RF power control system including watchdog circuit

摘要

An RF power control system including a watchdog circuit for monitoring the power level of an RF signal about to be transmitted by an antenna and for monitoring the antenna beam scan angle and for adjusting and/or interrupting the RF signal in the event that the power level of the RF signal or the scan angle of the antenna beam exceed predetermined thresholds. The use of the watchdog circuit eliminates the need for stringent safety certification of a number of other subcomponents of the system and therefore significantly reduces the cost and time associated with obtaining regulatory certification of the system. In preferred forms, the watchdog circuit includes an enable input for allowing the watchdog circuit to be completely deactivated, and therefore transparent to the RF signal being generated. An optional status output allows the watchdog circuit to send a command to other components of the system and/or to a component requiring manual resetting by a user in the event that the watchdog circuit determines that the maximum power level has been exceeded.