Methods and apparatus to mitigate interference and to extend field of view in ultra-wideband systems

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first filter configured to pass signal energy in a first radio frequency (RF) spectral band associated with a signaling bandwidth of an ultra-wideband (UWB) RF signaling system, and to output a first filtered signal;

a second filter configured to pass signal energy in a second RF spectral band associated with the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system, and to output a second filtered signal;

a plurality of detectors, each respective detector configured to receive a respective filtered signal and to output a digitized stream of pulses by identifying pulses in the filtered signal that are above a respective predetermined threshold;

a plurality of packet decoders, each respective packet decoder configured to receive a respective digitized stream of pulses and to decode a valid over-the-air packet corresponding to a plurality of RF pulses received according to a known burst pattern, and to generate a respective time-stamped tag data packet comprising (i) information in the valid over-the-air packet and (ii) a corresponding timestamp;

an arbiter in communication with the plurality of packet decoders, the arbiter configured to:

receive at least one time-stamped tag data packet from at least one of the plurality of packet decoders;

select a time-stamped tag data packet from the at least one received time-stamped tag data packet; and

a packet formatter configured to formulate a network data packet based on the selected time-stamped tag data packet, and to output the network data packet.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter is configured to send a reset command to at least one of the plurality of packet decoders in response to the selection of the time-stamped tag data packet.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter is further configured to check if the selected time-stamped tag data packet is a duplicate of at least one stored time-stamped tag data packet, and to generate and to output a network data packet corresponding to the selected time-stamped tag data packet if the time-stamped tag data packet is not a duplicate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first filter and second filter have RF spectral bands over approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first filter has a RF spectral band of approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system, and wherein the second filter has a RF spectral band covering a portion of the RF spectral band of the first filter, the RF spectral band of the second filter attenuating signal energy in a RF spectral band of a known interfering system.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the RF spectral band of the first filter is approximately 6.35-6.75 Gigahertz (GHz), the RF spectral band of the second filter is approximately 6.55-6.75 GHz, and wherein the RF spectral band of the known interfering system is approximately 6.425-6.525 GHz.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and the second filters have non-overlapping RF spectral bands, the RF spectral bands of the first and second filters collectively making up approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of UWB RF signaling system.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first RF spectral band is approximately 6.35-6.525 Gigahertz (GHz), and wherein the second RF spectral band is approximately 6.55-6.75 GHz, and wherein an interfering system has an RF spectral band in either the first or second RF spectral band.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the corresponding time stamp represents an average of counter values in the respective receiver for a plurality of detected RF pulses.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each detector comprises a comparator configured to receive the respective filtered signal and the respective predetermined threshold as inputs, and to output the digitized stream of pulses.

11. A method comprising:

generating a first filtered signal by passing signal energy in a first radio frequency (RF) spectral band associated with a signaling bandwidth of an ultra-wideband (UWB) RF signaling system;

generating a second filtered signal by passing signal energy in a second RF spectral band associated with the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system;

generating, using a plurality of detectors, a plurality of digitized streams of pulses, each respective digitized stream of pulses generated by identifying RF pulses in a respective filtered signal above a respective predetermined threshold;

generating, using a plurality of packet decoders, at least one time-stamped tag data packet, wherein a respective time-stamped tag data packet is generated based on decoding a valid over-the-air packet corresponding to a plurality of RF pulses received according to a known burst pattern, the respective time-stamped tag data packet comprising (i) information in the valid over-the-air packet and (ii) a corresponding timestamp;

receiving, at an arbiter in communication with the plurality of packet decoders, the at least one time-stamped tag data packet from at least one of the plurality of packet detectors;

selecting a time-stamped tag data packet from the at least one received time-stamped tag data packet;

formulating, using a packet formatter, a network data packet based on the selected time-stamped tag data packet; and

outputting the network data packet.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sending a reset command to at least one of the plurality of packet decoders in response to the selection of the time-stamped tag data packet.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises checking if the selected time-stamped tag data packet is a duplicate of at least one stored time-stamped tag data packet, and outputting a network data packet corresponding to the selected time-stamped tag data packet if the time-stamped tag data packet is not a duplicate.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first filter and second filter have RF spectral bands over approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first filter has a RF spectral band of approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of the UWB RF signaling system, and wherein the second filter has a RF spectral band covering a portion of the RF spectral band of the first filter, the RF spectral band of the second filter attenuating signal energy in a RF spectral band of a known interfering system.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the RF spectral band of the first filter is approximately 6.35-6.75 Gigahertz (GHz), the RF spectral band of the second filter is approximately 6.55-6.75 GHz, and wherein the RF spectral band of the known interfering system is approximately 6.425-6.525 GHz.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first and the second filters have non-overlapping RF spectral bands, the RF spectral bands of the first and second filters collectively making up approximately all of the signaling bandwidth of UWB RF signaling system.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first RF spectral band is approximately 6.35-6.525 Gigahertz (GHz), and wherein the second RF spectral band is approximately 6.55-6.75 GHz, and wherein an interfering system has an RF spectral band in either the first or second RF spectral band.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the corresponding time stamp represents an average of counter values in the respective receiver for a plurality of detected RF pulses.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of detectors are comparators, each respective comparator configured to receive a respective filtered signal and a predetermined threshold as inputs.