The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 2021
Filed:
Dec. 02, 2019
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO (US);
James M. Shima, Superior, CO (US);
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO (US);
Abstract
Systems and method for determining an angle of arrival of a radio frequency (RF) signal are disclosed. A radio frequency receiving system as disclosed herein can include a plurality of antenna or receiving elements formed on a common plane. A spacing between the receiving elements can be arbitrary. In response to receiving a radio frequency signal, a difference in an integer number of wavelengths that have passed and a difference in a phase of the received signal is determined between each of a plurality of pairs of antenna elements. More particularly, a residual error is calculated for each possible difference in the number of integer wavelengths that can occur as the received signal travels to the elements in each pair of elements. A solution with a minimum residual value is taken as the difference in the actual integer number of wavelengths that have been traversed by the received signal. That integer value and the detected phase difference is applied to determine the angle of arrival.