Sidelobe information suppression via antenna mode modulation

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method of signal modulation includes modulating a signal by providing respective sets of weights to an active array antenna. Each set of weights specifies the same preferential direction for transmission by the active array antenna, but corresponds to a respective different one of a phase and amplitude of the signal in the preferential direction. The respective ones of a phase in the preferential direction provide modulation of the signal.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to communications and in particular to a method of sidelobe information suppression using antenna mode modulation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Antennas that adjust the phase and amplitude of specific antenna elements are called active array antennas. The settings for associated phase/amplitude control devices are called antenna weights or a weight set. Active array antennas are used to make the radiated energy preferentially transmit to or receive from certain directions. When active arrays are used in wireless communications, the weights are set so the antenna beam points in the direction of the intended receiver. During the transmission, the weights are fixed. The set of weights that result in the antenna beam pointing in a preferential direction are not unique, however; there are several sets of weights that can result in similar beams pointing in similar directions.

In general, it is not possible to build an antenna where all the energy is pointed in one beam; some small amount of energy is transmitted into unintended directions. These other unintended small beams are called sidelobes. The security of such communications is limited by the sidelobe emissions, as such sidelobes allow eavesdropping on such signals. This is undesirable. Attempts at addressing this problem have focused primarily on reducing the level of emission in the sidelobes but the information is not eliminated. Generally, beam shaping techniques are used to maximize the energy in the main beam lobe, specifying the small sidelobe emission. Power is then reduced so that the main beam is just adequate to accomplish the mission.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method of signal modulation includes modulating a signal by providing respective sets of weights to an active array antenna. Each set of weights specifies the same preferential direction for transmission by the active array antenna, but corresponds to a respective different one of a phase and amplitude of the signal in the preferential direction. The respective ones of a phase in the preferential direction provide modulation of the signal.

Embodiments of the invention provide numerous technical advantages. Some embodiments may benefit from some, none, or all of these advantages. In one embodiment, a form of modulation of a signal allows secure transmission that is not susceptible to eavesdropping in the sidelobes. In particular, this occurs because modulation of the phase in the main lobe occurs with little effect on the phase in the sidelobes. Such modulation occurs by selecting different sets of weights all corresponding to the same preferential direction of a main beam, but that correspond to different phases of the main beam. However, the corresponding phases in the sidelobes are not significantly different. Thus, in contrast to conventional techniques that focus on reducing power to the sidelobes, this approach eliminates information in the sidelobes by modulating the main lobe in a manner that does not have a corresponding identifiable effect on the sidelobes.

Other technical advantages are readily apparent to one skilled in the art.

Example embodiments of the invention and its advantages are best understood by referring to FIGURES1A through 4 of the drawings, like numerals being used for like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.

FIGS. 1A-1Dare graphs showing the resulting amplitude and phase structure of an active antenna array beam in the azimuthal plane. As described above, an antenna that has devices used to adjust the phase and the amplitude of specific antenna elements are referred to as an active array antenna. The settings for these phase/amplitude control devices are called antenna weights or a weight set. Active arrays are used to make the radiated energy preferentially transmit (or receive) certain directions, and when active arrays are used in wireless communications, the weights are set to the antenna so that the antenna beam points in the direction of the intended receiver. During the transmission, the weights are constant, but the set of weights that result in the antenna beam pointing in the particular direction is not unique. There are several weight sets that can give similar beams. When the antenna weights are fixed, the modulation of the input energy is transmitted out the antenna in the main beam as well as the sidelobes, resulting in the possibility of eavesdropping by examination of the information content in the sidelobes.

The teachings of the invention recognize that different sets of antenna weights may correspond to similar main beam structures, but that those same sets of weights correspond to differing sidelobe structures. Further, this fact may be utilized to provide a different modulation mode, referred to herein as “antenna mode modulation,” wherein a plurality of sets of weights corresponding to the same antenna direction are used to modulate the signal, resulting in modulation occurring in the preferential direction but with little or no effect in sidelobes.

FIGS. 1A-1Dfurther illustrate this concept. These graphs correspond to a 21 element ring array but the concept is not specific to such an array and is generalizable. In this particular example, a ring array is formed of 21 dipole elements, each dipole is 1 meter long by 5 millimeters in diameter. The array radius is 3.26 meters, and assumed to be in free space. The Vescovo algorithm (IEEE Trans Ant Prop, 43 (1405) 1995), is used to estimate the element coefficients, or weights, for beam forming. The algorithm is used to find the array phase/amplitude coefficients for a principal beam that is 2.8 λ/D radiance (slightly larger than the diffraction limit of the array aperture). Solutions were found with a phase mode of L=3 and −3.

FIGS. 1A and 1Ccorrespond to a phase mode of L=3, andFIGS. 1B and 1Dcorrespond to a phase mode state of L=−3.FIGS. 1A and 1Beach show amplitude in the preferential direction, corresponding to zero on the horizontal axis, as well as amplitude in the sidelobes.FIGS. 1C and 1Dillustrate the phase associated with the steered beam, both in the preferential direction and in the sidelobes. As illustrated, these figures show that the phase at the beam center is zero for both phase mode states, as indicated by reference numerals10and12but that the phase slope switches sign. Thus when switching the antenna mode fromFIGS. 1A and 1CtoFIGS. 1B and 1D, the main beam is unaffected in amplitude and phase at the beam center; however, away from the main beam and in the side lobes there is significant change. In this particular case the two phase mode solutions are mirror images. Thus by rapidly and randomly switching between these two antenna weight sets during a transmission, both the phase and the amplitude of the beam away from the center of the main beam has an additional random character which essentially eliminates the intelligibility of the intended modulation.

The teachings of the invention recognize that a spy listening from any particular sidelobe direction will see both amplitude and phase modulation as a result of the “phase mode”modulation caused by the modulation of the antenna weight set, corresponding to different weight sets, even when the main channel is unmodulated. In this realization the toggling of the antenna mode does not substantially affect the main lobe or amplitude structure. An alternative realization is to modulate the phase of the main beam directly by changing the weight sets. This concept is further illustrated with reference toFIG. 2.

FIG. 2illustrates the phase structure associated with four different sets of antenna weights as a function of the azimuthal direction (around the antenna) for another example antenna. This particular example involves a five element array. The antenna weight sets are chosen to have the four phase levels necessary to encode a QPSK signal. In this example the intended receiver is located at 180 degrees in the azimuthal direction. The necessary phase (QPSK) codes are transmitted by switching between the four sets of antenna weights, resulting in the four different curves14,16,18, and20. At 180 degrees the phases significantly differ, corresponding to the intended message. However, a spy listening at zero or 360 degrees would not see a significant phase shift between the various antenna modes and therefore not see the QPSK codes. Thus, the same preferential direction can be maintained with different phases in the preferential direction while at the same time having the a different phase in the sidelobes. This allows clandestine transmission of information by changing between the different antenna modes (different sets of weights). Such transmission may be performed in conjunction with transmitting additional information over the main beam in a conventional manner; of course, such information is subject to eavesdropping through the sidelobes. This approach has the potential for eliminating information from the sidelobe beams, without impacting the information content in the main beam.

FIG. 3is a block diagram illustrating one example of a system for providing antenna mode modulation according to the teachings of the invention. System100includes a power oscillator102, an encoder104, which in this example is a quad phase shift key encoder, an analog level generator106, a coefficient or weight generator108, and a plurality of antenna elements118. Power oscillator102provides an oscillating signal used by encoder104to encode a “normal” channel114of data. Analog level generator106adjusts the overall phase of the ring array , allowing the main lobe to be pointed in a particular direction. Coefficient generator108includes a splitter110and a plurality of phase/amplitude modules112. Phase/amplitude modules112receive a phase mode channel116, corresponding to the selection of a particular predefined set of weights, which generate the desired antenna mode during transmission over a particular time interval such as a chip time of the normal channel114. Splitter110provides the coded normal channel as well as the analog level specifying the direction in which the main lobe is to be pointed. In this manner, modulation of a “phase mode” channel can occur without affecting the normal channel modulation. The phase mode channel116, controls the modulation of the appropriate antenna weight sets which eliminates the intelligibility of the normal channel114, information in the sidelobes, as described above.

Phase/amplitude modules112within coefficient generator108generate the appropriate phase and amplitude levels to respective antenna elements according to conventional techniques, one example of which is the above-described Vescovo algorithm. The above described system100is applicable to systems such as the system ofFIG. 1where the phase mode channel calls for a +3 mode or a −3 mode but it is readily generalizable to more than two phase mode states by increasing the number of elements and size of the array.

FIG. 4is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing antenna mode modulation according to the teachings of the invention. Method200begins at step202. At step204the direction of the main lobe is specified. This corresponds to setting the main beam of the antenna array at a desired location for reception. As described above, this may be accomplished by providing a set of weights to a plurality of antenna elements in the active array. As also described, more than one set of coefficients may be used to steer the main beam in the desired direction. At step206, the antenna array is steered through the use of the specified weights. At step208, data in a “main” channel may be transmitted in the desired direction. This is the conventional mode of transmission using an active array antenna, and as described above, is susceptible to eavesdropping on the sidelobes because the modulated signal is modulated the same in the main lobe as in the sidelobes. Although techniques exist for minimizing the amplitude of the signal in the sidelobes, the signal may often still be detected.

At step210, data in the phase mode or antenna mode modulation channel is received. This is a separate data channel including data that is designed to modulate or control the selection of the antenna weight set to eliminate the main beam information from the sidelobes. In response to receiving the phase mode channel data, weights are determined at step212corresponding to the selection identified by the phase mode channel data. In particular, the determination of the weights will depend on the number of states available. In the above described example in which two phase mode states were available, the phase mode channel switches between two different states, resulting in two possible different phases states for the side lobes. However, more than two states may available (such as inFIG. 2) and the number of states may allow for different modulation techniques. Regardless of the number of states and the approach used, a set of weights is selected that corresponds to a particular phase desired. Selection of these weights may be determined according to conventional techniques used in conjunction with picking the appropriate set from the possible sets of weights to properly encode data on the phase mode channel.

At step214, the weights are provided to antenna elements in the antenna array system to control the individual steering of each antenna element and the resulting direction of the main lobe. As described before, the direction of the main lobe remains constant in this procedure, but the associated phase is modified from the previous choice of phase depending upon the sets of weights used. The method concludes at step216.

Thus, a system and method are provided that allow transmission of information in a chosen direction without being susceptible to detection through eavesdropping on associated sidelobes.