IP Library Granted Patent US 8,891,694
Granted Patent B2
US 8,891,694 · App. 13/459,786 · Granted Nov 18, 2014

Maximizing the viterbi winning path metric to estimate carrier frequency and phase offsets in continuous phase modulated signals

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,891,694
App. No.
13/459,786
Granted
Nov 18, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system and method for estimating carrier frequency offset Δf and carrier phase offset φ 0 inherent in a received CPM signal. Samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal are received. A maximum of an objective function J is determined over a two-dimensional region parameterized by frequency offset v and phase offset w. The coordinates v max and w max of a maximizing point in the region represent estimates of the carrier frequency offset Δf and the carrier phase offset φ 0 . To evaluate the objective function J at a point (v,w), apply a frequency shift of amount −v and a phase shift of amount −w to the received samples to obtain modified samples, and perform Viterbi demodulation on the modified samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time. The winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v,w).

Claims (64)

1. A method comprising:

receiving a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimating a carrier frequency offset Δf inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J as a function of frequency offset v, wherein a maximizing value v max of the frequency offset v represents an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf, wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v) of the objective function J at a respective plurality of values of the frequency offset v, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v) at any given one of the values of the frequency offset v comprises:

frequency shifting the received block of samples by −v to obtain a frequency shifted block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the frequency shifted block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v);

storing the estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf in a memory.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CPM signal is a single-h CPM signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CPM signal is a multi-h CPM signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier frequency offset Δf includes a Doppler shift due to motion of the receiver relative to a transmitter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier frequency offset Δf includes a difference between a local oscillator frequency of the receiver and a local oscillator frequency of a transmitter.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a traceback process to recover information bits from a winning path of the Viterbi demodulation corresponding to the maximum value of the objective function.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

frequency shifting a second block of samples of the CPM signal by −v max ;

recovering information from the frequency-shifted second block by performing Viterbi demodulation on the frequency-shifted second block.

9. A non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimate a carrier frequency offset Δf inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J as a function of frequency offset v, wherein a maximizing value v max of the frequency offset v represents an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf, wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v) of the objective function J at a respective plurality of values of the frequency offset v, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v) at any given one of the values of the frequency offset v comprises:

frequency shifting the received block of samples by −v to obtain a frequency shifted block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the frequency shifted block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v); and

store the estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf in a memory.

10. The memory medium of claim 9 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

11. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory memory medium storing program instructions that are executable by the processor, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimate a carrier frequency offset Δf inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J as a function of frequency offset v, wherein a maximizing value v max of the frequency offset v represents an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf, wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v) of the objective function J at a respective plurality of values of the frequency offset v, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v) at any given one of the values of the frequency offset v comprises:

frequency shifting the received block of samples by −v to obtain a frequency shifted block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the frequency shifted block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v); and

store the estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf in a memory.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimating a carrier frequency offset Δf and a carrier phase offset φ 0 inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J over a region within a two-dimensional space parameterized by frequency offset v and phase offset w, wherein coordinates v max and w max of a maximizing point in the region represent respectively an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf and an estimate of the carrier phase offset φ 0 , wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v,w) of the objective function J at a respective plurality points (v,w) in the region, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v,w) at any given one of the points (v,w) comprises:

applying a frequency shift of amount −v and a phase shift of amount −w to the received block of samples in order to obtain a modified block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the modified block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v,w); and

storing the carrier frequency offset estimate and the carrier phase offset estimate in a memory.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the CPM signal is a single-h CPM signal.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the CPM signal is a multi-h CPM signal.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the carrier frequency offset includes a Doppler shift due to motion of the receiver relative to a transmitter.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the carrier frequency offset includes a difference between a local oscillator frequency of the receiver and a local oscillator frequency of a transmitter.

19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

performing a traceback process to recover information bits from a winning path of the Viterbi demodulation that corresponds to the maximum value of the objective function.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

applying a frequency shift of −v max and a phase shift of −w max to a second block of samples of the CPM signal to obtain a modified second block of samples; and

recovering information from the modified second block by performing Viterbi demodulation on the modified second block.

21. A non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium storing program instructions that are executable by a computer system, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to:

receive a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimate a carrier frequency offset Δf and a carrier phase offset φ 0 inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J over a region within a two-dimensional space parameterized by frequency offset v and phase offset w, wherein coordinates v max and w max of a maximizing point in the region represent respectively an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf and an estimate of the carrier phase offset φ 0 , wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v,w) of the objective function J at a respective plurality points (v,w) in the region, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v,w) at any given one of the points (v,w) comprises:

applying a frequency shift of amount −v and a phase shift of amount −w to the received block of samples in order to obtain a modified block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the modified block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v,w); and

store the carrier frequency offset estimate and the carrier phase offset estimate in a memory.

22. The memory medium of claim 21 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

23. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory memory medium storing program instructions that are executable by the processor, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a block of samples of a continuous phase modulated (CPM) signal from a receiver;

estimate a carrier frequency offset Δf and a carrier phase offset φ 0 inherent in the CPM signal based on the received block of samples, wherein said estimating comprises computing a maximum of an objective function J over a region within a two-dimensional space parameterized by frequency offset v and phase offset w, wherein coordinates v max and w max of a maximizing point in the region represent respectively an estimate of the carrier frequency offset Δf and an estimate of the carrier phase offset φ 0 , wherein said computing the maximum includes computing a plurality of values J(v,w) of the objective function J at a respective plurality points (v,w) in the region, wherein said computing the objective function value J(v,w) at any given one of the points (v,w) comprises:

applying a frequency shift of amount −v and a phase shift of amount −w to the received block of samples in order to obtain a modified block of samples;

performing Viterbi demodulation on the modified block of samples to obtain a winning path metric value at a final time, wherein the winning path metric value is the objective function value J(v,w); and

store the carrier frequency offset estimate and the carrier phase offset estimate in a memory.

24. The computer system of claim 23 , wherein the CPM signal does not include a preamble or a pilot.

Assignments (5)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS (REEL/FRAME 057280/0028) Recorded Oct 13, 2023
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 065231/0466 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS (REEL/FRAME 052935/0001) Recorded Oct 13, 2023
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION; PHASE MATRIX, INC.
Reel/Frame 065653/0463 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 18, 2021
From: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 057280/0028 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 14, 2020
From: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION; PHASE MATRIX, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 052935/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 30, 2012
From: AHMED, I. ZAKIR; YAJNANARAYANA, VIJAYA
To: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 028128/0793 →