METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHARACTERIZING MULTIPATH INTERFERENCE IN CIRCULARLY POLARIZED SIGNALS

摘要

An apparatus for characterizing multipathinterference is disclosed. An antennareceives signals that include right-handcircularly polarized (RHCP) transmitted signals,left-hand circularly polarized (LHCP)multipath interference and linearly polarizedmultipath interference. Right hand signals arepreferentially derived from the RHCP signalsand left-hand signals are preferentiallyderived from the LHCP signals. The right-handsignals (multipath attenuated with respect tothe line-of-sight signal) and left-handsignals (line-of-sight signal attenuated withrespect to the multipath) are separatelyprocessed in normal fashion. The resulting range,signal strength and/or carrier phase estimatesfor right-hand and left-hand signals are thencompared to detect the presence of multipathinterference and to determine the degree towhich it has degraded the readings obtainedfrom the right-hand channel.