Patent ID: 11926345
Assignee: RAYTHEON SYSTEMS LIMITED
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 12:
13. A method comprising:
identifying a location of a vehicle using a navigation receiver, wherein the navigation receiver comprises:
a multi-element antenna comprising a plurality of antenna elements;
a plurality of channel receivers, each antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements electrically coupled to a different channel receiver of the plurality of channel receivers, the plurality of channel receivers configured to pre-process a plurality of navigation signals received by the antenna elements;
a plurality of phase detectors electrically coupled to the plurality of channel receivers and configured to identify phases of the plurality of navigation signals;
a plurality of amplitude and phase adjusters electrically coupled to the plurality of phase detectors;
at least one processor electrically coupled to the plurality of phase detectors and to the plurality of amplitude and phase adjusters; and
at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor;

providing the identified location to a vehicle control system of the vehicle; and
autonomously controlling one or more operations of the vehicle using the vehicle control system;
wherein identifying the location of the vehicle comprises:
receiving, by the navigation receiver, information about expected or actual positions of a plurality of satellites associated with the navigation signals, the information about the expected or actual positions of the plurality of satellites comprising a navigation almanac stored in the at least one memory;
determining, by the navigation receiver, an angle of arrival for each of the navigation signals by analyzing the identified phases from the phase detectors to identify a time difference of arrival for each of the navigation signals;
identifying whether any of the navigation signals received by the navigation receiver are spoofed based on the angles of arrival for the navigation signals; and
suppressing any of the navigation signals determined to be spoofed;

wherein identifying whether any of the navigation signals are spoofed comprises:
determining, by the navigation receiver, whether more than two of the navigation signals were received at substantially the same angle of arrival;
in response to determining that the more than two navigation signals were received at substantially the same angle of arrival, determining that the more than two navigation signals are spoofed;
comparing, by the navigation receiver, the angles of arrival for the navigation signals to at least one expected angle of arrival, wherein the at least one expected angle of arrival is at least one of: (i) above a horizon or (ii) based on the information about the expected or actual positions of the plurality of satellites stored in the at least one memory;
determining, by the navigation receiver, whether at least one of the navigation signals was received at an angle of arrival different from the at least one expected angle of arrival; and
in response to determining that the at least one navigation signal was received at an angle of arrival different from the at least one expected angle of arrival, determining that the at least one navigation signal is spoofed; and

wherein suppressing any of the navigation signals determined to be spoofed comprises controlling the plurality of amplitude and phase adjusters to weight the plurality of navigation signals from different channel receivers.