A digital instantaneous frequency measurement technique utilising high speed analogue to digital converters and field programmable gate arrays

Abstract

In modern information and sensor systems, the timely estimation of the carrier frequency of received signals is of critical importance. This paper presents a digital instantaneous frequency measurement (DIFM) technique, which can measure the carrier frequency of a received waveform within a fraction of a microsecond. The resulting frequency range, resolution and accuracy of the system are scalable. It presents the theoretical background and derivation of the technique, and describes the practical implementation of the technique on modern digital signal processing hardware. It concludes with functional hardware simulations as well as quantitative measurements on a prototype system.