Adaptive hybrid tracking algorithms for radio signal parameters estimations

1. A receiver for tracking a carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N 0 ) and a phase correction (Δϕ) of a reflected radio frequency (RF) carrier signal, comprising:

one or more antennas that receive a direct line-of-sight (DLOS) RF signal component and an RF signal component that is reflected from a specular point (SP) on the surface of the earth of an RF carrier signal transmitted from a transmitter located above the surface of the earth;

RF front-end circuitry that down-converts the DLOS RF signal component to a DLOS intermediate frequency (IF) signal and down-converts the RF signal component that is reflected from the SP to a reflected IF signal;

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts the DLOS IF signal to a digital DLOS IF signal and converts the reflected IF signal to a digital reflected IF signal; and

a processor that

generates modeled reference signal parameters using the digital DLOS IF signal and known locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP,

generates a reference signal based on the modeled reference signal parameters and feedback of a previously estimated Δϕ,

correlates the reference signal with the digital reflected IF signal to produce in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) correlation results, and

calculates an estimated C/N 0 and an estimated Δϕ for the digital reflected IF signal from the correlation results.

2. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the one or more antennas comprise a first antenna to receive the DLOS RF signal component and a second antenna to receive the RF signal component that is reflected from the SP.

3. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the processor further calculates a centimetric height at the SP from the estimated Δϕ.

4. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the RF carrier signal comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) carrier signal and the locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP are determined from information carried by the GNSS carrier signal.

5. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the RF carrier signal comprises a carrier signal of a communications system and the locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP are determined from information transmitted separately from ground stations of the communications system.

6. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the feedback of a previously estimated Δϕ comprises a state vector and the reference signal is generated based on the modeled reference signal parameters and the state vector.

7. The receiver of claim 6 , wherein the state vector is estimated using a filter.

8. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the filter comprises a Kalman filter.

9. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the filter comprises a proportional integral filter.

10. The receiver of claim 7 , wherein the filter comprises a Weiner filter.

11. The receiver of claim 8 , wherein the processor further eliminates noise in the estimated Δϕ by adjusting parameters of the filter based on the estimated C/N 0 and the estimated Δϕ.

12. The receiver of claim 11 , wherein the processor further adjusts the parameters of the filter based on an empirical phase noise model.

13. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the processor calculates the estimated C/N 0 and the estimated Δϕ in real-time.

14. A method for tracking carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N 0 ) and a phase correction (Δϕ) of a reflected radio frequency (RF) carrier signal, comprising:

receiving a direct line-of-sight (DLOS) RF signal component and an RF signal component that is reflected from a specular point (SP) on the surface of the earth of an RF carrier signal transmitted from a transmitter located above the surface of the earth using one or more antennas;

down-converting the DLOS RF signal component to a DLOS intermediate frequency (IF) signal and down-converting the RF signal component that is reflected from the SP to a reflected IF signal using RF front-end circuitry;

converting the DLOS IF signal to a digital DLOS IF signal and converting the reflected IF signal to a digital reflected IF signal using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC);

generating modeled reference signal parameters using the digital DLOS IF signal and known locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP using a processor;

generating a reference signal based on the modeled reference signal parameters and feedback of a previously estimated Δϕ using the processor;

correlating the reference signal with the digital reflected IF signal to produce in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) correlation results using the processor; and

calculating an estimated C/N 0 and an estimated Δϕ for the digital reflected IF signal from the correlation results using the processor.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more antennas comprise a first antenna to receive the DLOS RF signal component and a second antenna to receive the RF signal component that is reflected from the SP.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising calculating a centimetric height at the SP from the estimated Δϕ.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the RF carrier signal comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) carrier signal and the locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP are determined from information carried by the GNSS carrier signal.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the RF carrier signal comprises a carrier signal of a communications system and the locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the SP are determined from information transmitted separately from ground stations of the communications system.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the feedback of a previously estimated Δϕ comprises a state vector and the reference signal is generated based on the modeled reference signal parameters and the state vector.

20. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory and tangible computer-readable storage medium whose contents include a program with instructions being executed on a processor to perform a method for tracking a carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N 0 ) and a phase correction (Δϕ) of a reflected radio frequency (RF) carrier signal, the method comprising:

providing a system, wherein the system comprises one or more distinct software modules, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise a signal parameter modeling module, a reference generator, a correlator, and an estimator;

generating modeled reference signal parameters using a digital direct line-of-sight (DLOS) IF signal and known locations of one or more antennas, a transmitter located above the surface of the earth, and a specular point (SP) on the surface of the earth using the signal parameter modeling module,

wherein a DLOS RF signal component and an RF signal component that is reflected from the SP of an RF carrier signal transmitted from the transmitter are received using the one or more antennas,

wherein the DLOS RF signal component is down-converted to a DLOS intermediate frequency (IF) signal and the RF signal component that is reflected from the SP is down-converted to a reflected IF signal using RF front-end circuitry, and

the DLOS IF signal is converted to the digital DLOS IF signal and the reflected IF signal is converted to a digital reflected IF signal using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC);

generating a reference signal based on the modeled reference signal parameters and feedback of a previously estimated Δϕ using the reference generator;

correlating the reference signal with the digital reflected IF signal to produce in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) correlation results using the correlator; and

calculating an estimated C/N 0 and an estimated Δϕ for the digital reflected IF signal from the correlation results using the estimator.