Decawave Limited

Jeff Clancy

Michael McLaughlin

Igor Dotlic

Ciarán McElroy

Giuseppe Ruvio

An antenna array () for detecting an incoming radio wave () having an operating wavelength, comprising: a plurality of antenna elements () arranged in an array with a periodic repetition of the antenna elements (). Each antenna element () comprises a slot () being shaped such that the polarisation of the corresponding antenna element () is non-linear, and having a first axis (A) and a second axis (A) orthogonal to the first axis. Each of the first and second axes (A; A) has a length in the range of about 0.05-0.2 times the operating wavelength of the incoming radio wave () and the ratio of the length of the first axis Ato the length of the second axis Ais between about 1-2.5. There is also a method of configuring an antenna arrayfor detecting an incoming radio wave (), and a method of determining the angle of arrival of a radio wave () impinging on such an antenna array ().

Wideband antenna array

In an ultra-wideband ('UWB') receiver, a received UWB signal is periodically digitized as a series of ternary samples. During a carrier acquisition mode of operation, the samples are continuously correlated with a predetermined preamble sequence to develop a correlation value. When the value exceeds a predetermined threshold, indicating that the preamble sequence is being received, estimates of the channel impulse response ('CIR') are developed. When a start-of-frame delimiter (&#x201c;SFD&#x201d;) is detected, the best CIR estimate is provided to a channel matched filter (&#x201c;CMF&#x201d;). During a data recovery mode of operation, the CMF filters channel-injected noise from the sample stream. Both carrier phase errors and data timing errors are continuously detected and corrected during both the carrier acquisition and data recovery modes of operation. The phase of the carrier can be determined by accumulating the correlator output before it is rotated by the carrier correction. By comparing the carrier phases of two receivers separated by a known distance, d, the angle of incidence, &#x3b8;, of the signal can be determined. One or more receivers may be adapted to use multiple antennae, thus reducing the total number of receivers relative to the total number of antennae.

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Dublin, Ireland

Jeff Clancy