Signal quality measurement device

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6229847
  • Patent Number
    6,229,847
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, December 24, 1997
    26 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, May 8, 2001
    23 years ago
Abstract
A signal quality measurement device of the present invention comprises a deviation function for determining a measured deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal and a table function of deviation values versus signal-to-noise ratios computed from a statistical model of atmospheric noise for finding a signal-to-noise ratio that corresponds to the measured deviation value.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to measurement of the signal-to-noise ratio of communications signals. More specifically, but without limitation thereto, the present invention relates to a device for finding the signal-to-noise ratio of a constant envelope amplitude communications signal having a known modulation scheme.




Current techniques for measuring signal-to-noise ratio require extracting information from the signal, such as bit error rate devices. Examples of such devices may be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5.440,582 issued on Aug. 8, 1995 to Birchler et al. This device estimates signal quality from a stream of demodulated information extracted from the received signal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,790 issued on May 30, 1989 to Yoshida et al. discloses a specially clocked analog-to-digital converter to estimate the quality of a phase-shift keyed signal. U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,643 discloses a device that processes a stream of demodulated data from a digitally encoded transmission to estimate signal quality.




A continued need exists for a device that can find signal-to-noise ratio of a communications signal without the difficulty of having to first extract the transmitted information from the received signal.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




A signal quality measurement device of the present invention is directed to overcoming the problems described above, and may provide further related advantages. No embodiment of the present invention described herein shall preclude other embodiments or advantages that may exist or become obvious to those skilled in the art.




A signal quality measurement device of the present invention comprises a deviation function for determining a measured deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal and a table function of deviation values versus signal-to-noise ratios computed from a statistical model of atmospheric noise for finding a signal-to-noise ratio that corresponds to the measured deviation value.




An advantage of the signal quality measurement device of the present invention is that extraction of information conveyed by the communications signal is unnecessary, avoiding the need for decryption devices for encrypted data.




Another advantage is that signal-to-noise ratio may be estimated with very few components.




The features and advantages summarized above in addition to other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent from the description, presented in conjunction with the following drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a table of computed deviation values and corresponding signal-to-noise ratios.





FIG. 2

is a diagram of a signal quality measurement device of the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a flowchart of a method of the present invention for estimating the signal quality of a communications signal.











DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




The following description is presented solely for the purpose of disclosing how the present invention may be made and used. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims.




A primary source of interference in radio signals is atmospheric noise, typically modeled as a random phenomenon with defined statistical parameters. The statistical parameters used to define atmospheric noise include Vavg, the average voltage measured by a receiving antenna, Vrms, the root-mean-square antenna voltage, and Vd, the antenna voltage deviation. The equations for these parameters may be expressed as:







V
rms

=



1
N






j
=
1

N







X
j
2









V
avg

=


1
N






j
=
1

N







x
j








V
d

=

20

log



V
rms


V
avg













where x


j


is the jth sample of the received signal amplitude envelope and N is the number of samples over which the statistics are calculated.




For a Gaussian random variable with a mean of 0 and a variance of 1, the associated Rayleigh probability density function has a mean of







Π
2











and a standard deviation of {square root over (2+L )}. For such a signal,







V
avg

=



Π
2







1.2533







 V


rms


={square root over (2)}≈1.4142












V
d

=


20





log



V
rms


V
avg





20





log


2

Π





1.049
.












For a constant amplitude sine wave, V


avg


=Vrms and V


d


=20 log(1)=0. V


d


thus ranges from 0 for pure signal to 1.0491 for pure noise, with various ratios of signal to noise lying between these limits. From Helstrom's


Probability and Stochastic Processes for Engineers


, the amplitude of a constant amplitude CW signal with Gaussian noise has a distribution function that may be expressed as:







P


(
A
)


=


A

σ
2










A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2







I
0



(

ma

σ
2


)













where m is the amplitude of the CW signal and σ is the standard deviation of the Gaussian noise. I


0


is the Bessel function. For this case, the signal-to-noise ratio SNR may be calculated as:






SNR
=

20





log



m
σ

.












V


avg


and V


rms


may be calculated from the following:



















avg


=



0




A
×

P


(
A
)





A









=



0





A

σ
2








A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2







I
0



(

ma

σ
2


)





A









=



0





A

σ
2








A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2









k
=
0











(


1
4




(

ma

σ
2


)

2


)

k



(

k
!

)

2















V
rms

=




0





A
2

×

P


(
A
)



dA









=




0






A
3


σ
2










A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2







I
0



(

ma

σ
2


)





A










=




0






A
3


σ
2










A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2









k
=
0












(


1
4




(

ma

σ
2


)

2


)

k



(

k
!

)

2





A




















The values for V


avg


and V


rms


shown in

FIG. 1

were computed from an approximation to the integral. The detection characteristic of the signal-to-noise ratio for the matched filter is a normally distributed random variable having a variance that is about half the variance of the Rayleigh-Rice distribution.




For some modes of encrypted communications, unencrypted synchronization bits of known sign may be included in the communications signal. These synchronization bits may be used to provide an additional measure of signal quality according to well known techniques.




Electrical impulses generated by, for example, lightning storms may result in excessively large values of V


d


. A way to prevent this distortion is to perform a running calculation of V


avg


, V


rms


. The standard deviation for the Nth sample may then be defined as







σ

x
,
N


=



1
N






j
=
1

N








(


x
j

-

V

avg
,
N



)

2














where




x is a sample of the communications signal,




j is a time index of the sample,




N is the total number of samples,




and V


avg,N


is the running average.




A typical range from 1 to N is 100, and may be adjusted according to the nature of the atmospheric disturbances encountered.





FIG. 2

is a block diagram of a signal quality measurement device


200


for finding the signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to the measured deviation of the signal amplitude samples. Communications signal


202


is input by receiver


204


. Receiver


204


outputs I and Q baseband signals


206


and


208


respectively. Analog-to-digital converters


210


and


212


digitize I and Q baseband signals


206


and


208


respectively. Squarers


218


and


220


calculate squared amplitudes


222


and


224


of digitized I and Q baseband signals


214


and


216


respectively. Squared amplitudes


222


and


224


are summed by summing function


226


. Deviation


232


is calculated from squared amplitude sum


228


by square root function


230


. Lookup table


234


then finds signal-to-noise ratio


236


corresponding to deviation


232


. Signal-to-noise ratio


236


is an estimate of the quality of communications signal


202


.





FIG. 3

is a flowchart of an exemplary computer program for estimating the quality of a communications signal from the amplitude of the signal and the variance of the Gaussian noise. V


avg


and V


rms


are calculated from the following steps:



















avg


=



0




A
×

P


(
A
)





A









=



0





A

σ
2








A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2







I
0



(

ma

σ
2


)





A









=



0





A

σ
2








A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2









k
=
0











(


1
4




(

ma

σ
2


)

2


)

k



(

k
!

)

2















V
rms

=




0





A
2

×

P


(
A
)



dA









=




0






A
3


σ
2










A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2







I
0



(

ma

σ
2


)





A










=




0






A
3


σ
2










A
2

+

m
2



2


σ
2









k
=
0












(


1
4




(

ma

σ
2


)

2


)

k



(

k
!

)

2





A
















 V


d


=20 log(V


rms


/V


avg


)




The signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to V


d


is then found from the lookup table of FIG.


1


.




Other modifications, variations, and applications of the present invention may be made in accordance with the above teachings other than as specifically described to practice the invention within the scope of the following claims.



Claims
  • 1. A signal quality measurement device comprising:a receiver for generating I and Q baseband amplitudes from a communications signal; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the receiver for digitizing the I and Q baseband amplitudes, respectively; a squaring function coupled to the analog-to-digital converter for squaring the digitized I and Q baseband amplitudes, respectively; a summing function coupled to the squaring function for summing the squared I and Q baseband amplitudes; a square root function coupled to the summing function for calculating an amplitude deviation of the communications signal; and a lookup table function for finding a signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to the amplitude deviation.
  • 2. A signal quality measurement device comprising:deviation function means for determining a deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal; and table function means for finding a signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to said deviation value from a statistical model of atmospheric noise.
  • 3. The signal quality measurement device of claim 2 wherein the communications signal has a substantially constant envelope amplitude and a given modulation scheme.
  • 4. The signal quality measurement device of claim 2 further comprising a communications receiver for receiving the communications signal and to provide the envelope amplitude samples.
  • 5. The signal quality measurement device of claim 2 wherein the envelope amplitude samples comprise in-phase and quadrature components of a basebanded communications signal.
  • 6. A signal quality measurement device comprising:deviation function means for determining a deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal; and table function means for finding a signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to said deviation value from a statistical model of atmospheric noise; wherein said deviation function means determines said deviation value Vd substantially according to Vavg=1N⁢∑n=1N⁢ ⁢xj,⁢Vrms=1N⁢∑j=1N⁢ ⁢xj2, ⁢andVd=20⁢ ⁢log⁡(VrmsVavg)wherein xj is the jth envelope amplitude sample of said communications signal; and N is a number of samples over which Vd is calculated.
  • 7. A signal quality measurement device comprising:deviation function means for determining a deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal; and table function means for finding a signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to said deviation value from a statistical model of atmospheric noise; wherein said deviation value Vd and signal-to-noise ratio SNR are computed substantially by Vavg=∫0∞⁢A2σ2⁢ⅇA2+m22⁢σ2⁢∑k=0∞⁢ ⁢(14⁢(mAσ2)2)k(k!)2⁢ⅆA,⁢Vrms=∫0∞⁢A3σ2⁢ⅇA2+m22⁢σ2⁢∑k=0∞⁢ ⁢(14⁢(mAσ2)2)k(k!)2⁢ⅆA,⁢Vd=20⁢ ⁢log⁢VrmsVavg,and SNR=20 log {fraction (m/σ)}for values of m and σ wherein: m is a selected envelope amplitude; and σ is a selected standard deviation of said atmospheric noise.
  • 8. A method for measuring signal quality of a communications signal comprising the following steps:determining a measured deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of the communications signal; and finding a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio from a table of deviation values vs. signal-to-noise ratios computed from a statistical model of atmospheric noise.
  • 9. A signal quality measurement device comprising:a receiver for generating I and Q baseband amplitudes from a communications signal; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the receiver for digitizing the I and Q baseband amplitudes, respectively; a squaring function coupled to the analog-to-digital converter for squaring the digitized I and Q baseband amplitudes, respectively; a summing function coupled to the squaring function for summing the squared I and Q baseband amplitudes; a square root function coupled to the summing function for calculating an amplitude deviation of the communications signal; and a lookup table function for finding a signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to the amplitude deviation; wherein the signal quality measurement device performs the following steps: determining a measured deviation value from envelope amplitude samples of a communications signal; and finding a corresponding signal-to-noise value from a table of deviation values vs. signal-to-noise ratios computed from a statistical model of atmospheric noise.
LICENSING INFORMATION

The invention described below is assigned to the United States Government and is available for licensing commercially. Technical and licensing inquiries may be directed to Harvey Fendelman, Legal Counsel For Patents, SPAWARSYSCEN SAN DIEGO CODE D0012 Room 103, 53560 Hull Street, San Diego, Calif. 92152-5001; telephone no. (619) 553-3001; fax no. (619) 553-3821.

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4335361 Acker Jun 1982
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4688234 Robinton Aug 1987
4696057 Otani Sep 1987
4835790 Yoshida et al. May 1989
5202901 Chennkeshu et al. Apr 1993
5440582 Birchler et al. Aug 1995
5440590 Birchler et al. Aug 1995
5442462 Guissin Aug 1995
5446771 Lin Aug 1995
5675498 White Oct 1997
5771443 Nagano et al. Jun 1998
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