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