Wideband Waveform Channelizing and Beamforming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wideband communication systems, particularly in tactical data links like Link 16, face challenges in increasing capacity, spectrum efficiency, and security while maintaining backward compatibility, due to frequency-dependent interference and the difficulty of beamforming wideband waveforms across multiple channels.
Innovation Solution
The system segments a wideband waveform into multiple channels, generates copies for each antenna, applies beamforming coefficients on a per-channel basis, and transmits each component waveform through a separate antenna, effectively spreading signal energy across channels to reduce detectability and mitigate jamming.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If beamforming is applied to wideband waveforms across multiple channels, then transmission directionality and anti-jamming performance are improved, but system complexity increases due to the need to process and coordinate multiple channels and antennas
Solution Approach 1:
The wideband waveform is segmented into multiple narrowband components, each corresponding to a specific channel. This segmentation allows beamforming to be applied independently to each channel, simplifying the overall processing while maintaining directionality and anti-jamming performance across the entire wideband signal.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from time-domain wideband processing to frequency-domain channel-by-channel processing. By transforming the problem into the frequency dimension, the system can apply beamforming coefficients specific to each channel, reducing computational complexity while preserving the spatial filtering benefits of beamforming.
2Productivity
If signal energy is distributed across multiple channels, then spectrum efficiency and anti-detection capability are improved, but transmission power is diluted across channels reducing per-channel signal strength
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by tailoring beamforming coefficients specifically for each channel based on its individual characteristics. This allows the system to concentrate signal energy effectively in each local channel while maintaining overall wideband spectrum efficiency, preventing power dilution through adaptive coefficient application.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts beamforming coefficients for each channel to optimize the balance between spectrum efficiency and signal strength. By changing parameters adaptively per channel, the system maintains sufficient per-channel power while distributing energy across the wideband spectrum for improved efficiency and security.
3Productivity
If wideband waveforms are transmitted across a spectral band with unavailable channel segments, then spectrum utilization is improved, but transmission reliability may deteriorate due to gaps in spectrum coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the wideband waveform to transmit only on available channel segments, excluding unavailable portions. This segmentation approach allows the system to utilize available spectrum resources effectively while maintaining transmission reliability through coordinated multi-channel delivery of the segmented signal.
Solution Approach 2:
By transforming to frequency-domain processing, the system can selectively activate specific channel segments while deactivating unavailable ones. This dimensional transformation enables flexible spectrum utilization where gaps in availability do not compromise overall transmission reliability, as the wideband signal is reconstructed from the available segments.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for channelizing and beamforming a wideband waveform are described. Generally, the described techniques provide for transmitting and receiving wideband waveforms that are beamformed on a per-channel basis during generation of the wideband waveforms. A transmitter may separate a first wideband signal into segments, with each segment bandwidth corresponding to a channel of the system bandwidth, and may map the segments to channels. The segments may be replicated to generate multiple copies of each segment. The transmitter may beamform and combine the copies of the segments to generate multiple wideband waveforms, and transmit each wideband waveform using a different antenna. A receiver may receive multiple wideband waveforms using multiple antennas and may separate each wideband waveform into segments, then beamform and de-map the segments. The techniques may be used to transmit and receive beamformed wideband waveforms over tactical data links.