Researchers
at Princeton University have developed a new smart antenna for direct sequence
code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) wireless communication systems operating
in a multipath Rayleigh flat-fading channels. Princeton is currently seeking
industrial collaborators to commercialize this technology.
The novelty
of the new switched beam antenna array relies on designing a new beamforming
device that switches between a candidate set of fixed beams multiple times per
symbol. A Kalman filter is used to estimate the attenuated spread spectrum
signals for all users and all transmission paths. The advantages over current
methods are: only one beam is generated at each time instant; the beam pattern
of the antenna array is selected from among a predetermined set of beam
patterns; the beam pa ttern changes multiple times per symbol; the switching
sequence of the antenna beams is data independent when the direction of arrival
of the received spread spectrum signals are known; the optimal switched beam
sequence is designed to yield minimum estimates of the communication channel;
and the cost in hardware for downconverting and analog to digital processing is
minimal.
Patent
protection is pending.
For
more information please
contact:
William H. Gowen
Office of Patents and
Licensing
Princeton University
5
New South Building
Princeton, NJ 08544-0036
(609) 258-6762
(609) 258-1159 fax
wgowen@princeton.edu