Wireless communication device and method for spectrum monitoring based on dynamic configuration of RF front-end

1 . A wireless communication device for spectrum monitoring, comprising:

one or more antenna arrays configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signals across a plurality of frequency bands;

an RF front-end coupled to the one or more antenna arrays;

a memory configured to store circular buffers; and

a processor configured to:

adjust a plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end to process the received RF signals to obtain digitized down-converted signals that comprise spectrum data;

configure the RF front-end to generate a hardware interrupt signal when a defined spectrum monitoring event is detected;

based on the hardware interrupt signal:

initiate a first processing path configured to transfer the spectrum data to the memory via a direct memory access (DMA) operation and manage the circular buffers in the memory for the spectrum data, and

concurrently initiate a second processing path configured to perform signal analysis on the spectrum data and extract spectral features;

assign processing priority levels for the extracted spectral features based on signal characteristics;

execute a signal classification operation on the extracted spectral features based on the assigned processing priority levels; and

re-adjust the plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end based on results from the executed signal classification operation.

2 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more antenna arrays comprise a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) array having a plurality of dual-polarized antennas configured to receive the RF signals in vertical and horizontal polarizations across the plurality of frequency bands that ranges from direct current (DC) to 300 gigahertz (GHz).

3 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the RF front-end is configured to:

apply band-specific filtering operation to the received RF signals to isolate signals-of-interest; and

convert the signals-of-interest to predefined intermediate frequencies that correspond to the digitized down-converted signals.

4 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the defined spectrum monitoring event comprises at least one of: detection of signal power of the received RF signals above a threshold level, detection of signal power within a specified frequency range of the received RF signals, a buffer fill level of the circular buffers that exceeds a predetermined threshold, or a completion state of a spectrum scanning cycle by the RF front-end.

5 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

save processor registers and a process execution state upon receipt of the hardware interrupt signal; and

restore the processor registers and the process execution state after completion of the signal classification operation.

6 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the circular buffers comprise a plurality of buffer segments configured to perform sequential rotation for continuous capture of the spectrum data without interruption.

7 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute a real-time operating system (RTOS) to schedule one or more spectrum monitoring tasks, one or more signal processing tasks, and one or more interrupt signal service tasks based on predefined system task priority levels, where the predefined system task priority levels are distinct from the processing priority levels assigned to the extracted spectral features.

8 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to detect frequency-hopping signals based on correlation of the spectral features across a plurality of time intervals.

9 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end comprise one or more of:

analog-to-digital converter sampling rates to digitize the received RF signals;

filter configurations of a plurality of different band filters in the RF front-end;

a frequency range selection parameter selected to monitor the plurality of frequency bands by the RF front-end; or

signal power threshold values configured to trigger one or more spectrum monitoring events.

10 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to compare the extracted spectral features against characteristic patterns of known signal types in a pattern recognition database in the wireless communication device to classify detected signals.

11 . The wireless communication device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute a trained artificial neural network model on the extracted spectral features when the extracted spectral features do not belong to any of the characteristic patterns of the known signal types in the pattern recognition database.

12 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to synchronize the first processing path and the second processing path to correlate the spectrum data in the circular buffers with the extracted spectral features.

13 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to execute wireless data communication to transmit and receive data packets through the RF front-end; and

the RF front-end is configured to concurrently or alternatively perform the spectrum monitoring and a wireless data packet processing operation for the wireless data communication.

14 . The wireless communication device of claim 13 , wherein the memory is further configured to maintain distinct circular buffer regions for each operation type of the spectrum monitoring and the wireless data packet processing operation.

15 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a hardware layer initialization to configure the wireless communication device for spectrum reception and analysis.

16 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform a firmware layer initialization to load a real-time operating system (RTOS) and hardware drivers for the spectrum monitoring.

17 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform an operational layer initialization to start signal processing of the received RF signals and the signal classification operation.

18 . The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to detect a jamming signal and perform a jamming suppression of the detected jamming signal based on the executed signal classification operation and the re-adjusted plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end.

19 . A method for spectrum monitoring, comprising:

in a wireless communication device:

adjusting a plurality of operational parameters of a radio frequency (RF) front-end of the wireless communication device to process RF signals to obtain digitized down-converted signals that comprise spectrum data;

configuring the RF front-end to generate a hardware interrupt signal when a defined spectrum monitoring event is detected;

based on the hardware interrupt signal:

initiating a first processing path configured to transfer the spectrum data to a memory of the wireless communication device via a direct memory access (DMA) operation and manage circular buffers in the memory for the spectrum data, and

concurrently initiating a second processing path configured to perform signal analysis on the spectrum data and extract spectral features;

assigning processing priority levels for the extracted spectral features based on signal characteristics;

executing a signal classification operation on the extracted spectral features based on the assigned processing priority levels; and

re-adjusting the plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end based on results from the executed signal classification operation.

20 . A computer program product for spectrum monitoring, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions are executable by a system to cause the system to execute operations, the operations comprising:

adjusting a plurality of operational parameters of a radio frequency (RF) front-end of a wireless communication device to process RF signals to obtain digitized down-converted signals that comprise spectrum data;

configuring the RF front-end to generate a hardware interrupt signal when a defined spectrum monitoring event is detected;

based on the hardware interrupt signal:

initiating a first processing path configured to transfer the spectrum data to a memory of the wireless communication device via a direct memory access (DMA) operation and manage circular buffers in the memory for the spectrum data, and

concurrently initiating a second processing path configured to perform signal analysis on the spectrum data and extract spectral features;

assigning processing priority levels for the extracted spectral features based on signal characteristics;

executing a signal classification operation on the extracted spectral features based on the assigned processing priority levels; and

re-adjusting the plurality of operational parameters of the RF front-end based on results from the executed signal classification operation.