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:
Feb. 17, 1998
Filed:
Feb. 12, 1996
John J Poe, Woodinville, WA (US);
AlliedSignal, Inc., Morristown, NJ (US);
Abstract
A relatively low-cost FMCW radio altimeter includes a voltage-controlled oscillator based upon a GaAs FET. The oscillator produces, for example, a 4.3 GHz microwave signal that is modulated with a triangular wave having a pin-selectable modulation frequency. The modulated signal is amplified by a buffer amplifier, as well as a power amplifier, and connected to an RF output terminal by way of a plurality of microstrips. Reflected signals are received at an RF input and are coupled to a mixer by way of a low-noise amplifier. The modulation signal is also applied to the mixer by way of a microstrip coupling device to produce an audio output signal whose frequency is proportional to the altitude above ground. The gains of all of the amplifiers are selected to eliminate the need for hand-tuning of the microstrips and to enable the use of a glass/epoxy circuit board. The output of the radio altimeter is an audio signal whose frequency is proportional to the height above ground, which enables direct digital conversion by way of a frequency-to-binary converter.