Method and technique for the processing and intelligent display of wideband direction-finding data

1. An interactive graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying frequency, amplitude and direction information provided by an intelligence system having a front end to generate digital data based on received radio frequency (RF) signals, a post processing stage to process the digital data, and a direction finding stage to prevent the post-processing stage from processing portions of the digital data that correspond to RF signals arriving from a direction other than a predetermined range of directions, comprising:

a plot of RF versus amplitude based on the frequency information and the amplitude information provided by the intelligence system, displayed simultaneously with a graph of frequency versus direction based on the frequency information and the direction information provided by the intelligence system;

wherein the frequency information of both the plot and the graph covers a range of simultaneously monitored frequencies of the RF signals arriving from the predetermined range of directions; and

wherein user interaction with the graph sets i) the predetermined range of directions, and ii) a range of frequencies, which predetermined range of directions and range of frequencies configure the direction finding stage.

2. The graphical user interface of claim 1 , wherein the plots are arranged such that the frequency ranges of the two plots match each other.

3. The graphical user interface of claim 1 , wherein the plot of RF versus amplitude is responsive to user changes made in the graph of frequency versus direction.

4. The graphical user interface of claim 3 , wherein the user changes made in the plot of frequency versus direction comprise the range of direction values to plot, the width of the sectors of interest, the color of a sector of interest, or highlighting of sectors of interest.

5. The graphical user interface of claim 1 , wherein the plot and graph are continuously updated as the intelligence system collects new signal information.

6. The graphical user interface of claim 1 , wherein the horizontal midline of the graph of frequency versus direction can be locked to a particular direction.

7. The graphical user interface of claim 1 , wherein the graph of frequency versus direction is plotted in polar coordinates or Cartesian coordinates.

8. A method for providing a graphical user interface for displaying frequency, amplitude, and direction information, comprising:

providing frequency, amplitude, and direction information from an intelligence system having a front end to generate digital data based on received radio frequency (RF) signals, a post processing stage to process the digital data, and a direction finding stage to prevent the post-processing stage from processing portions of the digital data that correspond to RF signals arriving from a direction other than a predetermined range of directions on different axes in two two-dimensional graphs; and

displaying the two two-dimensional graphs simultaneously;

wherein the frequency information of both of the graphs covers a range of simultaneously monitored frequencies of the RF signals arriving from the predetermined range of directions; and

wherein user interaction with one of the graphs sets i) the predetermined range of directions, and ii) a range of frequencies, which predetermined range of directions and range of frequencies configure the direction finding stage.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the two two-dimensional graphs are RF versus amplitude and frequency versus direction.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the intelligence system continuously collects and displays data automatically in near real time in the two graphs.

11. A method for operating a graphical user interface for displaying frequency, amplitude, and direction information from an intelligence system having a front end to generate digital data based on received RF signals, a post processing stage to process the digital data, and a direction finding stage to prevent the post-processing stage from processing portions of the digital data that correspond to RF signals arriving from a direction other than a predetermined range of directions, comprising:

controlling the quantity or attributes of direction, frequency or amplitude data displayed;

in response to the controlling, simultaneously displaying information based on the frequency, amplitude and direction information from the intelligence system, wherein the frequency information covers a range of simultaneously monitored frequencies of the RF signals arriving from the predetermined range of directions; and

in response to user interaction with the displayed information, setting i) the predetermined range of directions, and ii) a range of frequencies, which predetermined range of directions and range of frequencies configure the direction finding stage.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein controlling the quantity of direction data comprises narrowing the direction scale's range to show a particular compass sector.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein controlling the attributes of data comprises choosing display colors for the display of data from each sector of interest.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method comprises analyzing and interacting with more than one sector at a time.