Digital instantaneous frequency measurement technique utilising high-speed ADC’s and FPGA’s

Abstract

This paper presents the 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. The theoretical background and derivation of the technique, followed by the practical implementation of the technique on modern digital signal processing hardware, are presented. The paper concludes with functional hardware simulations as well as quantitative measurements of a prototype system