The Effect of Hard Limiting an Angle-Modulated Signal Plus Noise

The effect of hard limiting an angle-modulated signal plus narrow-band Gaussian noise is analyzed. Several examples are considered?sinusoidal angle modulation, Gaussian angle modulation, and biphase angle modulation. The general conclusion is that when a zonal band-pass filter is used, which rejects dc and second harmonics, an angle-modulated signal plus Gaussian noise provides the same output signal-to-noise ratio as shown by Davenport for a CW signal plus Gaussian noise. However, when a narrow bandpass filter is used, which has a bandwidth approximately equal to the input angle-modulated signal, an angle-modulated signal plus Gaussian noise has a better output signal-to-noise ratio than a CW signal plus Gaussian noise.     

Concatenated Sequences for Spread Spectrum Systems

Concatenated sequences are suggested and developed for use in spread spectrum (SS) systems. Special receiver realization is discussed and it is shown that the concatenated sequences offer great advantage in reducing the size of the matched filter correlators (MFC) in the SS receiver. Experimental systems have been built using concatenated sequences and their performance is reported here. It has been shown that a processing gain of 60 is obtainable with a 15 × 4 concatenated sequence which requires three tapped delay lines (TDL), two of length 15 and one of 4. Thus a total of only 34 delay units (with a nonlinear interface network, only 19 delay units) are required. Teleprinter signals can be transmitted over telephone channels using a bandwidth (BW) expansion of 60 with an input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of only -5.1 dB, resulting in a character- error-rate of 1 in 103. Techniques have been developed to reduce the sidelobe levels in the aperiodic autocorrelation functions (ACF) of the pseudonoise (PN) codes. For 15 length and 7 length PN sequences, sidelobes are reduced by 9 dB and 9.4 dB, respectively, using transversal filters. Application of the SS systems to the problem of multiaccessing and antijamming are discussed.     

Detection of Known Signals in Nonstationary Noise

The basic design of a nonlinear, time-invariant filter is postulated for detecting signal pulses of known shape imbedded in nonstationary noise. The noise is a sample function of a Gaussian random process whose statistics are approximately constant during the length of a signal pulse. The parameters of the filter are optimized to maximize the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The resulting nonlinear filter has the interesting property of approximating the performance of an adaptive filter in that it weights each frequency band of each input pulse by a factor that depends on the instantaneous noise power spectrum present at that time. The SNR at the output of the nonlinear filter is compared to that at the output of a matched filter. The relative performance of the nonlinear system is good when the signal pulses have large time-bandwidth products and the instantaneous noise power spectrum is colored in the signal pass band.     

Signal-to-Noise Ratio in the Bandpass Output of a Discriminator

A formula is derived for the output signal-to-noise power ratio from a limiter-discriminator that is followed by an ideal (rectangular) bandpass filter. This signal-to-noise ratio is shown to be inversely proportional to the difference between the cube of the upper cutoff frequency and the cube of the lower cutoff frequency. The formula commonly utilized by designers for the discriminator output signal-to-noise ratio was derived for the case of a lowpass filter on the discriminator output. The bandpass and low-pass formulas are compared to indicate 1) the advantage of bandpass filtering for the discriminator output, and 2) the error incurred if the designer employs the low-pass formula to evaluate the performance of a bandpass filter design. Finally, the accuracy of a narrow-band approximation for the bandpass formula is evaluated.     

System Design for Improved Extra-Terrestrial Communications

This paper describes a proposed system for improved exo-ionospheric communications. The dynamic magneto-ionic character of the channel is considered, in particular, the multipath situation arising therefrom. An ideal matched filter is found, matched to the multipath structure and the dynamics of the exo-ionospheric channel. The improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio through the matched filter is calculated. It is seen to depend on the quotient of the input signal to the bandwidths of the ``measuring' filter and the ``integrating' filter. Further advantages are shown to accrue from signal processing at the transmitter involving both increases in range, and, in particular, secure coding possibilities.     

On the Acquisition Time for an Apollo Ranging Code

An Apollo ranging system is considered whose phase reference is obtained by a phase-locked loop for bit synchronization. The bit phase reference is noisy, and the error probability for the ranging code is shown to depend on the input signal energy per bit to noise density ratio. The procedure of computing the acquisition time for the ranging code is then presented and the acquisition time for a lunar ranging code is plotted versus the input signal-to-noise density ratio.     

On the Mean Frequency Measurement System Using Correlation Detection

This paper is concerned with the problem of measuring the mean frequency of the power spectrum of a zero-mean, stationary, narrowband Gaussian random signal in the presence of additive Gaussian noise. Signal-to-noise ratios at the output of the mean frequency measurement system using correlation detection are analyzed in terms of input signal-to-noise ratio, input signal and noise bandwidths, and integration time. The results obtained are verified experimentally, and a comparison with a conventional zero-crossing detector is also made.     

Phase-Shift-Keyed Signal Detection with Noisy Reference Signals

This paper derives and graphically illustrates the performance characteristics of Phase-Shift-Keyed communication systems where the receiver's phase reference is noisy and derived from the observed waveform by means of a narrow-band tracking filter (a phase-locked loop). In particular, two phase measurement methods are considered. One method requires the transmission of an auxiliary carrier (in practice, this signal is usually referred to as the sync subcarrier). This carrier is tracked at the receiver by means of a phase-locked loop, and the output of this loop is used as a reference signal for performing a coherent detection. The second method is self-synchronizing in that the reference signal is derived from the modulated data signal by means of a squaring-loop. The statistics (and their properties) of the differenced-correlator outputs are derived and graphically illustrated as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio existing in the tracking filter's loop bandwidth and the signal-to-noise ratio in the data channel. Conclusions of these results as well as design trends are presented.     

The Effect of Integrator Pole Position on the Performance of an Adaptive Array

The LMS adaptive array requires an integrator in each weight feedback control loop. In practice the integrator is often replaced by a low-pass filter, i.e., by a filter with a single pole at s = - ? (where s is complex frequency). The effect of this pole position on array performance is examined. It is shown that to obtain optimal performance from the array, ? must be less than k?2, where k is the loop gain and ?2 is the thermal noise power per element. When at exceeds k?2, the output signal-to-inter ference-plus-noise ratio from the array is degraded for intermediate values of interference power.     

Some Matched Filter Configurations for Infrared Systems

An analysis of the output of three alternative matched filter configurations in an infrared scanning system model is presented. The sensor is corrupted by thermal noise, generation-recombination noise, photon noise, and modulation noise, the latter providing an extreme discoloration in the signal passband. Expressions for the signal voltage density spectrum, signal pulse shape, noise power spectrum, and average noise power at the matched filter output are derived where the integral evaluations attendant to these derivations do not appear elsewhere in the literature. The paper also provides graphical displays of the signal-to-noise power ratio at the filter output versus various system parameters, noise power spectrum out of the matched filter versus ?, and the signal pulse shape out of the filter versus time. Also included are discussions of practically realizable approximations to the matched filters and curve fitting techniques for the signal pulse shape function.     

Performance Degradation of MTI Circuits Due to Amplitude Limiting

The loss in output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to amplitude limiting is obtained for a radar circuit consisting of a bandpass limiter, coherent demodulator, matched filter, and moving-target-indicator (MTI) filter. The circuit is used in scanning MTI radars. The tandem connection of the limiter and coherent demodulator is a model for the saturation of the intermediate-frequency (IF) demodulator of an MTI radar. Results on special functions are used to obtain simple formulas for the loss in output SNR relative to a linear IF demodulator when the input SNR is less than -15 dB and the number of hits per 3-dB beamwidth exceeds 15.     

A Computationally Efficient Approximation to a Discrete-Time Matched Filter

When the number of filter coefficients is large, the solution of the discrete-time matched filter equation can be computationally difficult. In this paper several techniques are presented for approximating the impulse response of a matched filter without actually solving the matched filter equation. The performance of these approximating filters is analyzed and compared with the performance of the matched filter. It is also shown that an approximation which is best in a mean-squared-error sense is not necessarily best in terms of output signal-to-noise ratio.     

The Response of Hard-Limiting Bandpass Limiters to PM Signals

The signal-to-noise ratio of the output of a hard-limiting bandpass limiter to a PM signal is calculated by using the probability density function of the random phase variable. The signal-to-noise ratio transfer characteristics are plotted for comparison.     

Improved Range Resolution Filters for Rectangular-Pulse Radar Systems

The performance of several new clutter-reduction filters suitable for rectangular-pulse radar systems is investigated. The new filters consist of various approximations and modifications of two filters known to be optimal for certain criteria: the well-known Urkowitz filter which optiizes the clutter improvement ratio, and the newer sidelobe reduction filter which minimizes output noise power subject to peak sidelobe constaints. The new filters are compared usig five basic criteria: clutter improvement ratio, signal-to-noise ratio, sidelobe peak ratio, pulse compression ratio, and filter complexity. The results are summarized in tabular and graphical form.     

Effects of a Finite-Width Decision Threshold on Binary CPSK and FSK Communication Systems

The function of the receiver in a binary digital communication system is to make a binary (?space?, ?mark? or ?"0?, ?1?) decision by comparing the signal values from the mark and space filters (or correlators) at known successive time intervals (?bit? or ?baud? time intervals). When the signal value out of the mark filter is greater than that out of the space filter, it is decided that mark or 1 is transmitted, and vice versa. It is of fundamental importance to know the exact instant of time at which the two filter outputs are to be compared. This is the problem of synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. In this paper, we assume a system that is perfectly synchronized. In a practical system, the difference between the two filter outputs must differ from a threshold by some finite amount in order to cause the device to respond reliably. The examination of the effects of this dead zone (finite-width decision threshold) on digital transmission systems is of important practical interest. Its effects on binary differentially coherent phase-shift-keying, and m-level phase-shift-keying systems have been investigated previously. In this paper we consider its effects on binary coherent phase-shift-keying (CPSK), coherent orthogonal (CFSK), and noncoherent orthogonal (NCFSK) systems. The probability of bit error and the channel capacity of each system is obtained in terms of the dead zone threshold.     

Digital Radiometer Performance

This work investigates the performance of an all-digital, total-power radiometer (TPR), consisting of RF, mixer, and IF stages followed by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Square-law detection and smoothing is performed in a digital computer. A figure of merit, the degradation factor, is defined which compares the digital TPR with an ideal analog TPR. Exact results are obtained which include the effects of saturation, finite step size, and finite sampling rate of the ADC. A good approximation is developed which compares favorably with the exact results under certain conditions. The use of a general digital filter for smoothing is considered. A new parameter, the ?equivalent summation number?, is shown to be analogous to the equivalent integration time of an analog TPR.     

Angular Accuracy of a Scanning Radar Employing a Two-Pole Filter

A two-pole filter is proposed as a detector for a scanning radar. The optimum values of the filter coefficients are found and are approximated by a simple expression. The optimum two-pole filter requires a 0.15-dB increase in signal-to-noise ratio in order to provide the same detection capability as the optimum detector, and yields azimuth estimates whose standard deviation are within 15 percent of the Cramér-Rao lower bound. The estimator is simple to implement, avoiding the storage requirements of the moving window detector and the bias complications of the feedback integrator.     

Precise navigation using adaptive FIR filtering and time domainspectral estimation

This paper introduces a new low cost, short range, positioning system based on adaptive finite impulse response (FIR) filtering and time domain spectral estimation. The system can determine absolute positions with a high degree of accuracy and is well suited for real time navigation. The approach is based upon signal processing techniques and a priori knowledge of the system transfer function. The first step is to measure the phase response of the linear transfer function and then using a FIR filter the time response of the system can be determined. The FIR filter computes the time response by performing a deconvolution between the measured phase response, and the complex conjugate of the transfer function. By correlating the known input impulse response with the output of the FIR filter, an error term is generated. The time delay of the system is determined by adjusting the FIR filter coefficients to minimize the error term. Simulated analysis of the system indicates a worst case error of ±16 cm     

Signal Resolution via Digital Inverse Filtering

Research in numerous areas is directed toward the resolution of multiple overlapping signals in a noisy environment. These areas include radar, sonar, speech, seismology, and electrophysiology. Sometimes matched filters are used; other times inverse filters are employed. This paper discusses one approach to the analysis of the resolution of inverse filters. Our method is to compromise the trade-off between signal resolution and the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A performance measure for the inverse or deconvolution filter is defined as a quantity proportional to the harmonic mean of the resolution and the SNR. An optimum output pulse duration is obtained using this criterion, where the pulse shape has been previously selected and the input signal waveform is known. In addition, upper and lower bounds for the output pulse duration are presented. Graphs are given which allow the designer to select the optimum inverse filter output pulse duration for a desired signal resolution and an estimated SNR.     

Flexible loop filter design for spacecraft phase-locked receivers

A flexible loop filter design for spacecraft phase-locked receivers is proposed. The loop filter is implemented as digital hardware with coefficients that are set by registers. Either a perfect or an imperfect integrating loop filter can be effected. This flexibility is important since not one type of loop filter is preferred for all circumstances. An imperfect integrator is preferred when, as is often the case for spacecraft receivers, it is important to minimize the best-lock frequency drift of an idling loop. A perfect integrator is preferred when the tracking performance of the loop is the most important consideration