System for sensor sensitivity enhancement and method therefore

摘要

A sensor system is provided having a front end (81) and a digital signal processing unit (82) adapted for providing sensitivity enhancement. The front end (81) includes a sensor (10) whose output signal is digitized (11) and coupled to the digital signal processing unit (82). The digital signal processing unit (82) has a matched filter function to measure the signal's energy with minimum statistical error energy caused by white noise. The digital signal processing unit (82) also includes a matrix digital signal processor (12) that linearly utilizes the white noise values in the input's wider band spectrum to further suppress the white noise statistical error energy in the matched filter, to enhance the system sensitivity. The digital signal processing unit (82) also includes mode digital signal processors (13) to combine multiple event inputs in a manner that further improves sensitivity over extended time periods.

主权项

1. A system for enhancing sensitivity of a sensor system, comprising:
a front end circuit having an input receiving a signal representing a sensing parameter combined with naturally occurring white noise and outputting an electrical signal corresponding thereto, said front end circuit having a frequency bandwidth N times a matched filter bandwidth for the sensing parameter to be detected by said front end circuit, where N is greater than one; and a digital signal processing unit coupled to said front end circuit for receiving said electrical signal as N sequential samples, said digital signal processing unit including a matrix digital signal processor for applying a transform to said N sequential digital samples using a matrix of N×N cells having an abscissa axis representing equally spaced frequency domain values and an ordinate axis representing code domain values, one of said cells defining a designated cell, said designated cell having a frequency bandwidth and center frequency matched to a frequency bandwidth and center frequency of said signal representing said sensing parameter, said code domain values being established by unique and non-duplicated code constants to provide a transform where a remainder of said plurality of frequency domain cells include frequency domain cells outside said matched filter bandwidth with a common code constant and cells transformed differently with a different code constant, wherein said remainder of said plurality of frequency domain cells are processed to obtain an estimate of signal energy in said designated cell, said matrix digital signal processor providing a filtered output signal representing an energy value of said sensing parameter.