Granted Patent B1

US 12,425,120 · App. 17/890,833 · Granted Sep 23, 2025

Inventors: John V. Thommana (Cedar Rapids, IA); Raymond Zanoni (Marion, IA)

Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.

H04K3/224H01Q1/245H04B7/0413H04B7/0691H04B17/345H04W24/02H04W76/10

Abstract

Claims (56)

1. A cellular device enclosure comprising:

a plurality of internal antennas disposed internal to the device enclosure;

a plurality of external antennas disposed external to the device enclosure, a first set of external antennas comprising dedicated transmit antennas and a second set of external antennas comprising dedicated receive antennas; and

at least one processor in data communication with the plurality of internal antennas, the plurality of external antennas, and a non-transitory memory storing non-transitory processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:

establish a connection to at least one cellular base station via the plurality of external antennas;

relay signal between the plurality of internal antennas and the at least one cellular base station;

identify one or more jamming sources;

determine a relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources; and

determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated receive antennas to produce a null in a radiation pattern corresponding to relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources, and determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated transmit antennas to produce a beam aimed at the at least one cellular base station,

wherein:

each of the plurality of internal antennas is disposed to correspond to an antenna on a cellular device within the enclosure; and

the plurality of external antennas is a multiple between 2 and 32 of the plurality of internal antennas.

2. The cellular device of claim 1 , wherein determining the relative location comprises a MUSIC algorithm.

3. The cellular device of claim 1 , wherein determining the relative location comprises an ESPRIT algorithm.

4. The cellular device enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising switching circuitry associated with each of the plurality of external antennas, the switching circuitry configured to place each external antenna in one of a transmit mode and receive mode.

5. The cellular device enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

establish a data link to an external computer;

utilize the cellular device as a cellular modem for the external computer via the plurality of internal antennas and the plurality of external antennas.

6. A cellular system comprising:

one or more base stations; and

a cellular device enclosure comprising:

a plurality of internal antennas disposed internal to the device enclosure;

a plurality of external antennas disposed external to the device enclosure, a first set of external antennas comprising dedicated transmit antennas and a second set of external antennas comprising dedicated receive antennas; and

at least one processor in data communication with the plurality of internal antennas, the plurality of external antennas, and a non-transitory memory storing non-transitory processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:

establish a connection to the one or more cellular base stations via the plurality of external antennas;

relay signal between the plurality of internal antennas and the one or more cellular base stations;

identify one or more jamming sources;

determine a relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources; and

determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated receive antennas to produce a null in a radiation pattern corresponding to relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources, and determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated transmit antennas to produce a beam aimed at the at least one cellular base station,

wherein:

each of the plurality of internal antennas is disposed to correspond to an antenna on a cellular device within the enclosure; and

the plurality of external antennas is a multiple between 2 and 32 of the plurality of internal antennas.

7. The cellular device of claim 6 , wherein determining the relative location comprises a MUSIC algorithm.

8. The cellular device of claim 6 , wherein determining the relative location comprises an ESPRIT algorithm.

9. The cellular system of claim 6 , further comprising switching circuitry associated with each of the plurality of external antennas, the switching circuitry configured to place each external antenna in one of a transmit mode and receive mode.

10. The cellular system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

establish a data link to an external computer;

utilize the cellular device as a cellular modem for the external computer via the plurality of internal antennas and the plurality of external antennas.

11. An apparatus comprising:

an enclosure;

a plurality of internal antennas disposed internal to the enclosure;

a plurality of external antennas disposed external to the enclosure, a first set of external antennas comprising dedicated transmit antennas and a second set of external antennas comprising dedicated receive antennas; and

at least one processor in data communication with the plurality of internal antennas, the plurality of external antennas, and a non-transitory memory storing non-transitory processor executable code for configuring the at least one processor to:

establish a connection to one or more cellular base stations via the plurality of external antennas;

relay signal between the plurality of internal antennas and the one or more cellular base stations;

identify one or more jamming sources;

determine a relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources; and

determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated receive antennas to produce a null in a radiation pattern corresponding to relative direction of each of the one or more jamming sources, and determine one or more weights and phase adjustments to apply to each of the plurality of dedicated transmit antennas to produce a beam aimed at the at least one cellular base station,

wherein:

each of the plurality of internal antennas is disposed to correspond to an antenna on a cellular device within the enclosure; and

the plurality of external antennas is a multiple between 2 and 32 of the plurality of internal antennas.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising switching circuitry associated with each of the plurality of external antennas, the switching circuitry configured to place each external antenna in one of a transmit mode and receive mode.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

establish a data link to an external computer;

utilize the cellular device as a cellular modem for the external computer via the plurality of internal antennas and the plurality of external antennas.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a re-chargeable battery within the enclosure configured to power the plurality of external antennas, the at least one processor, and the cellular device.

Assignments (1)

References Cited (20)