Interference detection and rejection for wide area positioning systems

1. A method for detecting and mitigating the effects of interference, the method comprising:

a) receiving a signal at a receiver;

b) determining a plurality of received signal time-frequency (RSTF) values, each RSTF value indicating the time-frequency spectrum of the received signal in a particular time slot and within a particular frequency bin;

c) establishing a plurality of threshold values, each threshold value based upon at least one of a plurality of expected energy values and each further associated with at least one of the frequency bins;

d) determining that all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable if a RSTF value of a frequency bin is below the threshold value corresponding to that frequency bin of that RSTF value;

e) producing, using the received signal and the determination that all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable, acceptable signal values, wherein the acceptable signal values are produced by performing one or both of generating the acceptable signal values or identifying the acceptable signal values; and

f) estimating the position of the receiver using the acceptable signal values.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acceptable signal values comprise one or more portions of the received signal that are determined to be acceptable and do not comprise other portions of the received signal that are determined to be not acceptable.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acceptable signal values comprise one or more portions of the received signal that have been filtered to remove or lessen portions that are determined to be not acceptable.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acceptable signal values comprise weighted portions of the received signal that are determined to be not acceptable.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acceptable signal values comprise portions of the received signal that are not acceptable, and wherein the portions of the received signal that are not acceptable are not used during integration of a correlation function.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of threshold values includes a vector of values.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the method comprises: determining the vector of values using a frequency response of a transmit pulse filter.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein each element of the vector of values is a scaled version of the frequency response of the transmit pulse filter associated with a respective frequency bin.

9. The method of claim 1 , the method comprising:

a) receiving a RSTF value, from the plurality of RSTF values, of a first frequency bin that is below a threshold value associated with the first frequency bin;

b) receiving a first pulse shape value associated with the first frequency bin; and

c) determining a threshold value associated with the first frequency bin, wherein the threshold value is based on the first pulse shape value and the received RSTF value of the first frequency bin.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of threshold values include an initial threshold value that is associated with a frequency bin in a first bit and that is determined based on a pulse shape value associated with the frequency bin of the first bit, wherein the method comprises:

determining an updated threshold value that is associated with the frequency bin in a second bit that is subsequent to the first bit, wherein the updated threshold value is determined based on a current expected energy value associated with the frequency bin and at least one RSTF value associated with the frequency bin.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the updated threshold value is based on a value that is a predetermined number of Decibels greater than the current expected energy value associated with the frequency bin.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:

determining that at least a portion of the received signal is acceptable when at least each of the frequency bins in a single time slot includes an RSTF value indicating the time-frequency spectrum of the received signal within the frequency bin that is below a threshold value that is associated with the frequency bin.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of expected energy values are based on a response of a transmit pulse shaping filter.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of threshold values include threshold values that are used to determine if RSTF values of frequency bins in a bit are below those threshold values, and wherein the method comprises:

determining an updated threshold value that is used to determine if a RSTF value of a frequency bin in a subsequent bit is below the updated threshold value, wherein the updated threshold value is determined by averaging a RSTF value of a frequency bin in the bit with an expected energy value.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the expected energy value is weighted to control the amount of influence the expected energy value has on the updated threshold value.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of threshold values include threshold values that are used to determine if RSTF values of frequency bins in a bit are below those threshold values, and wherein the method comprises:

determining an updated threshold value that is used to determine if a RSTF value of a frequency bin in a subsequent bit is below that updated threshold value, wherein the updated threshold value is determined using a RSTF value of a frequency bin in the bit that is below a threshold value associated with that frequency bin in the bit, and wherein the updated threshold value is determined without using an expected energy value of the frequency bin in the subsequent bit.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the bit is a first bit of a plurality of bits, and the subsequent bit is a second bit of the plurality of bits.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:

determining updated threshold values using expected energy values until a predetermined number of RSTF values have been received, and not using expected energy values to determine updated threshold values after the predetermined number of RSTF values have been received.

19. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media embodying program instructions that, when executed by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to perform a method for detecting and mitigating the effects of interference, the method comprising:

a) receiving a signal at a receiver;

b) determining a plurality of received signal time-frequency (RSTF) values, each RSTF value indicating the time-frequency spectrum of the received signal in a particular time slot and within a particular frequency bin;

c) establishing a plurality of threshold values, each threshold value based upon at least one of a plurality of expected energy values and each further associated with at least one of the frequency bins;

d) determining that all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable if a RSTF value of a frequency bin is below the threshold value corresponding to that frequency bin of that RSTF value;

e) producing, using the received signal and the determination that all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable, acceptable signal values, wherein the acceptable signal values are produced by performing one or both of generating the acceptable signal values or identifying the acceptable signal values; and

f) estimating the position of the receiver using the acceptable signal values.

20. A system for detecting and mitigating the effects of interference, the system comprising:

a) a receiver that includes a front end having an output, wherein the front end receives a signal from a transmitter;

b) a spectrum analyzer having an input and an output, the input coupled to the front end and the output providing a plurality of received signal time-frequency (RSTF) values, each RSTF value indicating the time-frequency spectrum of the received signal in a particular time slot and within a particular frequency bin;

c) a threshold module having an output through which a plurality of threshold values are output, wherein the threshold module establishes the plurality of threshold values, wherein each of the plurality of threshold values are based upon a corresponding one of a plurality of expected energy values and further associated with a corresponding one of the frequency bins;

d) an interference detection module having a first input for receiving the threshold values from the threshold module, a second input coupled to the spectrum analyzer, and an output operable to provide an indication if all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable, wherein the interference detection module determines if all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable if a RSTF value of a frequency bin is below the threshold value corresponding to that frequency bin of that RSTF value;

e) an interference rejection module having a first input coupled to the output of the front end, a second input for receiving the determination of whether all or a portion of the received signal is acceptable, and an output for outputting acceptable signal values, wherein the interference rejection module produces acceptable signal values by performing one or both of generating the acceptable signal values or identifying the acceptable signal values; and

f) a position determination module having a first input coupled to the output of the interference rejection module for receiving the acceptable signal values, wherein the position determination module estimates the position of the receiver using the acceptable signal values.