more antennas. RF system 102 can, among other functionalities described in more detail herein, receive or capture external RF signals from one or more directions (e.g., the direction the antenna is facing, in conjunction with the configured field of view), determine one or more RF signals for transmission based on the received RF signals (e.g., by applying one or more machine learning models to determine the type of object), generate the determined one or more RF signals, and be configured to transmit them in a particular direction with a particular power.

[0106] In various implementations, in addition to RF system 102, one or more additional RF systems 106 can be provided (e.g., as illustrated in the exemplary operating environment 100 of FIG. 1A). Each of the RF systems 106 may generally include a configuration and functionality similar to that of RF system 102. For example, each of RF system 102 and RF systems 106 may include similar hardware components, software components, and functionality. The RF systems may also differ from each other in various respects. For example, each may include, among other features, one or more module enclosures and one or more directional antennas. The description herein provides details of the implementation of RF system 102, but each of the RF systems 106 may be implemented similarly.

[0107] Although RF system 102 is shown separately from RF system 106, in some embodiments, each RF system shown can have functionality unique to itself (e.g., location / installation, specificity of its trained data model which can be the same as or different from other RF systems, different hardware or software, different ranges of frequencies to monitor due to configured blacklists or whitelists, or other characteristics), or functionality shared among all RF systems (e.g., shared machine learning model, shared data input, shared blacklist or whitelist, or other characteristics). Thus, in some embodiments, the functionality of the RF systems can reside on one device or multiple devices. For example, the processing of data signals received by one RF system 102 can be performed by RF system 102 or a combination of RF system 102 and other RF systems 106. In some embodiments, RF system 102 can perform functions unique to RF system 102, and RF system 106 can perform functions unique to RF system 106. In some embodiments, certain combinations of features may be available to all RF systems, some features are unique to each RF system, and some features can be shared. In some applications, only one RF system may be used, and thus all available features or functionality for a single RF system would reside on that single RF system. In some embodiments, additional systems or sensors 104 can provide additional data or functionality to the RF systems as described herein. As described above, the cooperation among the various components of the operating environment 100 can occur, among other possible configurations, directly and / or via the central processing server 107.

[0108] In various embodiments, an additional RF system 106 may be associated with or disposed within an area in the vicinity of RF system 102. In various embodiments, RF systems 102 and 106 may be installed within an area and may be connected together (e.g., via network 112 or a wired connection). For example, RF system 102 may be installed at the northeast corner of a building with one antenna connected to RF system 102 facing north and another antenna connected to RF system 102 facing east. Also, RF system 106 may be installed at the southwest corner of the same building with one antenna connected to RF system 106 facing south and the other antenna connected to RF system 106 facing west. Thus, four antennas (and / or additional RF systems and associated antennas) connected to two RF systems can monitor a 360 o area (or approximately 360 o area) around the building and, at the same time, omit any signal detection originating from the building itself. As a result of the orientation, any of the antennas may be transmitting, but the transmission can be away from the building so that the building and any equipment or personnel within the building are not impacted or affected by any transmission. The orientation and signal filtering described herein can further limit interference to harmless areas and equipment in an improved manner.

[0109] In various embodiments, the RF system can be manufactured in a compact, lightweight, portable, and / or adaptable design so that the RF system can be installed in various positions and locations. For example, in one implementation, the RF system may have an overall height (e.g., length) of from about 20 cm to about 180 cm and a total weight of from about 10 kg to about 100 kg. Additionally, the directional wideband antenna can be disconnected from the module enclosure of the RF system and, depending on the application (e.g., reduced or increased size, different shape, and the like), different functionalities (e.g., wider or narrower field of view such as omnidirectional, longer range sensitivity, shorter range sensitivity, and the like) and / or different physical attributes can be provided for improved mobility or adaptability by being interchangeable with different types of antennas. For example, if the RF system is to be moved from the roof of a building onto a vehicle, one or more different antennas may need to be used that are securely attached to the vehicle during operation of the vehicle and at the same time configured to meet the new requirements associated with the installation. Such requirements may include being able to monitor a wider field of view than the previous location installed on the side of the building, and the wider field of view can be achieved using additional antennas and / or different antennas configured differently.

[0110] a. Exemplary hardware components of the RF system FIG. 1B illustrates a block diagram of exemplary hardware components 103 of an RF system 102 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition to the following description, further details of the hardware components and related functionality are described below with reference to, for example, FIGS. 4A-4D, 5A-5E, 7A-7B, 8, and 9A-9D. The hardware components 103 may include, for example, a direction detector 120, one or more directional antennas 122, a communication component 129, a cooling component 124, one or more power supply modules 141, one or more enclosure components 142, one or more RF modules 131, and one or more processing modules 130. The software components 105 of the RF module 102 may be implemented, as described herein, on various components of the RF system 102, but primarily on one or more processing modules 130, according to various implementations.

[0111] As described above, the RF system 102 is advantageously modular and can enable multiple configurations for various applications. The modularity of the RF system can be found in both the modularity of a particular individual RF system, which can operate independently (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors), and the modularity of multiple RF systems, which can operate in cooperation with each other (including cooperation with one or more additional systems or sensors). The modularity of the RF system can be enabled, in part, by the various enclosures 142 of the RF system 102, which can store or provide mounting for the various other hardware components 103.

[0112] For example, RF system 102 can be implemented with one module enclosure, two module enclosures, or more than two module enclosures. In embodiments of two or more module enclosures, the module enclosures of RF system 102 may be integrally combined together by one or more integrated enclosures. Thus, in one implementation, RF system 102 can include two stacked module enclosures that are integrally combined by an integrated enclosure. In various implementations, the RF system may also include an upper enclosure and a lower enclosure, and further may include components for mounting the RF system, such as one or more mounting portions, clips, slides, pins, and / or equivalents. Advantageously, the RF system, based on its modularity, can be appropriately configured for a given application and can be mounted on a tripod, vehicle, building, and / or equivalent.

[0113] FIG. 1D illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary implementation 180 of RF system 102, comprising two module enclosures and four directional antennas, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. However, in various implementations, the RF may include more or fewer antennas and may include a single module enclosure or more than two module enclosures. The exemplary implementation 180 of RF system 102 includes an upper enclosure 182, a first (e.g., upper) module enclosure 184, an integrated enclosure 186, a second (e.g., bottom) module enclosure 188, and a lower enclosure 190. The exemplary implementation 180 of RF system 102 further includes directional antennas 192a - 192d, a direction finder 194, and one or more control panels 196. Although not shown in FIG. 1D, RF system 102 can also include one or more mounting points or surfaces 193, such as on the bottom surface of lower enclosure 190, for mounting RF system 102.

[0114] As shown in FIG. 1D, the various enclosures of the RF system 102 may be integrally combined to form the main housing of the RF system 102. As shown, the directional antennas 192a - 192d and the direction finder 194 may be mounted on the outer (or external) surface of the enclosure by one or more coupling points or antenna mounting portions. Each of the one or more antenna mounting portions can provide one or more degrees of freedom. Each degree of freedom can reflect the ability of an individual antenna to tilt, rotate, or translate along one or more axes.

[0115] The upper enclosure can include one or more air vents 198, and the lower enclosure can include one or more air vents 199. The air vents 198, 199 can enable or facilitate the air flow within the RF system housing, such as inside the RF system 402 or within a cavity. Such air flow can be generated by one or more fans, which are located within the upper and / or lower enclosures and can promote the flow of air upward from the air vents within the lower enclosure 190, through the internal portion (also referred to herein as the inner portion) or cavity of the RF system 180, and out through the air vent 198. The internal portion or cavity of the RF system can include one or more heat sinks that can be thermally coupled to one or more modules located within the peripheral internal portion of the RF system (e.g., within the enclosures of the module enclosures 184, 188 as described herein).

[0116] Referring back to FIG. 1B, each module enclosure may house one or more processing modules 130, one or more RF modules 131, and one or more power supply modules 141. In various implementations, the processing module 130 may comprise a system-on-module (``SOM'') aspect and, thus, may be referred to herein as a ``SOM module''. The module enclosures, and associated processing modules 130, RF modules 131, and power supply modules 141 may each support one or more directional antennas 122 (e.g., antennas 192a - 192d of FIG. 1D) and / or direction finders 120 (e.g., direction finder 194 of FIG. 1D). In one implementation, each module enclosure includes a single processing module 130, two RF modules 131, and a power supply module 141. In this implementation, each RF module 131 supports a single directional antenna 122 (thus, the module enclosure supports a maximum of two directional antennas 122), the processing module 130 supports the two RF modules 131, and the power supply module 141 provides power to the processing module 130 and the two RF modules 131. Thus, in a configuration in which the RF system 102 includes one module enclosure, the RF system 102 can support a maximum of two directional antennas 122, and in a configuration in which the RF system 102 includes two module enclosures, the RF system 102 can support a maximum of four directional antennas 122. In implementations that include two or more module enclosures, the plurality of processing modules 130 may communicate directly with each other to provide the functionality described herein or may communicate with each other via a system management module. Additionally, in any of these configurations, the RF system 102 may also support one or more direction finders 120 via one or more components of the module enclosure (e.g., processing module 130, RF module 131, and / or power supply module 141).

[0117] The RF system 102 can advantageously include a physical modular configuration that provides physical protection to components, for example, for use in dirty or extreme environments. For example, each of the enclosures 142 can include cavities (which can be included within the periphery of the module enclosure) in which the processing module 130, the RF module 131, and the power supply source module 141 can be installed. The cavities can be sealed or hermetically sealed from the outside environment. The enclosures can also include additional cavities for routing connections and wiring between the various components. These additional cavities can also be sealed or hermetically sealed from the outside environment. These various cavities can also advantageously provide shielding from electromagnetic interference ("EMI") for the various components of the RF system 102. The EMI shielding can be provided, for example, by constructing cavities of metal and / or other EMI shielding materials or components. In addition, the upper and lower enclosures include vents, grilles, filters, or the like through which air can flow to prevent the ingress of sand or other debris into parts of the RF system.

[0118] Thus, in one implementation, each RF module 131 may include its own enclosure for storing its associated components, each processing module 130 may include its own enclosure for storing its associated components, and each power supply module 141 may include its own enclosure for storing its associated components. The housing of each module may be made of a thermally conductive material such as metal. These individual enclosures of the various modules may then each be installed, for example, within the cavity of the module enclosure of the RF system 102. In addition, the various electrical components of the RF system 102 can be wired through the various cavities for power and data communication with each other. For example, the processing module 130 can communicate wired with the RF module 131, and the RF module 131 can communicate wired with the directional antenna 122 and / or the direction finder 120. Such data and power wired communication can be accomplished through routing through the cavity of the enclosure and through connectors on and through the surface of the enclosure. In some implementations, one or more of the various components of the RF system 102 can communicate with each other through wireless communication.

[0119] In addition to the internal power supply module 141 described above (which can provide appropriate power to the various other modules and components of the RF system 102), the power supply module 141 may also include an external or internal main power supply module that can provide main power to the RF system 102. Such power may be from a wired main power source or a battery source. In some implementations, the RF system 102 includes an internal battery power source that provides power to the components of the RF system 102 through the power supply module 141.

[0120] i. Direction finder The direction detector 120 (also referred to herein as a wireless direction detector or a direction detection antenna) can comprise a radio direction finder ("RDF") or other direction detection device and can be a device configured to detect or otherwise identify the direction or bearing to a radio source. The direction detector 120 can include one or more antennas configured to perform direction detection. Direction detection can include the use of two or more measurements from different locations. Based on two or more measurements, the location of an unknown object (e.g., a transmitter, vehicle, drone, and / or the like) or other target can be determined. In various embodiments, the source of a transmission may be located (e.g., via triangulation or other similar means) by combining direction information from multiple sources (e.g., one or more of other direction detectors within an area, other systems or sensors, or a directional wideband antenna, and / or the like).

[0121] The direction detector 120 can be used to detect any radio source. The size of the receiver antenna of the direction detector 120 can be a function of the wavelength of the received signal. For example, a longer wavelength (lower frequency) can include a larger antenna. The ability to locate the position of a transmitter can be valuable in various applications, particularly those involving transmission object location search and identification. The direction detector 120 can include one or more phased array antennas, enabling faster beamforming for more accurate detection. The direction detector 120 can include sense antennas, dipole antennas, parabolic antennas, and / or the like. The direction detector 120 may employ one or more of phase or Doppler techniques. In various embodiments, multiple direction detectors 120 can obtain direction information from two or more suitably spaced receivers (or a single mobile receiver), and the source of the transmission may be located via triangulation.

[0122] The direction detector 120 may communicate with one or more (or all) of the processing modules 130 of the RF system 102 in any given configuration. In various embodiments, multiple direction detectors 120 may be coupled to a common processing unit (e.g., processing module 130). As described herein, in some implementations, PNT capabilities (e.g., some or part of the PNT component 14) may be provided, in whole or in part, within and / or by the direction detector 120.

[0123] ii. Directional antenna One or more directional antennas 122 can be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals. As described above, each of the directional antennas 122 may communicate electrically / wiredly with the RF module 131, and the RF module 131 may provide, among other functions, signal reception or transmission amplification. In various embodiments, the directional antennas 122 can be designed to transmit and receive radio waves in a specific direction (directional, or high-gain, or "beam" antennas). For example, in various embodiments, the directional antennas 122 can be directional and can be configured to irradiate or receive signals over an area of 80 degrees to 110 degrees (e.g., the primary reception and / or transmission angle arc of the antenna) in the direction in which the first antenna is oriented. In some implementations, one or more directional antennas 122 can each be configured to provide communication within an angle of approximately 90 o degrees, and thus, two directional antennas can be configured to provide communication within an angle of approximately 180 o degrees, three directional antennas can be configured to provide communication within an angle of approximately 270 o degrees, and four directional antennas can be configured to provide communication within an angle of approximately 360 oIt can be configured to provide communication within an angle. Other combinations of antennas and various arrays are also conceivable as possibilities. In various embodiments, the directional antenna 122 can include one or more reflectors (e.g., parabolic reflectors), horns, and / or parasitic elements, which may direct radio waves into a beam or other desired radiation pattern.

[0124] One or more directional antennas 122 can be physically positioned and configured to transmit or receive at one or more specific directions at variable power levels and frequencies such that the antennas, collectively, can provide better directivity and sensitivity in a certain direction than in other directions. Advantageously, this can enable increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources (e.g., sources not in the direction of the antenna's directivity). The directional antenna 122 can provide increased performance over a dipole antenna or an omnidirectional antenna when a better radiation concentration in a certain direction is desired. Additionally, the directional antenna 122 can be a broadband antenna that can be used to transmit, receive, or transmit and receive radio signals with a wide frequency spectrum. In various embodiments, the directional antenna 122 can be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals within a subset of the wide frequency spectrum. For example, there may be nearby devices that emit signals within a specific frequency range where the antenna is directed, and the RF system can filter the received signals (e.g., using software) so as not to interfere with the analysis of the received signals and / or filter the transmitted signals (e.g., using software or additional digital signal filtering devices) so as to minimize or eliminate interference with the operation of the nearby devices. Thus, the RF system may selectively transmit signals of variable power via various directional antennas.

[0125] In various embodiments, each directional antenna 122 and its associated electronic circuitry (e.g., associated RF module 131) can operate independently and in a coordinated manner with other directional antennas. For example, a single directional antenna 122 can be configured to face and monitor a 90 o field of view, and four of the directional antennas described (e.g., using 1, 2, 3, or 4 RF systems) can be configured to monitor a full 360 o (or approximately 360 o ) field of view. In various embodiments, additional antennas can be used (e.g., five antennas each covering 72 o , six antennas each covering 60 o , seven antennas each covering approximately 52 o , and / or equivalents), fewer antennas can be used (e.g., one antenna each covering 360 o , two antennas each covering 180 o , three antennas each covering 120 o ), and / or some fields of view can overlap as well (e.g., four antennas each covering 120 o , or equivalents).

[0126] The antenna can also be configured to have automated or manual adjustment capabilities with respect to vertical angle or tilt such that the antenna can be adjusted to point more downward towards the ground or more upward towards the sky. In some applications, based on empirical data or artificial intelligence / machine learning (e.g., the machine learning models or other models described herein), there may be an optimal angle at which the antenna can be adjusted. The ability to adjust the angle of the antenna may be provided by an antenna mounting portion that is user-adjustable. The measured angle of the antenna may have an elevation or tilt angle relative to the plane in which the RF system resides (which may be the same as a line perpendicular or normal to the side surface of the RF system on which the antenna is mounted if the RF system is mounted on a plane).

[0127] In various embodiments, with respect to the RF system 102, the corresponding one or more directive wideband antennas 122 and associated electronic circuitry can comprise a plurality of physical configurations. For example, the antenna and associated electronic circuitry can be configured to be detachable and / or stackable such that multiple antennas can be used at one defined location. For example, two antennas may be present at one location, and each antenna may be configured to monitor a 90 o field of view, and a total field of view of 180 o is monitored by the two antennas.

[0128] iii. Cooling components, environmental protection The cooling component 124 can be configured to remove heat produced by one or more of the hardware components 103. For example, the cooling component 124 can help avoid temporary malfunctions or permanent failures due to overheating of integrated circuits such as a power supply, an amplifier, a central processing unit (“CPU”), and a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), and / or other elements described herein. Other hardware components 103 described herein may not be configured to generate much heat, but more heat may still be produced than can be removed if the use of the cooling component 124 is not used. The cooling component 124 can include one or more fans, one or more heat sinks, one or more heat couplings, one or more heat pipes or conductors, and / or the like configured to allow removal of heat from the system. Thus, the RF system can advantageously include a physical modular configuration and materials that efficiently dissipate heat from the components of the system and enable the RF system to operate in high temperature and / or extreme environments.

[0129] For example, the upper and lower enclosures can include fans, and the upper and lower enclosures, the module enclosure, and the integrated enclosure, when applicable, can together provide cavities or channels for air to flow through the RF system to cool the various components of the RF system. The module enclosure can include, for example, a heat sink that is within a cavity or channel and thermally coupled to the processing module, the RF module, and the power supply module, through which air can flow and cool the components of the RF system as it is pushed or pulled by the fan. The fan can flow air upward from the lower enclosure, through the heat sink of one or more module enclosures, and out through the upper enclosure. Further, each module (e.g., the processing module 130, the RF module 131, and / or the power supply module 141) can include various thermal couplings, heat pipes or conductors, and / or equivalents therein to conduct heat to the thermal interface and thereby to the heat sink.

[0130] In various embodiments, an RF system that includes various components such as a module enclosure, upper and lower enclosures, a processing module, an RF module, and a power supply module, and / or an antenna, can be manufactured to account for and withstand high temperatures and / or extreme environments. For example, specific materials such as metals can be used to dissipate heat more rapidly. Additionally, for example, the processing module, RF module, and power supply module can each include an individual housing that can provide additional environmental protection, shock protection, and thermal conductivity for the internal components (e.g., to provide thermal conductivity and heat dissipation to the outside of the individual components). Thus, the RF system can advantageously provide shielding for sensitive components from weather, sunlight (e.g., heat), and other external threats (e.g., processor throttling due to high temperatures) that can damage the equipment or reduce its efficiency. As described above, the RF system may also include EMI protection, for example, for the various modules of the system.

[0131] In various embodiments, the cooling component 124 can include a liquid cooling element that uses a liquid (e.g., water, liquid nitrogen) to cool other hardware components 103. The use of the cooling component 124 can maintain or increase the clock speed of elements of the processing module 130 (e.g., the processor 136, GPU 138).

[0132] iv. Communication component The communication component 129 can include various components of the RF system that provide or enable communication between components of the RF system and communication with other systems and sensors. Such a communication component 129 can include, for example, wires, optical fibers, transceivers, plugs, jacks, connectors, and / or the like.

[0133] Communication component 129 includes wiring between the directional antenna 122 and the individual RF module 131. Such wiring includes a plug that provides an interface to the outside of the RF system and an associated connector on the wire from the antenna, and may be effective to insert the antenna wire into the plug to provide electrical communication between the antenna and the RF module. Communication component 129 includes similar wiring (including wires, plugs, connectors, and / or equivalents for providing electrical communication) between the direction finder 120 and one or more than one of the RF module 131 and / or the processing module 130. Communication component 129 also includes wiring or communication between the RF module 131 and the processing module 130, between multiple processing modules 130, and between the processing module 130 and an external system or sensor 104, the central processing server 107, and / or the user device 110.

[0134] In various implementations, communication component 129 may include electrical, optical, and / or electromagnetic communication channels. Communication component 129 can include components for communicating with other systems remote from the system. For example, communication component 129 can include a remote data interface such as a wireless transmitter.

[0135] In various embodiments, communication component 129 may include one or more digital data interfaces and may transmit or receive digital data via a wired or wireless link. For example, communication component 129 may include one or more wireless transceivers, one or more antennas, and / or one or more electronic systems (e.g., front-end modules, antenna switch modules, digital signal processors, power amplifier modules, and / or equivalents) that support communication via one or more communication links and / or networks. In some examples, each transceiver may be configured to receive or transmit different types of signals based on different wireless standards via an antenna (e.g., an antenna chip). Some transceivers may support communication using a low-power wide-area network (“LPWAN”) communication standard. In some embodiments, one or more transceivers may support communication using a wide-area network (“WAN”), such as a cellular network transceiver enabling 3G, 4G, 4G-LTE, or 5G. Further, one or more transceivers may support communication via a narrowband long-term evolution (“NB-LTE”), narrowband Internet of Things (“NB-IoT”), or long-term evolution machine type communication (“LTE-MTC”) communication connection with a wireless wide-area network. In some cases, one or more transceivers may support Wi-Fi communication. In some cases, one or more transceivers may support data communication via the Bluetooth® or Bluetooth Low Energy (“BLE”) standard. In some embodiments, one or more transceivers may be capable of down-converting and / or up-converting a baseband or data signal from and / or to a wireless carrier signal.In some embodiments, communication component 129 may wirelessly exchange data among other components such as the system or other parts of another system, mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, and / or the like), Wi-Fi networks, WLANs, wireless routers, cellular towers, Bluetooth® devices, and / or the like. The antenna may be capable of transmitting and receiving various types of wireless signals including, but not limited to, Bluetooth®, LTE, or 3G.

[0136] In various embodiments, communication component 129 may also comprise aspects of PNT component 140.

[0137] v. Processing module As described above, each module enclosure of the RF system can include a processing module and an RF module that includes an electronic circuit network configured to connect to and operate one, two, three, four, or more individual directional wideband antennas. For example, each processing module 130 can include a memory 132, one or more motherboards 134, one or more processors 136, one or more GPUs 138, one or more software defined radios (“SDRs”) transceivers, and one or more positioning, navigation, timing (“PNT”) components 140. The processing module 130 can be configured to receive transmissions from one or more directional antennas and provide the transmissions there through. In various embodiments, a single module enclosure can be configured with one processing module 130 and can support two directional wideband antennas, and the antennas can be installed in a single location or the antennas can be separated from each other by a distance (e.g., 5, 10, 100 feet apart) and can be connected to the same module enclosure. For example, one can face north and be installed on the north side of a building, and another can face east and be installed on the east side of the same building. Alternatively, the antennas can be installed at the northeast corner in the same location, with one antenna facing north and the other antenna facing east. In various embodiments, two module enclosures integrated together within a single RF system can be configured with two processing modules 130 and can support four directional wideband antennas, and the antennas can be installed in a single location or the antennas can be separated from each other by a distance (e.g., 5, 10, 100 feet apart) and can be connected to the same RF system.

[0138] Also, as described above, each of the processing modules 130 may include a system-on-module (“SOM”) aspect, and thus, in this specification, may be referred to as a “SOM module.” In implementations where a given RF system 102 includes two or more processing modules 130 (e.g., when the RF system includes two or more module enclosures), the plurality of processing modules 130 may communicate directly with each other and provide the functionality described herein, or may communicate with each other via a system management module that may provide cooperative functionality among the plurality of processing modules 130. In implementations that use a system management module, the system management module may provide communication with other external systems or sensors and relay those communications to the plurality of processing modules 130. In various implementations, the system management module may incorporate components and / or functionality of one or more of the processing modules such as the PNT component 140. In various implementations, when the RF system 102 includes two or more processing modules 130, one of the processing modules is designated to act as the system management module, manually and / or automatically (and thus, there is no physically separate system management module), and can provide the coordination and communication functionality described above. The system management module may also be referred to as a system controller module and / or the system management module may include a system controller module.

[0139] The memory 132 can include non-volatile memory and / or volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may include flash memory or solid-state memory. The memory 132 can store software instructions for implementing the operation of an RF system as described herein. The memory 132 can also store AI / ML models and other information required to perform object detection and signal generation.

[0140] The motherboard 134 may be referred to as a main board, a main circuit board, or some other central processing system. The motherboard 134 can include a main printed circuit board (the "PCB"). The motherboard 134 includes various communication interfaces or buses and enables communication between components of processing modules 130 such as memories 132, one or more processors 136, one or more GPUs 138, one or more SDR transceivers, and one or more PNT components 140. The motherboard 134 can provide connectors for other elements described herein. The motherboard 134 can include significant subsystems such as a central processor, input / output and memory controllers of a chipset, interface connectors, and other integrated components for general use.

[0141] One or more processors 136 can include any type of general-purpose central processing unit (the "CPU"). In various embodiments, one or more processors 136 can include any type of one or more processors including, but not limited to, a complex programmable logic device (the "CPLD"), a field programmable gate array (the "FPGA"), an application specific integrated circuit (the "ASIC"), or the like.

[0142] One or more GPUs 138 can include any type of special electronic circuitry that can perform advanced calculations that may be executed more slowly or less efficiently (or may not be executable) on a general-purpose processor. The GPU 138 includes high-speed memory and a highly parallel structure and can process large blocks of data in parallel. For example, the GPU 138 may be configured to perform other advanced calculations including performing matrix calculations, performing linear algebra calculations, performing Fourier transforms, and / or executing an ML model as described herein. Also, for example, the GPU 138 may be configured to perform many calculations per second (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 30, or more teraFLOPS per second). These GPUs 138 may include their own memory and / or processors or may execute instructions as stored in the memory 132 and / or as instructed by the processor 136. The instructions may be executed by the processor 136 and / or the GPU 138. For example, the processor 136 may instruct the GPU 138 to apply an ML model to the sampled RF data to determine, for example, the type of an object, as described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the processor 136 may support performing calculations and other determinations.

[0143] Various aspects and functionality of the processing module 130 may correspond to aspects of the system described with reference to FIG. 3, and thus, the components and functionality described with reference to FIG. 3 may also be applicable to the processing module 130.

[0144] As described herein, the SDR transceiver 139 comprises circuitry and functionality for producing, modifying, detecting, sensing, or otherwise cooperating with RF signals. For example, the SDR transceiver 139 may be configured to transmit / receive signals that can be mixed, filtered, amplified, modulated / demodulated, and / or detected using one or more components described herein. As a further example, the SDR transceiver 139 can receive instructions from the processor 136 and generate one or more signals for transmission by the RF system (e.g., to target an identified object). The SDR transceiver 139 can then generate a signal that can then be communicated to the RF module 131 for amplification and transmission via the directional antenna 122 (optionally including instructions regarding targeting and the amount of power to transmit on any applicable antenna).

[0145] The SDR transceiver 139 may include one or more analog-to-digital converters ("ADCs") and one or more digital-to-analog converters ("DACs"). For example, a received signal (e.g., received via the directional antenna and RF module and communicated to the processing module) may be passed through an ADC for further digital domain sampling and analysis as described herein. A signal to be transmitted may be generated by the SDR transceiver and passed through a DAC before being communicated to the RF module for amplification and transmission via the directional antenna. In various implementations, the ADCs and DACs may be located anywhere within the system, e.g., as separate components of the processing module and / or RF module.

[0146] In various embodiments, an RF system, e.g., processing module 130, can include PNT capabilities. Such PNT capabilities can be provided by one or more PNT components 140 that include, for example, among other PNT functions, global positioning satellite system capabilities (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) capabilities). One or more PNT components 140 may further provide orientation information, altitude information, angle / tilt information, and / or the like. In some implementations, PNT capabilities 140 may be provided, in whole or in part, within and / or by direction finder 120. The PNT capabilities may also be referred to herein as "positioning capabilities," and one or more PNT components 140 may also be referred to herein as "positioning components" and / or the like. The PNT capabilities of the RF system may be used, for example, as described herein, in object location determination and / or tracking because such functionality may depend on the position, orientation, tilt, and / or the like of the RF system (e.g., such that a correctly oriented and tilted, correctly directed antenna 122 can be used to detect or target an object).

[0147] vi. RF module Each RF module 131 can include one or more power amplifiers 126, one or more filters and / or limiters 128, and one or more multiplexers 125. As described herein, in various implementations, each RF module 131 may communicate with one directional antenna 122. Further, each RF module 131 may perform both receiving an RF signal via the associated directional antenna and causing transmission of an RF signal via the associated directional antenna. The received signal may be communicated to processing module 130 and used thereby by RF module 131 to communicate. Similarly, processing module 130 (via SDR transceiver 139) can provide a signal to RF module 131 for transmission.

[0148] A radio frequency (RF) power amplifier 126 can include an amplifier for both a received signal and signal transmission. In various implementations, the system can include multiple signal channels and thus multiple amplifiers for both reception and transmission. In various implementations, the power amplifier 126 can drive an antenna or modify a received signal such that the output can include improved gain, power output, bandwidth, power efficiency, linearity (e.g., low signal compression at rated output), input and output impedance matching, and / or heat dissipation. In various implementations, the power amplifier 126 can amplify a signal within a radio frequency range of about 20 kHz to about 300 GHz and / or can include a preamplifier that can precede other signal processing stages.

[0149] One or more filters and / or limiters 128 can primarily provide signal filtering and / or limiting for a received signal, but optionally also for signal transmission. The filter can include, for example, broadband, narrowband, high-pass, low-pass, notch, and / or other types of filters for RF signals. In some embodiments, the filter can be configured to reduce noise in the received and / or transmitted RF signal. The limiter can include various circuit elements, for example, to limit the power of a signal received by the RF system. Generally, the RF module 131 operates in the analog domain (e.g., analog signals are communicated to the RF module from a processing module / SDR transceiver), but some aspects can be in the digital domain in some implementations (e.g., if an ADC and / or DAC are provided on the RF module and / or if some filtering and / or limiting is performed by the RF module in the digital domain).

[0150] The RF module also includes a multiplexer and can provide reception and transmission via a directional antenna. For example, the multiplexer of the RF module can switch between receiving an RF signal from the directional antenna (and providing the received signal to the processing module) and transmitting an RF signal (received from the processing module) via the directional antenna. In various implementations, at least two communication links are provided between the processing module and the RF module to enable reception and transmission functionality. In various embodiments, the RF system may switch between receiving a signal and transmitting a signal periodically, intermittently, on demand, rapidly, and / or according to a program. In various embodiments, the RF system may receive and transmit signals simultaneously (e.g., one set of directional antennas and RF modules may be for reception, and another set of directional antennas and RF modules may be for transmission). In various embodiments, the multiplexer can modulate and / or demodulate the signals being received and / or transmitted.

[0151] In various embodiments, the RF system may include one or more FPGAs, or an ASIC may be used instead of a general-purpose processor or a special digital signal processor (''DSP'') with a specific parallel architecture for facilitating operations such as filtering. In various embodiments, the RF system may include one or more additional amplifiers and / or other circuit components to provide the functionality described herein.

[0152] a. Exemplary software components of the RF system FIG. 1C illustrates a block diagram of exemplary software components 105 of an RF system 102 (and / or RF system 106) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition to the following description, further details of the software components and related functionality of the RF system are described below with reference to FIGS. 10-15, for example. Software component 105 may include an RF transmission component 160, an AI / ML component 162, digital signal filtering 164, an external data system 166, a tracking component 168, power control 170, and raw signal storage 172. In various embodiments, software component 105 is implemented within one or more of the hardware components 103 of RF system 102. For example, software component 105 may be implemented by processing module 130 (e.g., may include software instructions stored in memory and executed by a processor, GPU, SDR transceiver, and / or the like of processing module 130).

[0153] In various embodiments, one or more of software components 105 may communicate with each other, share computer resources, and perform various tasks in conjunction with specific functionality such as tracking of signals or objects, signal identification, signal generation, signal transmission, training / sharing / applying of AI / ML models, reduction / increase of power output, or the like, and may comprise executable software instructions, modules, engines, and / or the like. Each task may include one component of software component 105 or a plurality of components. In various embodiments, functionality may be shared by each of software components 105. In various embodiments, functionality may be shared by software component 105 and some of the hardware components (e.g., 103) or other devices and systems.

[0154] Generally, the software component 105 of an RF system can enable the tracking of an object, the detection and / or identification of one or more RF signals captured by a connected antenna, and / or the determination and transmission of signals to an object being tracked via one or more directional antennas. For example, the software component can implement a machine learning (「ML」) algorithm, an artificial intelligence (「AI」) algorithm, an ML model, a programmed algorithm, and / or the like (collectively, generally referred to herein as 「AI / ML algorithms」, 「AI / ML models」, or simply 「ML algorithms」, 「ML models」, and / or the like), which can be executed by one or more processors, for example, via a machine learning component. Having an AI / ML model identify RF signals can advantageously provide significant improvements compared to conventional systems because many detected signals can contain a certain level of interference, be relatively weak and difficult to detect, or otherwise be difficult to identify due to other factors. In various embodiments, the machine learning component can apply one or more ML models or parametric functions for detection / identification. The machine learning component can be configured to apply one or more ML models that can help detect the type of RF signal (e.g., the range of the RF signal, a specific frequency or combination of frequencies, and / or the like) indicating the type of object.

[0155] The AI / ML component 162 (also referred to above as the "machine learning component") can be configured to store, update, and / or apply one or more AI / ML models, programmed algorithms, and / or equivalents. As will be described in more detail herein, the AI / ML models implemented in the AI / ML component can be, for example, one or more models trained to identify other characteristics of an object detected based on a frequency (or related signal property), the object, the class or type of the object, or other characteristics of the object emitted from or received by the object. In some embodiments, the AI / ML component 162 may also be involved in generating and / or training one or more AI / ML models. In various implementations, the AI / ML component is implemented by one or more of the processors or GPUs of the processing module 130.

[0156] One or more ML models may be used to determine an expected RF signal frequency range or additional signal properties based on an analysis of received or captured data. In various embodiments, signal monitoring criteria or signal identification criteria can be specified by a user, an administrator, or automatically. For example, the signal monitoring criteria or signal identification criteria can indicate the type of detection for monitoring, recording, or analyzing. By specifying the specific type of detection, resources (e.g., processing power, bandwidth, and / or equivalents) can be conserved for only the desired type of detection. Various types of detection are described in more detail herein.

[0157] Several different types of AI / ML algorithms and AI / ML models may be used by the RF system. Further, these AI / ML models may be developed, programmed, and / or trained using various methods. For example, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may use logistic regression models, decision trees, random forests, convolutional neural networks, deep networks, or others. However, other models, such as linear regression models, discrete choice models, or generalized linear models, are also possible candidates. The machine learning aspect can be configured to adaptively develop and update the model over time based on new inputs. For example, the model can be trained, retrained, or otherwise updated on a periodic basis as new received data becomes available to help keep the predictions within the model more accurate as data is collected over time. Also, for example, the model can be trained, retrained, or otherwise updated based on configurations received from a user, administrator, or other device. Some non-limiting examples of machine learning algorithms that can be used to train, retrain, or otherwise update the model include regression algorithms (e.g., ordinary least squares regression, etc.), case-based algorithms (e.g., learning vector quantization, etc.), decision tree algorithms (e.g., classification and regression trees, etc.), Bayesian algorithms (e.g., naive Bayes, etc.), clustering algorithms (e.g., k-means clustering, etc.), association rule learning algorithms (e.g., Apriori algorithm, etc.), artificial neural network algorithms (e.g., perceptron, etc.), deep learning algorithms (e.g., deep Boltzmann machines, etc.), dimensionality reduction algorithms (e.g., principal component analysis, etc.), ensemble algorithms (e.g., stacked generalization, etc.), support vector machines, reinforcement learning, and / or other machine learning algorithms, including supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms. These machine learning algorithms may include any type of machine learning algorithm, including hierarchical clustering algorithms and cluster analysis algorithms such as the k-means algorithm.In some cases, the implementation of a machine learning algorithm may include the use of an artificial neural network. By using machine learning techniques, large amounts (such as terabytes or petabytes) of received data can be analyzed to generate or implement a model with minimal manual analysis or review by one or more people, or without any manual analysis or review. In some embodiments, the algorithm may be programmed based on empirical data (e.g., in addition to or without the implementation of machine learning or artificial intelligence).

[0158] In various embodiments, the ML model of the RF system may be trained by (1) raw sampled signals (e.g., captured from one or more connected antennas), (2) signal annotations (e.g., frequency, time, and intensity), (3) signal filtering, and (4) model training. The trained model can then be applied by the RF system to RF signals received or captured for identification purposes. For example, in various embodiments, the application of the trained machine learning model can include (1) raw signal sampling, (2) application of the trained model, and (3) output of classes and probabilities (e.g., associated with the type of object). Then, for example, the processing module can identify the captured RF signal and / or the type of object based on the output of (3) classes and probabilities. Also, in various embodiments, the application of the trained machine learning model can include a preliminary step of filtering (0) baseline signals and / or harmless signals.

[0159] In various embodiments, the sampled raw signal or raw signal (e.g., RF) data can include any form of data sampling. Data sampling can include, for example, statistical analysis techniques that are used to select, manipulate, and analyze a representative subset of data points to identify patterns and trends within a larger data set being examined. This can enable working with a smaller manageable amount of data that may represent a larger unmanageable amount of data. Sampling can advantageously enable the analysis of data sets that are too large to be efficiently analyzed completely or within a desired amount of time. In various embodiments, the RF system may sample the raw signal over a period (e.g., a few milliseconds such as 1 ms, 2 ms, 3 ms, 5 ms, 10 ms, 50 ms, or some other period). In various embodiments, other or additional sampling methods may be employed.

[0160] In various embodiments, the machine learning model can be configured to monitor a specific subset of frequencies or a subset of other wave properties (e.g., automatically, or manually, or in combination, by its training). For example, the processing module can detect and scan for a set of frequencies via signals received from one or more antennas, but the processing module can limit the analysis to a specific subset of frequencies. For example, this can be the result of machine learning model training such that a certain frequency is not important or not useful and is thus ignored, freeing up processing power to analyze other frequencies. Also, for example, the subset of frequencies can be manually configured if there are harmless devices in the area that emit a certain frequency that the system does not need to identify (e.g., the device is already known / identified). In various embodiments, each antenna can be operated separately (via one or more RF modules) by the processing module and can operate similarly, with one antenna monitoring one subset of frequencies and another antenna, communicating with the same processing module, monitoring a second subset of frequencies different from the first subset. For example, this can be implemented if one antenna is pointed at a harmless device and another is not. Also, in various embodiments, the subset of frequencies can be adjusted based on time, week, month, or year. For example, during the day, a vehicle can be positioned in front of one antenna that emits signals at a specific frequency, and the vehicle can move so as not to be in front of the antenna during the night.

[0161] In various embodiments, an RF system (e.g., via one or more processing modules and / or one or more RF modules) can use the identified type of object (e.g., output from an applied machine learning model) to generate one or more new signals and transmit the new signals using one or more of the directional antennas. The new signals may be transmitted in the direction of the identified signal or one or more of the objects. Thus, the RF system may selectively transmit signals of variable power via various directional antennas. In various embodiments, the identified signal corresponds to one or more moving objects (e.g., vehicles, boats, aircraft, drones, and / or the like), and the transmitted signal may affect communication in the vicinity of the moving object during transmission. In various embodiments, the detection or identification of an object or the identification of a signal corresponding to an object can be received from one or more other systems or sensors. Based on the identified signal, generating a signal can be beneficial, for example, due to increased power efficiency / optimization. For example, instead of transmitting signals across all frequency bands, only signals within a specific frequency or narrow range of frequencies are transmitted instead, thereby increasing power efficiency and / or signal power and being able to reach further distances. In various embodiments, the transmitted signal can be further filtered to limit interference with sensitive non-harmful systems within the area.

[0162] As described above and herein, the RF transmission component 160 can be configured to cause the transmission of an RF signal and / or generate an RF signal for transmission. For example, the RF transmission component 160 may communicate with one or more antennas (e.g., the directional antenna 122 of FIG. 1B) or other transmission devices and be configured to transmit an RF signal to one or more antennas. In various embodiments, the RF transmission component 160 can include at least a portion of an SDR transceiver and / or provide instructions to an SDR transceiver that includes software and is configured to selectively cause the transmission of a signal at a desired frequency, intensity, and / or direction. The RF transmission component 160 may further be configured to receive tracking data from the tracking component 168 so as to transmit an RF signal to an object being tracked by the system.

[0163] The digital signal filtering component 164 can be configured to filter the raw RF signal data collected by the system before the RF signal data is provided to the AI / ML component 162, for example, for signal analysis based on a trained AI / ML model. For example, in various embodiments, the RF system can remove, either manually or automatically, RF signals corresponding to harmless devices, which are devices flagged as harmless, from the raw RF signal data collected, or filter the raw RF signal data based on a whitelist and / or blacklist (e.g., taken in manually and / or automatically). The digital signal filtering component 164 can also be configured to filter the raw RF signal data transmitted or emitted by the system. For example, in various embodiments, the RF system can remove, either manually or automatically, RF signal frequencies from any generated RF signals (such as those transmitted by the RF transmission component 160 or one or more antennas above it) corresponding to harmless devices, which are devices flagged as harmless, or based on a whitelist and / or blacklist (e.g., taken in manually and / or automatically). Since digital signal filtering is mainly performed within the digital domain, the received signal is typically converted to digital before this filtering, and the generated signal is typically converted to analog after this filtering. In some implementations, the filtering described above may be performed partially or entirely within the analog domain. In various implementations, digital filtering is performed by one or more than one of the processors of the processing module 130 or the SDR transceiver.

[0164] The tracking component 168 can be configured to track a detected object based on an identified RF transmission received from the detected object. Further details of the operation of the tracking component 168 are described in more detail, for example, with reference to FIG. 13, anywhere in this specification. In various embodiments, the tracking component 168 can track an identified signal or object (e.g., regardless of whether the RF system is transmitting). In various embodiments, a direction finder can similarly provide more accurate tracking. For example, a direction finder can identify the direction from which a detected signal is emanating, in conjunction with one or more antennas (e.g., regardless of whether the antenna is transmitting).

[0165] In various embodiments, among other functions, (1) a machine learning model is used to improve detections performed by an RF system, (2) the RF system is assisted in continuing to track or starting to track an object or signal, and / or (3) another sensor or system (e.g., including other RF systems within an area) that can be connected to the RF system to provide additional data can be used to generate a specific signal, transmit it in the direction of an object, or continue to generate and transmit it. For example, if an object or signal is moving from within the range of one antenna connected to a first RF system (e.g., RF system 102) to within the range of another antenna connected to a second RF system (e.g., RF system 106), the two RF systems can communicate and hand off a task (e.g., identification, tracking, transmission, and / or equivalents), and the task implemented by the first RF system can continue to be performed by the second RF system. In various embodiments, the first RF system can be shut off, and the second RF system can be turned on during the transition. In various embodiments, the first RF system and the second RF system can stay on and perform the same task over a period of time (e.g., 5 seconds, 1 minute, 10 minutes, and / or equivalents) or at least until the task is completed and both RF systems stop. In various embodiments, the first RF system can be made to reduce the power utilized to implement a task in conjunction with an increase in power by the second RF system (e.g., there may be a threshold power usage that is set to limit the total amount of power used by one or both RF systems at a time).

[0166] External data system component 166 can store any desired data for implementation, or read from any external data storage of an external device, sensor, or system (e.g., additional system or sensor 104, central processing server 107, and / or equivalents), in conjunction with the systems and methods of the present technology. For example, AI / ML models, data associated with known objects or classes of objects and / or RF signal characteristics associated with known objects or classes of objects, data defining signal content to be transmitted to detected and / or tracked objects, and the like may be stored and / or read via external data system 166. In various embodiments, external data system component 166 or an associated external data source or device may include one or more databases connected to, for example, a user device (e.g., 110), a central processing server (e.g., 107), one or more RF systems (e.g., 102 or 106), or an additional system or sensor (e.g., 104). In various embodiments, the data described above may similarly be stored in the memory of a processing module as described herein.

[0167] Power control 170 can be configured for software control of power supplied to any of various components of a system, such as any of hardware components 103 (e.g., FIG. 1B). For example, power control 170 may control selective RF transmission from antenna 122, at least in part, based on the power supplied to antenna 122 for transmission (e.g., via an RF module). Further information regarding power control is provided elsewhere in this specification, and an example is described with respect to FIG. 15.

[0168] The raw signal storage 172 can store composite data related to the raw RF signal or the raw RF signal received by the antenna. In various embodiments, the raw signal storage 172 can store, for example, raw data corresponding to the analog / digital conversion of the RF signal received at the antenna, spectrogram data corresponding to the raw data, a determined RF signal for transmission based on any received RF signal (such as determined by an AI / ML component), or any other type of data structure indicating the raw RF signal received or transmitted by one or more antennas.

[0169] In various embodiments, each RF system may also include software components for performing updates via various software, components, machine learning models or components, and / or equivalents over wireless communication ( "OTA") (or via a wired electrical connection). For example, the RF system may connect to the central processing server 107 and receive updates. As another example, when multiple RF systems are disposed within an area, it may be beneficial for the RF systems to connect to each other and update their machine learning models over time so that each RF system has the latest available data or model (e.g., by transmitting updated models or captured relevant data so that each RF system can be trained based on additional data). In various embodiments, the RF systems may be within the same area, but due to the slight differences between each RF system's field of view, which may result in one model being more suitable for the first environment / area than another model that may be more suitable in a second environment / area, it may be beneficial to share only a portion of the data or machine learning models between the RF systems.

[0170] V. Exemplary Implementations of RF Systems Figures 2A and 2B illustrate exemplary implementations and orientations of one or more RF systems (e.g., RF systems 102 and / or 106) in operation, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0171] FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary implementation and orientation 200 of a plurality of RF systems (e.g., RF systems 102 and / or 106). In FIG. 2A, a plurality of RF systems 204, 206, 208, and 210 can be installed surrounding a building or area 202 such that corresponding antennas connected to the RF systems can be oriented away from a location that can be designated as a protected area with sensitive equipment or otherwise to be omitted from monitoring by the RF systems. FIG. 2A shows one array, but an infinite number of arrays can be devised for each site where the RF systems are deployed / laid out. For example, the installation of each RF system, i.e., the hardware components (e.g., 103) or software components (e.g., 105) of each RF system, the type of data shared between RF systems, the areas or buildings to be omitted from the antenna's field of view, and other criteria can vary for each site where such RF systems are to be deployed.

[0172] In addition, in FIG. 2A, the RF systems (e.g., 204, 206, 208, and 210) are shown with one or two directional wideband antennas corresponding to each RF system. For example, RF systems 204 and 208 are shown deployed either on the roof of building 202, adjacent to building 202, or on one of the side walls of building 202. RF systems 204 and 208 also each correspond to two antennas, and each antenna o has a 90 o field of view and is oriented in a specific direction. For example, RF system 204 has one antenna oriented towards D1 and a second antenna oriented towards D2, both of which o have a 90 oWith a field of view, it faces in a specific direction. For example, RF system 206 has one antenna facing D3, RF system 210 has one antenna facing D4, and both antennas have a 90 o field of view. In various embodiments, for example, RF system 204 has one antenna with a 180 o field of view, or three antennas with a 60 o field of view, or other similar combinations, and may be achieved by two antennas showing the same overall field of view. In various embodiments, an RF system (e.g., 204, 206, 208, and 210) can include any number of antennas (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and / or equivalents), and the antennas facing specific directions can be turned on or off based on software instructions, orientation with respect to sensitive equipment, orientation with respect to other RF systems, customized preferences (e.g., based on terrain or the surrounding area), objects detected in the vicinity, or equivalents.

[0173] Advantageously, the RF system and its corresponding antenna are arranged such that building 202 and area 201 (which can be, for example, another building, a temporary building, a stationary vehicle, or other harmless or sensitive equipment, or equivalents) are located outside the field of view of the antenna. In various embodiments, data can be transmitted between RF systems so that detection (e.g., training or application of a machine learning model), tracking, and / or transmission can be coordinated, for example.

[0174] Figure 2B illustrates an exemplary implementation and orientation 250 of an RF system interacting with an object 254, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In Figure 2B, the RF system 252 can be installed at a location (e.g., near or on a building or area). In various embodiments, multiple directional wide-bandwidth antennas can be used to cover the surrounding area. For example, Figure 2B shows an RF system 252 that includes at least four antennas oriented in directions D1, D2, D3, and D4. Figure 2B shows one array, although an infinite number of arrays can be devised, and the RF system can include any number of antennas (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and / or equivalents), and the antennas oriented in specific directions can be turned on or off based on software instructions, orientation with respect to sensitive equipment, orientation with respect to other RF systems, customized preferences (e.g., based on terrain or the surrounding area), objects detected within the vicinity, or equivalents. The antennas are also shown with at least 90 o degrees of field of view. In various embodiments, for example, the RF system 252 can have eight antennas with a 45 o degree field of view, or eighty antennas with a 4.5 o degree field of view, or other similar combinations, and can be achieved by four antennas showing the same overall field of view. Also, for example, the installation of the RF system 252, i.e., the hardware components (e.g., 103) or software components (e.g., 105) of the RF system 252, the types of data shared between the RF system 252 and other RF systems or devices / sensors (e.g., 104), areas or buildings to be omitted from any of the antenna fields of view, and other criteria can vary with respect to the RF system 252.

[0175] Further, in FIG. 2B, the object 254 is shown moving in the direction D5 from the area covered by the first antenna facing the direction D1 to the area covered by the second antenna covering the direction D2. In various embodiments, power can be provided to the first antenna to improve the performance of the first antenna related to the reception / transmission of RF signals in the direction D1 while the object 254 is within the area covered by the first antenna. As the object 254 moves along the direction D2 into the area covered by the second antenna, the power can be routed from the first antenna to the second antenna so that the RF system 252 can continue to effectively receive / transmit RF signals related to the object 254. In various embodiments, the power can be gradually decreased with respect to the first antenna (e.g., a 2 / 3 power signal shown in the direction D1 corresponding to the first antenna), and at the same time, can be gradually increased with respect to the second antenna (e.g., a 1 / 3 power signal shown in the direction D2 corresponding to the second antenna). In various embodiments, the power can be binary, and the first antenna can be turned off as the second antenna is turned on. In various embodiments, the power for each antenna can be controlled by one or more computing processing modules of an RF system (or one or more RF systems) such as those described herein based on the movement of the identified / tracked object (e.g., 254) so that the performance can be optimized (e.g., based on the speed of the identified / tracked object, the distance of the identified / tracked object compared to the RF system performing the tracking, the nature of the tracked signal (e.g., intensity, wavelength, frequency, or the like), or the like). Additionally, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2B, the third antenna facing the direction D3 and the fourth antenna facing the direction D4 are shown to be deactivated or turned off because the object 254 is not within the area covered by the third antenna or the fourth antenna. In various embodiments, all antennas can similarly be turned on or off simultaneously.

[0176] In another exemplary arrangement not shown in the figures, the first RF system can be installed at the northeast corner of a building with one antenna facing north and another antenna facing east. Also, the second RF system can be installed at the southwest corner of the same building with one antenna facing south and the other antenna facing west. Thus, the four antennas (and / or additional RF systems and associated antennas) connected to the two RF systems can monitor a 360 o area (or approximately 360 o area) surrounding the building and, at the same time, omit any signal detection originating from the building itself. As a result of the orientation, any of the antennas can be a transmission signal, but the transmission can be directed away from the building so that the building and any equipment or personnel inside the building are not impacted or affected by any transmission. The orientation and signal filtering described herein can further limit interference in the safe area and equipment in an improved manner.

[0177] Advantageously, an infinite number of other arrangements of one or more RF systems and one or more directional antennas per RF system (in addition to the embodiments provided above) are possible with the modular and configurable RF system of the present disclosure.

[0178] VI. Additional Exemplary Hardware-Related Features and Functionality The descriptions of FIGS. 4A-4D, 5A-5E, 6, 7A-7B, 8, and 9A-9D below provide further details regarding the implementation, components, and related functionality of the RF system. It should be understood that different numbers may be used to describe various aspects of the RF system compared to the previous description, but similar aspects and components may include similar or identical functionality. Thus, the aspects described above may be applicable to the aspects described below, and vice versa.

[0179] FIG. 4A illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary implementation of an RF system with one module enclosure, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The illustrated implementation includes an RF system 402 (which may correspond to the RF system 102 described above in an implementation having a single module enclosure), comprising an upper enclosure 410, a module enclosure 412, a lower enclosure 414, directional antennas 406a - 406b, and a direction finder 408. The upper enclosure 410 can be disposed above the module enclosure 412. Additionally or alternatively, the lower enclosure 414 can be disposed below the module enclosure 412. As shown, the upper enclosure 410 and the lower enclosure 414 are each adjacent to the module enclosure 412. Additionally, the respective surfaces of the upper enclosure 410 and the lower enclosure 414 are shown to be coplanar with the corresponding surfaces of the module enclosure 412. Together, the upper enclosure 410, the module enclosure 412, and the lower enclosure 414 may form a "modular assembly" or main housing of the RF system.

[0180] The upper enclosure 410 can be disposed above the module enclosure 412. Additionally or alternatively, the lower enclosure 414 can be disposed below the module enclosure 412. As shown, the upper enclosure 410 and the lower enclosure 414 are each adjacent to the module enclosure 412. Additionally, the respective surfaces of the upper enclosure 410 and the lower enclosure 414 are shown to be coplanar with the corresponding surfaces of the module enclosure 412. Together, the upper enclosure 410, the module enclosure 412, and the lower enclosure 414 may form a "modular assembly" or main housing of the RF system.

[0181] The upper enclosure 410 can include one or more air vents 416. The air vents 416 can enable or facilitate the air flow within the modular assembly, such as inside the RF system 402 or within a cavity. Such air flow can improve the cooling of one or more portions of the RF system 402 within the modular assembly as described below. The inner portion may be sealed (e.g., liquid seal, fluid seal) from the outer portion or internal cavity of the RF system 402. Since the outer portion can surround or constitute the periphery of the inner portion of the RF system, it may be referred to herein as the peripheral portion of the RF system 402. The peripheral / outer portion may surround, for example, a system module that stores, for example, a heat sink, an inner portion. The seal may include a hermetic seal. The seal may facilitate a more efficient air flow into and out of the air vents 416 and / or air vents 430 (shown in FIG. 4B). For example, the outer portion sealed from the inner portion may include, for example, components and areas 436, 438a-d, and 428 (described below with reference to FIG. 4B). The seal may be secured by a mechanism (e.g., a screw with a rubber O-ring, welding, a cap, a pin, or the like) that promotes one or more sealed compartments and may include a metal, plastic, or other impermeable or otherwise resistant material. The seal may include a hermetic seal so that the system module and other internal components of the RF system are sealed from the outer environment. In some embodiments, a filter is installed in front of the air vents 416 and / or 430 to limit the entry of debris into the inner portion (e.g., the location where components 440a-d, 424, 246, 432, 434, and / or 442 are located), which inner portion may be referred to herein as a channel. For example, the filter may limit or prevent dust or rock from entering the inner portion and damaging the heat sink fins.In addition, or alternatively, the seal can reduce the accumulation of sand or other debris into the outer portion of the module enclosure 412, which can be a location where important system modules 438a - 438d can be placed.

[0182] As shown, the air vents 416, 430 are each formed (e.g., molded) as part of the upper and lower enclosures 410, 414. However, in some embodiments, the air vents are coupled to the upper / lower enclosures. The upper / lower enclosures can include coupling elements (e.g., screws, pins, snaps, adhesives, and / or the like) that couple the upper / lower enclosures to the module enclosure 412. Coupling elements such as wing nuts, winged screws, and the like can be configured to be manually adjustable.

[0183] The module enclosure 412 can be a housing configured to enclose or store one or more than one of the hardware elements described herein, or other hardware components that can benefit from the described configurations. The module enclosure 412 can be configured to protect the internal elements of the RF system 402 from harsh weather conditions, environmental hazards, interference from wildlife, electromagnetic interference (“EMI”), and the like. The module enclosure 412 can generally be symmetric about one or more than one axis. For example, the module enclosure 412 can exhibit substantial reflection and / or rotational symmetry about an axis parallel to the orientation of the major surface of one or more than one of the directional antennas 406a - 406b, such as a substantially vertical axis. The module enclosure 412 can generally have the shape of a rectangular prism (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4A), triangular prism, cylinder, or part of some other regular polyhedron. The module enclosure 412 can have one or more than one regular and / or irregular shapes.

[0184] The upper enclosure 410, the module enclosure 412, and the lower enclosure 414 that constitute the main housing of the RF system may generally be made of a rigid material such as metal or a tough material. The main housing may generally be made of aluminum, but may also incorporate sides made of other materials such as plastic or rubber. The main housing may generally be made of a material or include a coating for protecting internal components from EMI, weather, and / or other harmful conditions.

[0185] Each of the directional antennas 406a - 406b can have a generally elongated and / or planar shape. For example, the directional antennas 406a - 406b can have main surfaces that face each other and each have a generally rectangular shape. Other shapes of the main surfaces are also possible, such as irregular shapes that can include triangles, pentagons, other polygons, circles, ellipses, or combinations of two or more shapes. Each edge of the directional antennas 406a - 406b can abut an adjacent or neighboring edge at a point or along a smooth (e.g., curved) connection. As shown in FIG. 4A, for example, the connection may be curved. In some embodiments, the directional antennas 406a - 406b have main surfaces that are shaped like organic objects such as shark fins and / or bird feathers.

[0186] The major surfaces of the directional antennas 406a - 406b can be coated with a protective coating and / or covering. Such protection can help protect the directional antennas 406a - 406b from outdoor elements such as the sun, adverse weather conditions, wildlife, and the like. The coating and / or covering may be configured to facilitate proper and / or improved reception and / or transmission of RF signals, or alternatively, to limit interference or attenuation in the reception and / or transmission of RF signals. For example, the covering may include a plastic covering, a rubber covering, a fiberglass covering, or the like. Additionally, or alternatively, the protective coating and / or covering may help obscure the directional antennas 406a - 406b so that they are not detected by human or animal sensing or even automated sensing techniques.

[0187] The directional antennas 406a - 406b can be configured for rapid transport and deployment. For example, the directional antennas 406a - 406b can be sized so that they can be lifted and transported by an average human. Additionally, or alternatively, the directional antennas 406a - 406b may be configured to be assembled without the need for additional tools. Each of the directional antennas 406a - 406b may be connectable and / or disconnectable from a module enclosure 412 (as shown in FIG. 4A) or some other part of the RF system 402. For example, each of the directional antennas 406a - 406b may be connectable to the RF system 402 via a snap fit, a friction fit, a screw fit, an adhesive, a sliding mechanism (e.g., using gravity and corresponding physical structures to hold the directional antenna in place), and / or an interference fit.

[0188] As shown, the directional antennas 406a - 406b are each coupled to the RF system via respective antenna mounting portions 420a - 420b. The antenna mounting portions 420a - 420b can include one or more coupling points between each of the directional antennas 406a - 406b and the remainder of the RF system 402 (e.g., the module enclosure 412). Each of the one or more coupling points can have one or more degrees of freedom. Each degree of freedom can reflect the ability of an individual directional antenna 406a - 406b to rotate about or translate along one or more axes. For example, each coupling point can have up to six degrees of freedom in some embodiments. As shown, the antenna mounting portions 420a - 420b include a single coupling point and two degrees of freedom, namely, a first degree of freedom associated with angular rotation and a second degree of freedom associated with axial translation. Axial translation can enable an individual directional antenna 406a - 406b to extend further from and / or move closer to the module enclosure 412. Other arrangements are also conceivable, some of which are described with respect to FIG. 5E below.

[0189] The directional antennas 406a - 406b may each be associated with an individual range of motion, such as an angular range of motion with respect to the respective default positions of the individual directional antennas 406a - 406b. For example, the directional antennas 406a - 406b may each have a range of motion corresponding to approximately 0 degrees, approximately 2 degrees, approximately 4 degrees, approximately 5 degrees, approximately 8 degrees, approximately 10 degrees, approximately 12 degrees, approximately 15 degrees, approximately 20 degrees, approximately 30 degrees, approximately 35 degrees, approximately 40 degrees, approximately 45 degrees, approximately 50 degrees, approximately 60 degrees, any angle value therebetween, or any range having endpoints therewithin. For example, in some embodiments, the respective angular ranges of the directional antennas 406a - 406b are from approximately 0 degrees to approximately 30 degrees. Other ranges of motion (or ranges thereof) are also conceivable. The measured angle may have an elevation or tilt angle as compared to the plane in which the RF system resides (which may be the same as the line perpendicular or normal to the side surface of the RF system on which the antenna is mounted if the RF system is mounted on a plane).

[0190] The RF system 402 can, in addition or alternatively, include one or more direction finders 408. The direction finders 408 can be disposed on the upper surface of the RF system 402, such as on the upper surface of the upper enclosure 410 and / or the air vents 416. In other embodiments, the direction finders 408 may be disposed anywhere, such as extending from the module enclosure 412 or the bottom surface of the RF system 402. The direction finder 408 can include a directional antenna and / or a receiver. The direction finder 408 may be configured to be directed in one or more directions (e.g., 360 around the RF system 402 o(including). While in a particular direction, the direction detector 408 can identify the received RF signal strength. In some embodiments, only the magnitude of the signal is used to determine the direction of the RF transmitter. Additionally, or alternatively, the direction detector 408 may be able to automatically determine the direction of the RF transmitter using other variables such as changes in signal strength. The data collected via the direction detector 408 can be used alone or in conjunction with data collected via one or more directional antennas (e.g., directional antennas 406a - 406d) to determine the location from which the detected signal is emitted.

[0191] The direction detector 408 may include a motor configured to automatically adjust the orientation of the direction detector 408. The direction detector 408 may be able to use knowledge of its radiation pattern to improve its own accuracy using a trained machine learning model as described herein.

[0192] The direction detector 408 may comprise a Doppler system coupled to an omnidirectional antenna configured to be rotated along a circular circumference. In such embodiments, as the direction detector 408 moves towards the RF source, the Doppler shift will increase the received frequency, but when the direction detector 408 moves away from the RF source, the received frequency will decrease as the direction detector 408 moves away from the RF source. The change in frequency can be used to determine the direction of the RF source. The change in frequency may be calculated by demodulating the RF signal (e.g., frequency modulation ("FM") demodulation).

[0193] In some embodiments, multiple antennas may be used within the direction detector 408 or along an array pattern (e.g., circularly) on the direction detector 408. Each of the multiple antennas may be sampled in a pattern (e.g., continuously around a circle).

[0194] The direction detector 408 may use single - phase pulses or sum - and - difference techniques. The plurality of antennas of the direction detector 408 may be connected to generate sum - and - difference signals along a target angular range (e.g., 180 o , 270 o , 360 o , and / or equivalents). The RF system 402 may calculate the ratio of the sum - and - difference signals based on the sum - and - difference pattern. Based on this information, the RF system 402 may determine the direction of the RF transmitter. Additionally, or alternatively, the direction detector 408 may identify phase information and determine the side of the sum pattern associated with the RF transmitter. This approach may have advantages by enabling the direction detector 408 to determine the direction of the transmitter after receiving one pulse, which may have a duration of only a few microseconds.

[0195] The direction detector 408 may include omnidirectional antennas. In some embodiments, the omnidirectional antennas may include two or more crossed - loop antennas. An array of omnidirectional antennas may form an array (e.g., an Adcock array) and may be used to more accurately and / or quickly identify the RF source. Other arrays are also possible.

[0196] The RF system 402 can include one or more mounting surfaces 448. As shown, the mounting surface 448 is on the bottom surface of the lower enclosure 414, but the mounting surface 448 may be located anywhere. The mounting surface 448 can be configured to be mounted on another modular assembly and / or a mounting portion such as a tripod or other mounting system. The mounting surface 448 may be on the lower surface of the air vent 430 (shown in FIG. 4B). In some cases, the mounting surface 448 may include an area surrounding the air vent 430 on the lower enclosure 414.

[0197] The RF system 402 can include other features such as a control panel 422. The control panel 422 may include one or more buttons, levers, and / or interface elements that may enable a user to view and / or modify details related to the RF system 402. For example, the control panel 422 may include an indicator that indicates the status of the RF system 402 (e.g., on / off, active / inactive, transmit / receive, and / or the like). In some embodiments, the control panel 422 can include a touch screen interface such as a graphical user interface. The user may be able to use the touch screen to modify the status of the RF system 402. In some embodiments, the control panel 422 can include options for turning the RF system 402 off or on. In some embodiments, the control panel 422 can include options for activating the "search mode" and other special or custom operation modes described herein. For example, one or more of the directional antennas (e.g., directional antennas 406a - 406d) can be deactivated or activated.

[0198] The RF system 402 may have an overall height (e.g., length) of from about 20 cm to about 180 cm. The RF system 402 may have a total weight of from about 10 kg to about 75 kg.

[0199] Figure 4B illustrates a cross-section along a vertical plane of a perspective view of an exemplary implementation of the RF system of Figure 4A. The RF system 402 can include an upper enclosure vent cavity 424 within the air vent 416, one or more upper enclosure cavities 428, one or more lower enclosure cavities 436, and a lower enclosure vent cavity 432 within the air vent 430. One or more of the upper enclosure cavities 428 and / or the lower enclosure cavities 436 may generally form a loop centered about the center or inner portion of the RF system 402 (e.g., the module enclosure 412). The inner portion may generally include a part of the RF system 402 that is disposed within a plurality of internal structures such as walls or even thermal interfaces 444a - 444d. In some embodiments, the upper enclosure cavity 428 and / or the lower enclosure cavity 436 can be a part of the inner portion of the RF system 402 and can serve to provide additional space for air flow such that system modules 438a - 438d can be cooled. For example, in such a configuration, the surfaces of the upper enclosure cavity 428 and / or the lower enclosure cavity 436 adjacent to the system modules 438a - 438d can be sealed.

[0200] The RF system 402 can house one or more cooling fans, such as the upper enclosure fan 426 and / or the lower enclosure fan 434. The upper enclosure fan 426 may generally be disposed within the upper enclosure 410 and / or the upper enclosure vent cavity 424. The upper enclosure fan 426 may be disposed in the vicinity of the air vent 416 and may facilitate the flow of heated air from the interior of the RF system 402 to the outside through the air vent 416. Additionally, or alternatively, the lower enclosure fan 434 may generally be disposed within the lower enclosure vent cavity 432 and / or the lower enclosure cavity 436. The lower enclosure fan 434 may be disposed in the vicinity of the air vent 430 and may facilitate the flow of heated air from the air vent 430 to the outside. The lower enclosure fan 434 may be configured to draw air into the air vent 430 and push the air upward through the heat sinks 440a - 440d in the inner portion and out through the air vent 416. The upper enclosure fan 426 may be configured to draw air in the same direction as the lower enclosure fan 434. Additionally, or alternatively, the upper enclosure fan 426 and the lower enclosure fan 434 may be configured to rotate in the same direction. Drawing air into and upward through the inner portion can be beneficial as it works in concert with the natural flow of warmer air relative to the ambient air. Additionally, this arrangement can allow air to exit through the air vent 416, which can also help reduce the amount of sand or other debris entering the inner and / or outer portions of the RF system 402. In some embodiments, it may be beneficial to create a positive pressure system (e.g., both fans blow air into the inner portion of the RF system 402). In some embodiments, it may be beneficial to create a negative pressure system (e.g., both fans blow air out of the inner portion of the RF system 402).

[0201] One or more system modules 438a - 438d may be stored within at least a portion of the module enclosure 412. As shown in FIG. 4B, the system modules 438a - 438d are disposed within an outer portion inside the module enclosure 412. The outer portion generally surrounds an inner portion of the RF system 402. The outer portion may include wiring or other data / power connections that couple one or more system modules 438a - 438d to each other, as described herein (e.g., FIG. 6). To enable the wiring or other data / power connections, the upper enclosure cavity 428, the lower enclosure cavity 436, and the module enclosure cavity 446 may include openings through which wires may extend and / or printed circuit boards (“PCBs”) may be positioned to couple various modules, fans, control panels, and external connections (e.g., connections to antennas, direction finders, external power, and / or the like) together. The external connections may include various ports and associated connectors for connecting data and / or electrical communication between components outside the module enclosure (e.g., antennas, direction finders, external power, and / or the like) and components inside the module enclosure (e.g., various modules). The ports may be capable of allowing power cables and / or wires to be inserted therein and may provide a waterproof or other weather-resistant seal. The system modules 438a - 438d may include an RF module 438a, a SOM module 438b, an RF module 438c, and a power supply module 438d. Other modules are also possible. The following description, which refers to specific modules and aspects of the RF system, may be understood to apply equally to other implementations of those modules and aspects.

[0202] The RF module 438a can include, for example, an amplifier and / or a multiplexer. The RF module 438a can communicate with and / or otherwise be coupled to a corresponding directional antenna 406a (not shown in FIG. 4B). The RF module 438a can include a multi-channel (e.g., 4-channel) power amplifier configured to amplify the RF signal output by the directional antenna 406a. The power amplifier may operate at frequencies from about 70 MHz to about 6 GHz. The RF module 438a can be configured to output a wireless signal of at least about 20 W per channel. The multiplexer can switch between a transmission mode and a reception mode. Additionally or alternatively, the multiplexer can modulate the signal being transmitted according to a target signal amplitude and / or frequency. The multiplexing may be performed in combination with one or more other elements of the RF system 402, such as the SOM module 438b (see, e.g., the discussion of the SOM module 538b in FIG. 6). The multiplexer can include a receive channel switch matrix that enables multiplexing of the current functions of the directional antenna 406a associated with the RF module 438a. The RF module 438c can include one or more of the features described above. The RF module 438c may be coupled to the directional antenna 406b in one or more ways as described above with respect to the manner in which the RF module 438a is coupled to the directional antenna 406a.

[0203] As described above, the RF system can include one or more processing modules. The processing module may comprise a system-on-module (the "SOM") aspect and, thus, may be referred to herein as the "SOM module." The SOM module 438b can include the integration of digital and analog functions on a single processing board. The SOM module 438b can include a processor, memory, computer-executable code, and / or other elements configured to perform certain functions described herein. In some embodiments, the SOM module 438b can include a trained machine learning model trained to identify a target RF signal that may originate from a source of interest. The trained machine learning model may, in addition or alternatively, be stored within one or more other components described herein. The SOM module 438b can include a software-defined radio (the "SDR") transceiver configured to perform one or more functions conventionally performed by different types of hardware (e.g., signal mixing, signal filtering, signal amplification, signal modulation and / or demodulation, signal detection, and / or the like). The SOM module 438b receives one or more attributes of an RF signal from one or more elements of the RF system 402 (e.g., from the directional antenna 406a and / or the directional antenna 406b) and can determine the source direction (e.g., as described above, from the direction finder 408, from the directional antenna, and / or via communication with other aspects of the operating environment 100), the source amplitude, the source frequency, the source identifier, and / or another aspect of the source. Based on one or more of the source direction, source amplitude, source frequency, and / or source identifier, the SOM module 438b uses the ML model to determine the type of target and determine one or more signals for transmission to the target object. Further, the SOM module 438b can transmit instructions and / or data associated with one of those aspects to another element of the RF system 402, an element of a different RF system 402, and / or a remote computing device (e.g., a remote server).Thus, the SOM module 438b can help identify a source and / or transmit information based on that identification. In some embodiments, the SOM module 438b can modify the direction, amplitude, frequency, and / or other attributes of RF signals transmitted by the directional antennas 406a - 406b. In some embodiments, the RF system 402 can modify the direction of the transmitted RF signals based on the identified attributes of the received RF signals. The directional antennas 406a - 406b may be configured to receive signals in a relatively high bandwidth and / or angular arc in order to identify the source signal. Additionally, or alternatively, the directional antennas 406a - 406b may be configured to transmit RF signals in a relatively narrower or more precise bandwidth and / or angular arc in order to interfere with or jam the target source signal or the hardware emitting the source signal. In some embodiments, the primary reception and / or transmission angular arc of one of the directional antennas is about 80. o (80 degrees) to about 110 o (110 degrees) may be, but other arcs are also possible.

[0204] The power supply module 438d can provide sufficient power to one or more than one of the other system modules 438a - 438c and / or other elements of the RF system 402 to perform its individual functions. The power supply module 438d can include and / or be coupled to a power source (e.g., a battery, grid power, generated power). The power supply module 438d can be coupled to an external and / or internal power source (e.g., in some embodiments, the RF system includes an internal battery power source that provides power to the components of the RF system via the power supply module). The power supply module 438d can convert power from one characteristic to another. For example, the power supply module 438d may convert AC power to DC power and can output DC power at multiple voltages and amperages as required by various components of the RF system 402. Additionally, or alternatively, the power supply module 438d can output at least 1,200W of power at a voltage of about 16 - 50V. Additionally, or alternatively, the power supply module 438d can output at least 25A of power. The power supply module 438d may be configured to transmit data to and / or from one or more than one of the other system modules 438a - 438c. In some embodiments, the power supply module 438d may be replaced by another system module, and the RF system 402 can be connected to power via an electrical wire or to another power source (e.g., another RF system).

[0205] System modules 438a - 438d and power / data communication may be disposed at least partially or entirely within the outer portion of the RF system 402. Since each of the system modules 438a - 438d can produce heat that may need to be released to the outside air, having this outer portion arrangement can enable air to flow through the inner portion of the RF system 402. Inside the inner portion, the RF system 402 can include one or more heat sinks 440a - 440d configured to allow heat from the system modules 438a - 438d to be transferred from the system modules 438a - 438d to one or more individual heat sinks 440a - 440d. Each of the system modules may include an individual housing, which may be made of a thermally conductive material such as metal. One or more of the heat sinks 440a - 440d may be disposed at least partially within the inner portion of the module enclosure 412. The heat sinks 440a - 440d can be thermally coupled (e.g., adjacent) to corresponding thermal interfaces 444a - 444d. Each of the thermal interfaces 444a - 444d can be coupled to a corresponding one or more system modules of the system modules 438a - 438d. For example, the thermal interface 444a may be thermally coupled to the RF module 438a, and the thermal interface 444b may be thermally coupled to the SOM module 438b. The thermal interfaces can be made of a thermally conductive material such as metal. Each of the heat sinks 440a - 440d can be shaped to increase the radiation of heat therefrom and / or to facilitate the transfer of heat such that an increased air flow therethrough moves away from any corresponding elements via convection, conduction, and / or radiation. For example, one or more of the heat sinks 440a - 440d can include a zipper fin shape. The zipper fin shape can include a plurality of peaks and valleys, which can provide high structural integrity while providing high heat transfer. The heat sinks 440a - 440d can include, for example, a plurality of metal (e.g., copper, aluminum, iron, and / or equivalents) fins.In some embodiments, the fins are each plated with a corrosion-resistant layer such as metal (e.g., nickel plating). The upper enclosure fan 426 and / or the lower enclosure fan 434 can help promote the movement of air through the central portion of the RF system 402 to improve heat transfer away from the system modules 438a - 438d. In some embodiments, the RF system 402 can promote the air flow through the heat sinks 440a - 440d, such as by directing the air flow through the structure of the heat sinks 440a - 440d instead of through the gaps between the four heat sinks 440a - 440d, and includes a plug 442. The plug 442 may be disposed on the axis of the RF system 402. In some embodiments, the system modules include additional thermal management features and can direct heat to the surfaces that touch the thermal interfaces 444a - 444d. The system modules can also include a thermal paste or material installed between the thermal interfaces 444a - 444d and the adjacent surfaces of the corresponding system modules to improve the heat transfer efficiency.

[0206] FIG. 4C shows a side view of the RF system 402 shown in FIG. 4A. FIG. 4D shows a cross-section of the top view of the RF system 402 of FIG. 4A along the section 4D shown in FIG. 4C. As shown in FIG. 4D, the RF system 402 can include one or more module enclosure cavities 446. The module enclosure cavities 446 can include communication links (e.g., wiring) and / or other elements described herein.

[0207] As shown in FIG. 4D, one or more of the heat sinks 440a-440d (e.g., heat sink 440a and heat sink 440c) may have heating elements (e.g., fins) that are longer (or otherwise of a larger surface area) than the others of the heat sinks 440a-440d (e.g., heat sink 440b and heat sink 440d). The heating elements, with a larger surface area, may facilitate improved heat transfer and / or dissipation. Thus, system modules 438a-438d, such as RF module 438a and RF module 438c, may produce a greater amount of heat and, accordingly, may be coupled to corresponding heat sinks (heat sink 440a and heat sink 440c) that have a larger surface area than the other combined heat sinks.

[0208] FIG. 5A illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary implementation of an RF system with two module enclosures, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The illustrated implementation includes an upper enclosure 410, a module enclosure 412, an integrated enclosure 504, a second module enclosure 512, a lower enclosure 414, directional antennas 406a - 406b, and a direction finder 408, and may correspond to the RF system 102 described above in an implementation having two module enclosures (RF system 502). The module enclosure 512 may include one or more features of the module enclosure 412. The module enclosure 512 can be disposed between the integrated enclosure 504 and the lower enclosure 414. Additionally, or alternatively, the module enclosure 412 can be disposed between the upper enclosure 410 and the integrated enclosure 504. The RF system 502 can represent a dual or dual - module assembly. Other RF systems 502 can, in some embodiments, include triple, quadruple, or higher - order module assemblies in some embodiments. Higher - order module assemblies can include additional module enclosures and integrated enclosures between adjacent or contiguous module enclosures. Higher - order module assemblies can also optionally include additional directional antennas. As described above, the RF system 502 can be configured to be manually assembled. For example, a user may be able to convert an RF system 402 (e.g., a single - module assembly) to an RF system 502 (e.g., a dual - module assembly) without the need for machinery or a particular tool (e.g., an unusual tool).

[0209] The integrated enclosure 504 can include coupling elements (e.g., screws, pins, snaps, adhesives, and / or the like) that couple the modular enclosures to the integrated enclosure. Coupling elements such as wing nuts, winged screws, and the like can be configured to be manually adjustable.

[0210] The RF system 502 may have an overall height (e.g., length) of about 30 cm to about 250 cm. The RF system 502 may have a total weight of about 35 kg to about 100 kg.

[0211] FIG. 5B illustrates a cross-section along a vertical plane of a perspective view of an exemplary implementation of the RF system of FIG. 5A. Within the integrated enclosure 504, one or more integrated enclosure cavities 506 and integrated enclosure vent cavities 508 may be included. The integrated enclosure cavities 506 may be discrete or may be integrated within a single cavity. In some embodiments, the integrated enclosure cavities 506 form (e.g., along a vertical axis) a cavity that surrounds a central portion of the RF system 502. Additionally or alternatively, the upper enclosure 410 and / or the lower enclosure 414 may each form an individual cavity that surrounds a central portion of the RF system 502. The integrated enclosure vent cavities 508 may constitute a part of an inner portion of the RF system that can provide a channel for air flow through an inner portion (e.g., through an inner portion of the module enclosure 512, the integrated enclosure vent cavity 508, and an inner portion of the module enclosure 412).

[0212] The second module enclosure 512 can include, therein, one or more components included within the module enclosure 412 of the RF system 402 described above. The module enclosure 512 can include one or more system modules 538a - 538d, thermal interfaces 544a - 544d, heat sinks 540a - 540d, and / or other components described above. As shown in FIG. 5B, the module enclosure 512 houses the RF module 538a, the SOM module 538b, the second RF module 538c, the power supply module 538d, four heat sinks 540a - 540d, and corresponding thermal interfaces 544a - 544d. Two enclosure fans 426, 434 are shown, but more or fewer such enclosure fans may be included. The RF system 502 can further include one or more plugs 542 that perform a function similar to or essentially the same as the plug 442 described above.

[0213] As shown, the RF module 438a, the RF module 438c, the RF module 538a, and the RF module 538c are configured to operably couple to corresponding directional antennas 406a, directional antenna 406b, directional antenna 406c, and directional antenna 406d. In some embodiments, each modular assembly of a multi - module assembly can be configured to provide power, control, and / or amplification / multiplexing for up to two directional antennas. Thus, the RF system 402 described above includes two directional antennas 406a - 406b as a single modular assembly, while the RF system 502 can support up to four directional antennas 406a - 406d as a dual modular assembly. The directional antennas 406a - 406d can each be oriented at approximately 90 o degrees from a continuous directional antenna. This arrangement can help improve the sensing ability (e.g., accuracy and / or precision) of the target source.

[0214] Figure 5C shows a side view of the RF system 502 shown in Figure 5A. Figure 5D shows a cross-section of the top view of the RF system 502 of Figure 5A along the cross-section 5D shown in Figure 5C. As shown in Figure 5D, the RF system 502 can include one or more module enclosure cavities 546. The module enclosure cavity 546 and the integrated enclosure cavity 506 can include communication links (e.g., wiring) and / or other elements described herein. For example, as described above, in order to enable wiring or other data / power connections, the upper enclosure cavity 428, the lower enclosure cavity 436, the module enclosure cavity 446, the module enclosure cavity 546, and the integrated enclosure cavity 506 can include various openings and spaces through which wires can extend and / or printed circuit boards ("PCBs") can be positioned to connect together various modules, fans, control panels, and external connections (e.g., connections to antennas, direction finders, external power, and / or the like).

[0215] As shown in Figure 5D, one or more of the heat sinks 540a - 540d (e.g., heat sinks 540a and 540c) may have heating elements (e.g., fins) that are longer (or otherwise of a larger surface area) than the others of the heat sinks 540a - 540d (e.g., heat sinks 540b and 540d). Heating elements with a larger surface area can facilitate improved heat transfer and / or dissipation. Thus, system modules 538a - 538d such as RF module 538a and RF module 538c produce a greater amount of heat and may thus be coupled to corresponding heat sinks (heat sinks 540a and 540c) that have a larger surface area than other combined heat sinks.

[0216] FIG. 5E illustrates an exemplary antenna mounting portion 420 according to an embodiment described herein. The antenna mounting portion 420 may correspond to any of the antenna mounting portions 420a-420b described above. The antenna mounting portion 420 can include an antenna bracket 572 that is mounted on a side surface 570 of the RF system 502 (or RF system 402). The antenna bracket 572 can include an antenna interface 578 that couples to an antenna (e.g., any of the directional antennas 406a-406d). The antenna may be coupled via a coupling device (e.g., a mounting device), adhesion, or some other coupling. In some embodiments, the antenna is formed together with the antenna interface 578 by machining, molding, or otherwise. The antenna interface 578 may define an antenna orientation 580, which may be related to the angle or tilt of the antenna. The antenna mounting portion 420 can be configured to modify the antenna orientation 580 (e.g., the tilt or angle of the antenna) using a structure associated with the antenna mounting portion 420.

[0217] The antenna bracket 572 can be coupled to the side surface 570 via one or more coupling features. The first coupling feature can include a sliding bracket 574. The antenna bracket 572 may be coupled to the sliding bracket 574 via a pivot point 590. The sliding bracket 574 can be slidably coupled to the side surface 570 via a track 588. The track 588 may be a linear track in some embodiments, for example, as shown in FIG. 5E. The track 588 can allow the pivot point 590 to translate parallel to the side surface 570 (e.g., at a substantially the same distance from the side surface 570 during translation). Other arrangements are also conceivable. In some embodiments, the sliding bracket 574 can be fixed in place via a locking pin 592 along the track 588. The track 588 may include one or more markings or other indicators, which can indicate a specific orientation of the antenna associated with the indicator (e.g., antenna orientation / angle / inclination 580). The markings may indicate the antenna orientation 580 and / or the degree of orientation of the associated antenna.

[0218] The second coupling feature can include a mounting bracket 576. The mounting bracket 576 can be coupled to the side surface 570 via a fixed mounting portion 586. The mounting bracket 576 may be rotatably coupled to the fixed mounting portion 586 via a pivot point 584. The mounting bracket 576 may be coupled to the antenna bracket 572 via a pivot point 582. The pivot point 584 allows the mounting bracket 576 to rotate about the pivot point 584, thus modifying the position of the pivot point 582 and / or the orientation of the antenna bracket 572, and thus providing a first degree of freedom of the antenna orientation 580.

[0219] In various implementations, when coupling the antenna to the side of the RF module, as described below with reference to FIG. 9B, initially, the pivot points 584 and 590 may not be in a fixed position such that the antenna bracket 572 and the mounting bracket 576 are separable from the sliding bracket 574 and the fixed mounting portion 586. To couple the antenna to the RF module, the user may first insert the pivot point 590 of the antenna bracket 572 into the receiving portion of the sliding bracket 574 at a first high angle. The user may then rotate the antenna bracket 572 about the pivot point 590 and rotatably lock the pivot point 590 into the receiving portion of the sliding bracket 574. The user may then insert the pivot point 584 (which may include a locking pin) and fully couple the antenna to the side of the RF system. Advantageously, therefore, the antenna can be quickly secured and coupled to the RF system without the use of tools. Similarly, advantageously, the antenna can be quickly removed from the RF system without the use of tools by removing the pivot point 584, rotating the antenna bracket 572 to a high angle, and removing the pivot point 590 from the receiving portion of the sliding bracket 574.

[0220] By using the two coupling features shown in FIG. 5E, the position of the antenna interface 578 can be modified in at least two degrees of freedom. The first degree of freedom may include a rotational degree of freedom, which includes rotation about the pivot point 582. The second degree of freedom may include the distance of the antenna interface 578 from the side surface 570 based on the combination of the sliding bracket 574 and the mounting bracket 576. The coupling features may further include ports for connecting data and / or electrical communication (e.g., wires, cables) between the antenna (e.g., the directional antennas 406a - 406d) and a module inside the module enclosure. The ports can enable power cables and / or wires to be inserted into one or more of the elements described herein. The ports can enable waterproof or other weather-resistant connections.

[0221] As described above, FIGS. 6-8 illustrate a block diagram of a power and / or data connection, communication, and / or transfer between one or more of the system modules of the RF system (e.g., system modules 438a-438d, system modules 538a-538d), the antennas of the RF system (e.g., directional antennas 406a-406d, direction detector 408), and an external device. FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a system of a first and second module enclosure, corresponding directional antennas, a system management module 604, and an external device. System 602 can include module enclosures 412, module enclosures 512, directional antennas 406a-406d, direction detector 408, system management module 604, and / or one or more external devices 606 (e.g., other RF systems, other systems or sensors, and / or a central processing server).

[0222] In various implementations, the direction detector 408 can communicate data with the RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, and / or 538c. For example, the direction detector 408 can detect the signal source direction and communicate information related to the signal source direction (e.g., source direction, detection arc, magnitude, frequency, and / or the like), and transmit that information to one, two, three, or all of the RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, and / or 538c. Additionally, the directional antennas 406a - 406d may communicate with the corresponding RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, 538c. For example, the RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, 538c may receive one or more signals from the corresponding directional antennas 406a - 406d, and / or cause signal transmission via the corresponding directional antennas 406a - 406d. The RF modules 438a, 438c can communicate with the corresponding SOM module 438b, transmit information thereto, and receive information therefrom. Similarly, the RF modules 538a, 538c can communicate with the corresponding SOM module 538b, transmit information thereto, and receive information therefrom. As described herein, the SOM modules 438b, 538b can receive a signal, process a portion of the signal (e.g., by applying one or more ML models), and determine one or more signals for transmission among various other functionalities. For example, the SOM modules 438b, 538b may also determine the location of the target object for signal transmission, and that determination may be made based on information from one or more of the direction detector 408, the directional antennas 406a - 406d, and / or the external device 606. The SOM modules 438b, 538b may then cause the transmission of the determined RF signal for transmission via the corresponding RF modules and the directional antennas 406a - 406d.

[0223] The SOM modules 438b, 538b may communicate with each other via one or more communication links 610. The SOM module 438b and / or the SOM module 538b may determine the directional antennas 406a - 406d for transmitting RF signals. Additionally, or alternatively, the SOM module 438b and / or the SOM module 538b may transmit instructions for transmission to the corresponding RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, 538c. The RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, 538c may then transmit the signals to the corresponding directional antennas 406a - 406d and cause the directional antennas 406a - 406d to transmit RF signals in terms of the target frequency, magnitude, direction, and / or the like. The RF modules 438a, 438c, 538a, 538c may be configured to amplify and / or multiplex the signals received by the corresponding SOM modules 438b, 538b. The power supply modules 438d, 538d may each provide power for the corresponding module enclosures 412, 512 and / or the corresponding direction detectors 408 and / or the elements within the directional antennas 406a - 406d.

[0224] In some embodiments, the SOM modules 438b, 538b can each communicate with the system management module 604 via one or more communication links 608. The communication links 608 can be wired or wireless. Additionally, or alternatively, the system management module 604 can be remote from the module enclosures 412, 512. In some embodiments, the system management module 604 can communicate with an external device 606 and transmit data to and from the external device 606. For example, the system management module can receive updates to a machine learning model or other software, information regarding detected RF signals, information regarding RF signals for transmission, information regarding RF signals for transmission or reception and the location therefor, or the like. Such information can be transmitted to the SOM module for, e.g., processing and for cooperation with other devices and components. In some embodiments, the system management module 604 can determine the directional antennas 406a - 406d for transmitting an RF signal and / or one or more attributes of the signal. For example, the system management module 604 can determine that two of the directional antennas 406a - 406d should each transmit a signal in different magnitudes and / or directions. Additionally, or alternatively, in some embodiments, the system management module 604 and / or the SOM modules 438b, 538b can be capable of automatically controlling the transmission of the corresponding directional antennas 406a - 406d.

[0225] In some implementations, the RF system may not include the system management module 604. In such implementations, the SOM modules 438b, 538b may incorporate the functionality and / or components of the system management module 604 to provide the functionality of the RF system described herein. As described above, the SOM modules 438b, 538b may communicate and cooperate with each other via one or more communication links 610. The "processing module" described above may be understood to be similar to the combined functionality of the SOM modules and / or the SOM modules and the system management module.

[0226] The SOM modules 438b, 538b can communicate with one or more external devices 606 via a communication link 612. The communication link 612 may be wired or wireless. Additionally, or alternatively, the external device 606 may be remote from the module enclosures 412, 512 and / or the system management module 604. The system management module 604 may be able to communicate with the external device 606 via a communication link 614, which may be wired or wireless. The SOM modules 438b, 538b, the system management module 604, and / or the external device 606 may include one or more communication interfaces or components (e.g., wireless, wired data interface) configured to transmit / receive data therethrough. In some embodiments, the external device 606 may include one or more of an additional system or sensor (e.g., 104), another RF system (e.g., 106), a central processing server (e.g., 107), and / or a user device (e.g., 110).

[0227] In various embodiments, as described above, each of the modules (e.g., SOM module, RF module, power supply module, and / or system management module) may include various thermal couplings, heat pipes or conductors, and / or the like therein to conduct heat to the thermal interface and thereby to the heat sink.

[0228] FIG. 7A illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary SOM module according to various embodiments. The SOM module 438b shown (e.g., 438a and / or 438b) includes one or more communication links 716 that enable the SOM module 438b to communicate with one or more other system modules described herein. The communication links 716 may be wired and / or wireless. The SOM module 438b can include SDR transceivers 702a - 702b, one or more memory devices 704 (which may include any type of data storage, volatile or non - volatile memory, solid - state storage, and / or the like as described above), one or more processors 706, one or more GPUs 708a - 708b, one or more communication adapters and / or PHYs (e.g., physical layer or layer 1 as implemented by a PHY chip or similar chip) 712, and one or more physical connectors 714. One or more communication interfaces 710 can include, for example, one or more buses or communication channels and may communicate with (e.g., wired, wireless) SDR transceivers 702a - 702b, memory devices 704, processors 706, GPUs 708a - 708b, and / or communication adapters and / or PHYs 712.

[0229] GPU708a-708b can be configured to perform advanced calculations that are slower, less efficient, or not possible on general-purpose processors. For example, GPU708a-708b may be configured to perform other advanced calculations, including matrix calculations, linear algebra calculations, Fourier transforms, and / or execution of ML models as described herein. Also, for example, GPU708a-708b may be configured to perform many calculations per second (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 30, or more teraFLOPS per second). These GPU708a-708b may include their own memory and / or processors, or may execute instructions stored on storage device 704 and / or commanded by processor 706. Instructions may be executed by processor 706 and / or GPU708a-708b. For example, processor 706 may command GPU708a-708b to apply an ML model to sampled RF data to determine, for example, the type of an object, as described herein. Additionally, or alternatively, processor 706 may support performing calculations and other determinations.

[0230] The SDR transceiver 702a - 702b comprises circuitry and functionality to produce, modify, detect, sense, or otherwise cooperate with RF signals as described herein. For example, the SDR transceiver 702a - 702b may be configured to transmit / receive signals that can be mixed, filtered, amplified, modulated / demodulated, and / or detected using one or more components described herein. As a further example, the SDR transceiver 702a - 702b can receive instructions from the processor 706 and generate one or more signals for transmission by the RF system (e.g., to target an identified object). The SDR transceiver 702a - 702b can then generate a signal that can then be communicated to the RF module for amplification and transmission via a directional antenna (optionally including instructions regarding targeting and the amount of power to transmit on any applicable antenna).

[0231] The communication interface 710 may include, for example, a bus and may receive data from and transmit data to one or more components of the SOM module 438b via various wired and / or wireless data communication connections. The communication interface 710 can transmit data to the physical connector 714 via a communication adapter and / or PHY 712. The communication interface 710 may include, for example, a PCIe switch. The communication adapter and / or PHY 712 can include a hardware transmission and / or reception adapter, and / or, for example, an electrical, mechanical, and procedural interface to a transmission medium (e.g., using a PHY chip or other similar chip) and can define means for transmitting a stream of raw bits via a physical data link connecting to a network node. For example, the bit stream may be grouped into codewords or symbols and converted into a physical signal that is transmitted via the transmission medium. Thus, the SOM module may include a communication adapter and an associated physical connector and may provide communication with other components using various connections and protocols, including wired and wireless. For example, the SOM module may support wired or wireless Ethernet®, optical connections, and / or any other type of power or data connection.

[0232] The SDR transceiver 702a - 702b may include one or more analog / digital converters (“ADCs”) and one or more digital / analog converters (“DACs”). For example, a received signal (e.g., received via a directional antenna and an RF module and communicated to a processing module) may be passed through an ADC for further digital domain sampling and analysis as described herein. A signal to be transmitted may be generated by the SDR transceiver and passed through a DAC before being communicated to an RF module for amplification and transmission via a directional antenna. In various implementations, the ADCs and DACs may be located anywhere within the system, for example, as separate components of the SOM module and / or the RF module.

[0233] FIG. 7B illustrates an exemplary system management module 604 according to various embodiments. In implementations where a given RF system includes two or more SOM modules 438 (e.g., when the RF system includes two or more module enclosures), the multiple SOM modules 438 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., via communication link 610 of FIG. 6) to provide the functionality described herein or may communicate with each other via a system management module 604 that may provide cooperative functionality between the multiple SOM modules 438. In implementations that use a system management module, the system management module may provide communication with other external systems or sensors and relay those communications to the multiple SOM modules 438. In various implementations, the system management module may incorporate components and / or functionality of one or more of the SOM modules, such as PNT component 734. In various implementations, when the RF system includes two or more SOM modules, one of the SOM modules may be designated to act as the system management module manually and / or automatically (and thus there is no physically separate system management module) and can provide the cooperative and communication functionality described above. Thus, in these implementations, the components (including PNT component 734) and functionality of the system management module 604 described below may be subsumed within, combined with, or provided by the SOM modules (e.g., the SOM modules may provide functionality that is coextensive with a “processing module” as generally described above with reference to FIG. 1B).

[0234] The system management module 604 can include one or more processors 730, one or more memory devices 732 (which may include any type of data storage, volatile or non-volatile memory, solid state storage, and / or the like, as described above), one or more PNT components 734, one or more communication interfaces 736, one or more security modules 735, one or more communication adapters and / or PHYs (e.g., a physical layer or layer 1 as implemented by a PHY chip or similar chip) 738, one or more physical connectors 740, and / or a communication link 742.

[0235] The PNT component 734 can be configured such that the RF system is capable of determining its location (longitude, latitude, and altitude / elevation) to a target accuracy (e.g., within a few centimeters, a few meters). The location can be determined using time signals transmitted / received along the line of sight with the PNT component 734 and / or one or more antennas (e.g., directional antennas 406a - 406d, direction finder 408) described herein. The system can be used to provide position and / or navigation for tracking the position of another device having a receiver (e.g., a target source signal). For example, the PNT component 734 may be configured to determine the location and / or movement of an RF system (e.g., RF system 402, RF system 502) described herein, or some other system that may be remote from the system management module 604. The PNT component 734 may receive and / or process signals and calculate the current local time, which may enable time synchronization with one or other elements described herein.

[0236] In various embodiments, one or more PNT components may include, for example, among other PNT functions, worldwide positioning satellite system capabilities (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) capabilities). One or more PNT components may further provide orientation information, altitude information, angle / tilt information, and / or the like. In some implementations, the PNT capabilities of the RF system may be provided, in whole or in part, within and / or by a direction finder. The PNT capabilities may also be referred to herein as "positioning capabilities," and one or more PNT components may also be referred to herein as "positioning components" and / or the like. The PNT capabilities of the RF system may be used, for example, in object location determination and / or tracking, as described herein, because such functionality may depend on the position, orientation, tilt, and / or the like of the RF system (e.g., such that a correctly oriented and tilted, correctly directional antenna may be used to detect or target an object).

[0237] The security module 735 may be configured to secure data and / or communications associated with the system management module 604. For example, the security module 735 can secure data received from one or more external devices, systems, sensors, and / or other RF systems by the system management module 603 or the RF system. Also, for example, the security module 735 can secure data transmitted to one or more external devices, systems, sensors, and / or other RF systems by the system management module 603 or the RF system. The external devices may include, for example, an additional system or sensor 104, other RF systems, a central processing service 107, a user device 110, or any device connected to such external devices. The security features may include one or more than one of encryption (e.g., end-to-end encryption, data encryption, etc.), encryption functions (e.g., encryption keys, etc.), and / or equivalents. In some embodiments, the security module 735 may also provide, for example, hardware acceleration to the system management module 604 and / or one or more other components of the RF system. In some embodiments, the security module 735 may include one or more special chips and implement the configured functions. Such special chips may provide, for example, hardware acceleration for the encryption and / or encryption functions of the security module 735. Some additional examples and details of the various functions of the security module 735, including providing secure communication between the various components of the operating environment 100, are described herein and in the '436 patent.

[0238] Processor 730 may be configured to execute software instructions stored on memory device 732 and / or other elements of system management module 604. Communication interface 736 (e.g., which may comprise one or more buses or communication channels) can receive and / or transmit signals among other components of system management module 604. Communication interface 736 can communicate signals to physical connector 740 via communication adapter 738 (similar to the description of FIG. 7A above). These signals can be communicated externally as described herein (e.g., to provide communication with the SOM module and / or external devices) via communication link 742 (similar to the description of FIG. 7A above).

[0239] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary RF module (e.g., RF module 438a, RF module 438c, RF module 538a, RF module 538c). The illustrated RF module 438a can include one or more physical connectors 802, one or more multiplexers and / or filters 804, one or more transmission amplifiers, filters, and / or limiters 806, one or more reception amplifiers, filters, and / or limiters 808, and / or one or more physical connectors 810.

[0240] The physical connector 802 and the physical connector 810 can communicate with other elements described herein. For example, the physical connector 802 may comprise components for establishing wired or wireless communication with one or more antennas (e.g., directional antennas 406a - 406d, direction finder 408) described herein via one or more communication links 812. Additionally, or alternatively, the physical connector 810 may comprise components for establishing wired or wireless communication with a corresponding SOM module (e.g., SOM module 438b, SOM module 538b) via one or more communication links 814. Thus, the RF module may include components (e.g., physical connectors, optionally, communication adapters) and provide communication with other components using various connections and protocols, including wired and wireless. For example, the RF module may support dedicated wired connections for high power, wired or wireless Ethernet®, optical connections, and / or any other type of power or data connection.

[0241] The multiplexer and / or filter 804 can include one or more multiplexers. The multiplexer can switch the functions of the RF module 438a, such as between transmission and reception functions. In some embodiments, the multiplexer can modulate and / or demodulate signals being received and / or transmitted. The multiplexer and / or filter 804 can additionally or alternatively include one or more filters. The filter can include a wideband, narrowband, high-pass, low-pass, notch filter, or other type of filter for RF signals. In some embodiments, the filter can be configured to reduce noise in the RF signals being received and / or transmitted. The multiplexer and / or filter 804 can serve as general multiplexing and / or filtering. The signals may be further amplified, filtered, and / or limited (e.g., with finer granularity) by the corresponding transmission amplifier, filter, and / or limiter 806 and / or the reception amplifier, filter, and / or limiter 808. Whether the transmission amplifier, filter, and / or limiter 806 or the reception amplifier, filter, and / or limiter 808 are used may be based at least in part on the multiplexing settings associated with the multiplexer and / or filter 804.

[0242] FIG. 9A illustrates an exemplary flow or method for assembling an RF system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9A discloses one example, but other methods of assembling an RF system are also conceivable and are described anywhere herein. Further, in various implementations, various blocks of the flow or method may be rearranged, optional, and / or omitted, and / or additional blocks may be added. The blocks schematically illustrated in FIG. 9A will be described with reference to certain hardware components of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the hardware components of FIG. 9A and / or their individual components or subsets may equally be implemented in conjunction with other hardware components, software components, and / or systems without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additional information regarding coupling an antenna to a module enclosure is described herein, for example, with respect to FIGS. 4A - 5D.

[0243] In block 902, the method can include providing one or more module enclosures (e.g., module enclosure 412, module enclosure 512). In block 904, the method includes inserting one or more system modules (e.g., system modules 438a - 438d, system modules 538a - 538d) into one or more enclosures. The method can include assembling one or more elements without the need for tools. The system modules may be latched and / or adhered (e.g., glued, soldered) to one or more portions (e.g., the inner side) of the module enclosure. The module enclosure may include a latching mechanism that presses the system module against the thermal interface side of the module enclosure to maximize heat transfer.

[0244] In block 906, the method can include inserting a heat sink into the module enclosure into an inner portion of the module enclosure. The heat sink is coupled to a thermal interface, which is coupled to the system module as described above.

[0245] In block 908, the method includes coupling the upper, lower, and / or integrated enclosures together to form a module assembly. The module assembly may be a single, double, triple, or higher order module assembly. The coupling may include couplings that can be coupled (e.g., assembled) without the need for power and / or other tools. For example, the coupling may include various coupling features such as friction fits (e.g., snap fits), coupling elements (e.g., screws, nails, mounting devices, and / or the like).

[0246] In block 910, the method includes coupling (e.g., attaching, connecting, and / or the like) one or more than one antenna such as the directional antennas 406a - 406d and / or the direction finder 408 described above. The antennas may be coupled as described in FIG. 5E above and / or FIG. 9B below. For example, the antenna bracket may be rotatably coupled to one or more than one coupling feature. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more than one of the antenna bracket and / or the coupling feature may be fixedly coupled to a side of the RF system. In some embodiments, all of the antennas may be coupled to the same portion of the modular assembly (e.g., the upper module enclosure).

[0247] In block 912, the method includes providing communication links and power connections between various components, including the system modules of the RF system, during the assembly steps described above. The communication links can include various wires and / or optical connections (e.g., cables such as Ethernet®), which may be provided through various cavities of the enclosure of the RF system as described above. Block 912 may include coupling one or more connectors configured to protect a component, including the communication link and / or power connection, from the harmful weather or other environmental conditions described herein. The communication link may be a wired link and / or a wireless data interface. In some embodiments, the method includes coupling one or more antennas to an external portion or external surface of the module enclosure and providing a communication link between the one or more antennas and one or more of the one or more modules. Such external-to-internal communication links may be provided through one or more plugs or ports located on the outer surface of the RF system, which may be configured to seal the inside of the enclosure from the outside environment, e.g., to provide a secure connection with corresponding connectors of wires originating from antennas, external power supplies, and / or the like.

[0248] In block 914, the method may include the step of mounting an RF system. This may include the step of mounting a part of a modular assembly (e.g., bottom, side, top) on a mounting surface and / or a mounting system such as another RF system (e.g., tripod, building, ground, and / or the like). The mounting step may include a coupling that can be coupled (e.g., assembled) without the need for power and / or other tools. In block 916, the method may include the step of providing power to the RF system, activating it, and / or operating it. The step of operating the RF system may include the step of receiving an RF signal via one or more antennas, processing the received RF signal, and / or transmitting the RF signal at one or more frequencies.

[0249] FIG. 9B illustrates an exemplary flow or method of coupling an antenna to a module enclosure according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9B discloses one example, but other methods of coupling an antenna to a module enclosure are also contemplated and described anywhere in this specification. Further, in various implementations, various blocks of the flow or method may be rearranged, optional, and / or omitted, and / or additional blocks may be added. The blocks illustrated schematically in FIG. 9B will be described with reference to certain hardware components of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the hardware components of FIG. 9B and / or their individual components or subsets may equally be implemented in conjunction with other hardware components, software components, and / or systems without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additional information regarding coupling an antenna to a module enclosure is described herein, for example, with respect to FIG. 5E.

[0250] In block 922, a first coupling feature (e.g., sliding bracket 574) of the antenna mounting portion (e.g., 420 in FIG. 5E and anywhere) can be slid into a track (e.g., track 588) on a side surface (e.g., side surface 570) of the module enclosure. In some embodiments, the first coupling feature can be positioned within a track on a side of the RF system. In some embodiments, the first coupling feature may be slidably movable within the track (e.g., along a line).

[0251] In block 924, a first pivot point (e.g., pivot point 590) of the antenna bracket (e.g., antenna bracket 572) can be inserted into a receiving portion of the first coupling feature (e.g., sliding bracket 574) at a first angle. The first angle may comprise a high angle. The antenna bracket then rotates about the first pivot point (e.g., pivot point 590) and rotatably locks the pivot point into the receiving portion of the first coupling feature. For example, the antenna bracket can be rotated downward from a high angle to a lower angle, where a second coupling feature can possibly couple to a fixed mounting portion. The first pivot point may comprise a locking portion of the antenna bracket and may comprise a cylindrically shaped portion (e.g., rod) with a notch (e.g., notched cylinder or rod). The notch may allow engagement and disengagement of the locking portion of the antenna bracket and the receiving portion of the first coupling feature at the first angle (e.g., high angle), but not at other angles. Thus, the locking portion of the antenna bracket may be coupled to the receiving portion of the first coupling feature by rotational movement. The coupling between the antenna brackets that can be coupled to the receiving portion of the first coupling feature provides the first pivot point.

[0252] In block 926, a second coupling feature of the antenna mounting portion (e.g., mounting bracket 576) can be coupled to a fixed mounting portion (e.g., fixed mounting portion 586) on a side of the module enclosure (e.g., the same side as the first coupling feature). For example, the mounting bracket (e.g., mounting bracket 576) may be rotatably coupled to the fixed mounting portion via a second pivot point (e.g., pivot point 584) at one end, and the mounting bracket (e.g., mounting bracket 576) may be coupled to the antenna bracket (e.g., antenna bracket 572) via a third pivot point (e.g., pivot point 582) at another end. In some embodiments, a self-locking pin (e.g., pivot point 584) can be used to couple or affix the second coupling feature to the fixed mounting portion. The second and third pivot points corresponding to the second coupling feature can allow the mounting bracket to rotate about the pivot points, thus modifying the position of the pivot points and / or the orientation of the antenna bracket, and thus providing a first degree of freedom of antenna orientation.

[0253] In some embodiments, the first coupling feature can slide directly into a track (e.g., track 588) and be translated parallel to the side surface, e.g., at substantially the same distance from the side surface during translation. Other coupling arrangements such as bolts, welding, screws, snaps, or equivalents are also conceivable as possibilities. In some embodiments, the first degree of freedom provided by the coupling arrangement for the first coupling feature may not be present. In some embodiments, two or more degrees of freedom provided by the coupling arrangement for the first coupling feature may be present (e.g., by incorporating additional pivot points along the mounting bracket or at any location). In some embodiments, the fixed mounting portion can be included on a side of the enclosure and / or the RF system. In some embodiments, the first coupling feature can be coupled to the fixed mounting portion and the second coupling feature can be coupled to the antenna bracket.

[0254] In block 928, in some embodiments, optionally, the antenna can be coupled to the antenna bracket, for example, via an antenna interface (e.g., antenna interface 578 described anywhere in this specification). Alternatively, the antenna can be formed, machined, molded, or otherwise, together with the antenna bracket. In some embodiments, other sensor devices or devices can also be attached to the antenna interface.

[0255] In block 930, a first coupling feature can slide along a track to a target position and can be locked in place using a locking pin (e.g., locking pin 592). In some embodiments, the locking pin can be configured to lock into one of a plurality of slots (e.g., slots) located on the track. In some embodiments, the slots can be spaced apart at specific distances (e.g., every about 10 mm, 1 cm, 2 cm, 5 cm, etc.). In some embodiments, the slots can be spaced apart at specific distances corresponding to a specific angle or tilt of the antenna, such as one connected in block 928. The angle of the antenna can have an elevation or tilt angle compared to the plane in which the RF system resides (which may be the same as the line perpendicular or normal to the side surface of the RF system on which the antenna is mounted if the RF system is mounted on a plane). For example, a first slot may be present at a first location on the track corresponding to a 5 o degree tilt from a line perpendicular to the center of the antenna interface surface. Also, for example, a second slot space may be present at a second location on the track, at a distance away from the first slot, corresponding to a 10 o degree tilt from a line perpendicular to the center of the antenna interface surface. In addition, a number of slots can be present corresponding to a certain degree of tilt. In some embodiments, the degree of tilt can be related to addressing installation issues. For example, if the RF system is installed on the roof of a building, the degree of tilt is such that the antenna connected to the antenna bracket is angled downward (e.g., -10 o) may be directed to and need to be adjusted to monitor signals closer to the Earth's surface and air instead of just the void.

[0256] In block 932, the antenna wire can be coupled to the RF system via a port or connection on the RF system. In some embodiments, the port or connection can be located outside or inside the RF system. In some embodiments, the port or connection can provide an interface for power and / or data transfer to and from the antenna. For example, power and signals can be transferred from the RF module to the antenna so that the antenna transmits RF signals. Also, for example, power and signals can be transferred from the antenna to the RF module and then to the processing module for analysis and / or processing. Additional information regarding transmission and signal processing is described elsewhere herein.

[0257] FIG. 9C illustrates an exemplary flow or method for managing heat transfer within an RF system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9C discloses one example, but other methods for managing heat transfer within the RF system are also contemplated and described elsewhere herein. Further, in various implementations, various blocks of the flow or method may be rearranged, optional, and / or omitted, and / or additional blocks may be added. The blocks illustrated schematically in FIG. 9C will be described with reference to certain hardware components of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the hardware components of FIG. 9C and / or their individual components or subsets may equally be implemented in conjunction with other hardware components, software components, and / or systems without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0258] In block 942, the method includes providing one or more heat sinks (e.g., heat sinks 540a - 540d) within an inner portion of an RF system (e.g., RF system 402, RF system 502). The one or more heat sinks may be disposed within the inner portion and surrounded by a periphery of a module enclosure, which may extend vertically within the RF system (e.g., within the module enclosure 412 of the RF system). The heat sink may include a fin or other structure configured to draw heat away from the heat sink and / or other components of the RF system. The inner portion of the one or more module enclosures into which one or more heat sinks are inserted and through which air may flow may be referred to as a cavity or a channel.

[0259] In block 944, the method includes providing a sealed thermal interface (e.g., thermal interfaces 544a - 544d) between the heat sink and a wall of an inner portion of the module enclosure facing the system module. The thermal interface may fluid seal (e.g., liquid seal) the inner portion of the RF system from an outer portion inside the RF system. The step of providing the seal may include providing an adhesive, a sealant, or other material. Additionally, or alternatively, the thermal interface may be adhered and / or formed as part of the inside of the RF system and / or the system module.

[0260] In block 946, one or more plugs (e.g., plug 442, plug 542) may be provided at least partially between two or more of the heat sinks. For example, the plugs may prevent air from avoiding the heat sinks. Thus, they may redirect the air flow and cause it to occur through the heat sinks.

[0261] Air movement may be facilitated, in block 948, via air vents and / or cooling fans disposed within the upper and / or lower enclosures of the RF system. The cooling fans may be coordinated to push air in the same direction relative to each other. For example, in block 950, the method may include activating the cooling fans and flowing air through an inner portion of the RF system (e.g., into the lower enclosure, then upward therefrom, through a heat sink, and out of the upper enclosure). This may provide improved cooling of one or more heat sinks and / or system modules described herein. Alignment between coupled modular assemblies (e.g., dual modular assemblies) may include positioning one or more fans such that the fans draw air through both modular assemblies (e.g., their interiors), one or more heat sinks, a second cavity, and one or more second heat sinks, and draw heat away from one or more modules and one or more second modules.

[0262] As described above, an inner portion of one or more module enclosures, into which one or more heat sinks are inserted and through which air may flow, may be referred to as a cavity or channel. The channel may extend from the lower enclosure through one or more module enclosures to the upper enclosure. Air may flow through the channel as it is generated by one or more fans.

[0263] FIG. 9D illustrates an exemplary flow or method of operation of an RF system for receiving and / or transmitting signals, for example, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 9D discloses one example, but other methods of operating the RF system are also conceivable and described anywhere in this specification. Further, in various implementations, various blocks of the flow or method may be rearranged, optional, and / or omitted, and / or additional blocks may be added. The blocks schematically illustrated in FIG. 9D will be described with reference to certain hardware components of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the hardware components of FIG. 9D and / or their individual components or subsets may equally be implemented in conjunction with other hardware components, software components, and / or systems without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0264] In block 962, a directional antenna can be coupled to the RF module. In some embodiments, one or more cables or wires can also be coupled to the directional antenna at one end and to the RF module at the other end. In some embodiments, the antenna can be coupled to the RF module directly or indirectly (e.g., via a port or plug on the RF system as described above) such that electrical communication can occur. Additionally, in some embodiments, the antenna (e.g., using different or the same cables or wires used to connect to the RF module) can draw or receive power from a power source of the corresponding RF system. In block 963, a direction finder is similarly coupled to one or more RF modules and / or one or more SOM / processing modules.

[0265] In block 964, the RF module can be coupled to a processing module. For example, the processing module can include, respectively, a SOM module and / or a system management module, which are described in more detail herein.

[0266] In block 966, the antenna can receive a signal (e.g., an RF signal). In some embodiments, the signal can be transferred to an RF module and / or a processing module (e.g., a SOM module and / or a system management module) (e.g., via the coupling described in block 962). In various embodiments, the signal may be amplified, filtered, and / or limited by the RF module before being communicated to the processing module with which they are associated.

[0267] In block 968, once the processing module receives a signal at block 966, it processes the signal. For example, the processing of the signal can be similar to any of the examples and methods / flows described herein and may include the application of an ML model. The processing may include determining the location or position of the target object and / or determining one or more signals for transmission.

[0268] In block 970, the processing module can generate one or more signals. For example, the generation of the signal can be similar to any of the examples and methods / flows described herein.

[0269] In block 972, the processing module can send the generated signal to the RF module, and the RF module can cause the signal to be transmitted via a directional antenna. For example, the transmission of the signal can be similar to any of the examples and methods / flows described herein. In various embodiments, the signal may be amplified, filtered, and / or limited by the RF module before being communicated to the directional antenna with which they are associated.

[0270] VII. Additional Exemplary Software-Related Features and Functionality The following description of FIGS. 10 - 15 provides further details regarding the implementation, components, and related functionality of the RF system. Different numbers may be used to describe various aspects of the RF system compared to the previous description, but it should be understood that similar components and aspects may include similar or identical functionality. Thus, the aspects described above may apply to the aspects described below, and vice versa.

[0271] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram 1000 of exemplary functionality of an RF system with exemplary relationship information, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Various aspects of the functional blocks of schematic 1000 may be implemented by, for example, one or more of the hardware components and / or software components described above with reference to FIGS. 1B - 1C. The functional blocks schematically illustrated in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to certain such software and hardware components of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the functional blocks of FIG. 10 and / or their individual components or subsets may equally well be implemented in conjunction with other hardware components and / or software components and / or systems without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0272] In some embodiments, the functional blocks of FIG. 10 may be implemented in conjunction with, or by, for example, the RF systems 102 and 106 of the present disclosure (including any software components such as those described in connection with FIG. 1C, and / or hardware components such as those described in connection with FIG. 1B). In some embodiments, any software or electronic data processing can be performed by, for example, one or more components of the processing module 130 and / or the RF module 131. For example, in some embodiments, machine learning algorithms can be trained or applied using the GPU 138 and / or other components of the processing module 130. Additionally, in some instances, RF signals can be generated by the SDR transceiver 139 and then transmitted to the RF module 131, for example, standing by to transmit via one or more directional antennas 122. Additionally, in some instances, RF signals can be received by one or more directional antennas 122 and then transmitted through the RF module 131 before being processed by the processing module 130 (e.g., using the GPU 138, for example, by applying a machine learning algorithm or model). With respect to ensuring that transmitted RF signals are transmitted in the appropriate direction or by the appropriate directional antenna, each RF system can use the PNT component 140 to determine features or characteristics associated with the location, directional orientation, elevation / altitude, and the like of the corresponding RF system. Such information from the PNT component 140 or data received regarding the PNT component 140 of another RF system can be used to determine the directional antenna to activate, transmit from, or use to track the identified object. For example, the PNT component can be used to determine the relevant location and directional information for each and every RF system within the network. Also, in some embodiments, multiple antennas may be connected to the processing module, either directly or indirectly.In some embodiments, one antenna is paired with one RF module such that each RF module can control the reception or transmission of any RF signal for a single antenna so that each antenna can operate independently of the other antennas. Additional information regarding the hardware components is described herein with respect to FIGS. 1B and 3.

[0273] The functional blocks of FIG. 10 generally include a reception group corresponding to software and hardware functions associated with the received signal, and a transmission group corresponding to software and hardware functions associated with the transmission of the signal. The reception and transmission groups of blocks include communication with one or more antennas and / or direction finders depending on the particular configuration of the RF system (e.g., 102 or 106) associated with the software component. For example, the reception and transmission groups may include communication with at least one antenna or direction finder 1002, at least one directional antenna 1004, and / or any other directional antenna, direction finder, and / or other hardware component configured for the transmission and / or reception of RF signals.

[0274] In some embodiments, the direction detector 1002 may be configured to receive RF signals, and the antenna 1004 may be configured to receive and / or transmit RF signals. Alternatively, one or both of the direction detector 1002 and the antenna 1004 may be configured to receive and transmit RF signals. The direction detector 1002 and / or the antenna 1004 may be configured (e.g., via hardware) to transmit and / or receive RF signals across a wide range of frequencies and / or may be tuned (e.g., via software, such as in a software-defined antenna configuration) and may include broadband antennas. In some embodiments, the direction detector 1002 and / or the antenna 1004 may be a directional antenna configured to transmit / receive within a defined angular range, as described anywhere herein. In some embodiments, the use of sectored and / or directional antennas may advantageously prevent the detection of signals emitted from other transmitters near the system or the system, which would otherwise interfere with the detection and analysis of signals from remote emitters intended to be detected by the system. Similarly, in some embodiments, the use of sectored and / or directional antennas may advantageously prevent the transmission of signals emitted from the system in a direction near and in proximity to harmless devices or the system, which would otherwise interfere with the operation of the harmless devices or the system.

[0275] In some embodiments, the block reception group is generally configured to receive and analyze data from one or more antennas (e.g., 1002 and / or 1004) corresponding to RF signals received at one or more antennas (e.g., corresponding to one or more directions or areas). In some embodiments, the block reception group can include a receiver block 1008, a signal detection block 1010, an RF machine learning block 1012, a direction finding block 1014, a line of bearing ("LOB") block 1016, a demodulation block 1018, and / or a data extraction block 1020. Some or all of the reception group blocks, such as the LOB 1016 and data extraction 1020 blocks, may include communication with the system manager 1022.

[0276] In some embodiments, the block transmission group is generally configured to cause transmission of an RF signal (e.g., corresponding to one or more directions or areas) using one or more antennas (e.g., 1002 and / or 1004) based on the output from the block reception group. In some embodiments, the block transmission group can include a waveform detection / generation block 1024, a waveform generator 1026, and an amplifier 1028.

[0277] In some embodiments, the receiver block 1008 communicates with one or more antennas such as the antenna or direction finder 1002 and / or the antenna 1004. In some embodiments, the receiver block 1008 is configured to receive raw signals from one or more antennas. In some embodiments, the raw signals may be analog signals comprising one or more RF signal blocks, or may be digital signals generated by analog / digital conversion at one or more antennas. The receiver 1008 may be configured for analog / digital conversion of analog RF signals received from one or more antennas. In some embodiments, the receiver 1008 communicates with the signal detection block 1010 and can send signals received from one or more antennas and / or converted to digital signals to the signal detection block 1010.

[0278] In some embodiments, the signal detection block 1010 is configured to analyze signals received from one or more antennas via the receiver block 1008. In some cases, the signals received from the receiver block 1008 may include the superposition of multiple signals emitted by different sources within the directivity range of one or more antennas. Therefore, in some embodiments, the signal detection block 1010 is configured to identify and / or separate individual block signals based on the signals received from the receiver block 1008. The signal detection block 1010 annotates and / or filters the received signals based on factors such as frequency, time, intensity, and / or the like.

[0279] In some embodiments, the RF machine learning block 1012 (e.g., similar to any other machine learning block or embodiment described herein) may be implemented to train and / or apply one or more AI and / or ML models or parameter functions, at least in part, based on the raw, annotated, and / or filtered signals received from the receiver block 1008. In some embodiments, the machine learning block may implement one or more machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms or parameter functions that can implement a model, for example, for detection / identification, executed by one or more processors. The machine learning block can be configured to apply a model that can help detect the type of RF signal (e.g., the range of the RF signal, a specific frequency or combination of frequencies, and / or the like) indicating the type of object. One or more of these models may be used to determine the expected RF signal frequency range or additional signal properties based on the analysis of the received or captured data. In some embodiments, signal monitoring criteria or signal identification criteria can be specified by a user, an administrator, or automatically. For example, the signal monitoring criteria or signal identification criteria can indicate the type of detection for monitoring, recording, or analyzing. By specifying a specific type of detection, resources (e.g., processing power, bandwidth, and / or...

Claims

1. A system for monitoring an object surrounding an area, the system comprising: a first RF system, comprising: one or more first antennas positioned to face a first direction; a first processing module communicating with the one or more first antennas, the first processing module comprising: a computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions and a machine learning model, the machine learning model being trained to identify the type of object associated with a first set of RF signals; one or more first processors, the one or more first processors executing first program instructions to cause the first RF system to: collect a first set of RF signal data associated with a first object using the one or more first antennas; identify the type of object associated with the first object by applying the machine learning model; generate, at least in part based on the type of object, a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals using the one or more first antennas and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals; transmit a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals to a second RF system based on a determination that the first object is moving away from the first direction and towards a second direction corresponding to one or more second antennas; one or more first processors configured to perform the above; a first processing module comprising the above; a first RF system comprising the above; the second RF system, comprising: the one or more second antennas positioned to face a second direction different from the first direction; a second processing module communicating with the one or more second antennas, the second processing module comprising one or more second processors, the one or more second processors executing second program instructions to cause the second RF system to: receive the data packet from the first RF system; generate the second set of RF signals using the one or more second antennas and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals; a second processing module configured to perform the above; the second RF system comprising the above; a system comprising the above.

2. the one or more first antennas and the one or more second antennas are directive, wideband, or both, both the first direction and the second direction face outward from the area, the area corresponds to a building or a plurality of buildings, the one or more first antennas include a first antenna that irradiates or receives a signal at an angle of 80 degrees to 110 degrees in a direction configured to face the first antenna across the area, the first object has a velocity, the first processing module further includes one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) configured to execute the machine learning model, the one or more first antennas comprise two, three, or four antennas and / or are configured to be adjustable with respect to the elevation angle or the tilt angle as compared to the plane where the first RF system is located, the transmission of the second set of RF signals is transmitted in the first direction by the one or more first antennas and / or is transmitted in the second direction by the one or more second antennas, the one or more first processors execute the first program instructions and, in response to a determination by the first RF system that the first object is moving out of the first direction and into the second direction, are configured to reduce the power output of the transmission of the second set of RF signals over a period by the one or more first antennas and / or the one or more second processors execute the second program instructions and, in response to the reception of the data packet by the second RF system, are configured to increase the power output of the transmission of the second set of RF signals over the period by the one or more second antennas, The system according to claim 1.

3. A computer-implemented method by a first RF system comprising one or more hardware processors that execute program instructions, the method comprising: receiving a first set of RF signals via one or more directive antennas; identifying a type of an object associated with the first set of RF signals by applying a machine learning model; At least partially generate a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals based on the type of the object, and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals; Based on a determination that the first object is moving away from a first direction and toward a second direction corresponding to one or more second antennas, transmit a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals to a second RF system A computer-implemented method comprising.

4. The second RF system is configured to receive the data packet and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals; The second set of RF signals is transmitted via one or more directional antennas; The one or more directional antennas include a first set of directional antennas associated with the first RF system and a second set of directional antennas associated with the second RF system, and / or The first set of directional antennas is generally oriented in the first direction, and the second set of directional antennas is generally oriented in a second direction different from the first direction; The computer-implemented method according to claim 3.

5. A system comprising: A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied thereon, and one or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 3 or claim 4.

6. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied thereon, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 3 or claim 4.

7. A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more hardware processors executing program instructions Collecting data corresponding to a first set of RF signals associated with a first object by a first set of antennas corresponding to a first RF system; Inputting the data corresponding to the first set of RF signals into the machine learning model; Identifying the type of object associated with the first object based on the output from the machine learning model; Generating a second set of RF signals different from the first set of RF signals, at least in part, based on the type of the object, and causing transmission of the second set of RF signals using the first set of antennas; Transmitting, in response to determining that the first object is moving away from a first direction associated with the first set of antennas and moving towards a second direction associated with a second set of antennas, a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals to a second RF system, wherein the second RF system is configured to cause transmission of the second set of RF signals using one or more second antennas upon receiving the data packet; A computer-implemented method comprising the above.

8. By the one or more hardware processors executing program instructions, Determining additional features associated with the first set of RF signals or the type of the object; Accessing a preconfigured list of RF frequencies, filtering the second set of RF signals prior to transmission of the second set of RF signals, and removing one or more RF frequencies, at least in part, based on the preconfigured list; and / or Automatically tracking the location of the object associated with the first set of RF signals while causing transmission of the second set of RF signals The computer-implemented method according to claim 7, further comprising the above.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein the additional features associated with the first set of RF signals include one or more of bandwidth, channel, and signal rate.

10. The first set of antennas is directional, broadband, or both, and / or The first set of the RF signal data is sampled and / or prior to inputting the first set of the RF signal data into the machine learning model, The first set of the antennas is different from the second set of the antennas and / or The transmission of the second set of the RF signals includes the transmission of the second set of the RF signals in a direction associated with the first object and / or The tracking of the location of the object is performed by a wireless direction finder. The computer-implemented method according to any one of claims 7-9.

11. A system, A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, a computer-readable storage medium, and one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors execute the program instructions and are configured to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of claims 7-10.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors and causing the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to any one of claims 7-10.

13. A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method being performed by one or more hardware processors that execute program instructions, Accessing or receiving detection data associated with a first object, the detection data being collected or generated by one or more of an RF system, a sensor, and a device configured to detect an RF signal or an object, Collecting RF signal data from a first direction associated with the first object using at least a first antenna corresponding to a first RF system, Identifying a first set of RF signals associated with the first object, at least partially based on the detection data and the RF signal data, Identifying the type of the object associated with the first object by applying a machine learning model At least in part, generate a second set of RF signals based on the type of the object, and cause transmission of the second set of RF signals using the first set of antennas; Based on a determination that the first object is moving away from the first direction and towards a second direction associated with a second antenna, transmit, to a second RF system, a data packet associated with the second set of RF signals, wherein the second RF system is configured to cause transmission of the second set of RF signals using one or more second antennas upon receiving the data packet; A method comprising the above.

14. The detection data includes a part of a first set of RF signal data and / or indicates a physical location associated with the first object and / or The first antenna or the second antenna is directional, has a wide bandwidth, or both, and / or is configured to face in a direction corresponding to the physical location and / or Causing transmission of the second set of RF signals includes transmitting the second set of RF signals in a direction associated with the first object and / or The machine learning model includes inputting the first set of RF signal data into the machine learning model such that the machine learning model outputs a type of object associated with the first object. The method according to claim 13.

15. A system comprising: A computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, and one or more processors configured to execute the program instructions to cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 13 or claim 14.

16. A computer program product, comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 13 or claim 14.

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