阅读说明：本技术 用于机动车辆的射频接收链自测试的方法 (Method for the self-test of a radio frequency receive chain of a motor vehicle ) 是由 雷诺德·孔特 大卫·戈兰 于 2019-06-21 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种用于机动车辆的射频接收链自测试的方法,该射频接收链包括接收天线(21)、接着是接收放大器(22)、以及通过射频电缆(23)联接到所述接收放大器的解调器(24)。该方法包括在所述解调器的控制下激活(102)可以是寄生源的射频源,以发射测试射频信号,该测试射频信号具有各个基本已知电平的一个或多个谐波,该谐波在调谐器的工作频带中。在射频接收链对无线电接收的影响、由接收天线接收并由接收链传导(103)到解调器的谐波的基础上,解调器确定解调器上游的射频接收链的无线电性能。(The invention discloses a method for the self-test of a radio frequency receive chain of a motor vehicle, comprising a receive antenna (21), followed by a receive amplifier (22), and a demodulator (24) coupled to said receive amplifier by a radio frequency cable (23). The method comprises activating (102), under control of said demodulator, a radio frequency source, which may be a parasitic source, to emit a test radio frequency signal having one or more harmonics of respective substantially known levels, the harmonics being in an operating frequency band of the tuner. The demodulator determines the radio performance of the radio frequency receive chain upstream of the demodulator on the basis of the effect of the radio frequency receive chain on the radio reception, harmonics received by the receive antenna and conducted (103) by the receive chain to the demodulator.)

1. A method for radio frequency receive chain self-test of a motor vehicle (50), the radio frequency receive chain comprising a receive antenna (21), followed by a receive amplifier (22), and a demodulator (24) coupled to the receive amplifier (22) by a radio frequency cable (23), the method comprising:

-activating (102), under the control of the demodulator, a radio frequency source to emit a test radio frequency signal having one or more harmonics of respective substantially known levels, the harmonics being in the operating band of the tuner, the receiving antenna being capable of receiving the test radio frequency signal;

-determining (104), by the demodulator, the radio performance of the radio frequency receive chain upstream of the demodulator on the basis of the effect of the radio frequency receive chain on radio reception, harmonics received by the receive antenna and conducted (103) by the receive chain to the demodulator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency source transmitting the test radio frequency signal comprises a radio frequency transmitter internal to the demodulator adapted to generate one or more harmonics in an operating frequency band of the tuner.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the radio frequency transmitter comprises an oscillator that generates a radio frequency signal having a primary harmonic of a given frequency and a subharmonic of a frequency that is a multiple of the frequency of the primary harmonic.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the radio frequency transmitter further comprises a spreading device for spreading the spectrum of the radio frequency signal generated by the oscillator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency source emitting the test radio frequency signal is a parasitic source within the motor vehicle equipment controllable by the tuner, adapted to generate the test radio frequency signal having one or more harmonics. The harmonics are in the operating frequency band of the tuner.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the parasitic source is a cable (44) connecting a demodulator to a display screen (11) of a human-machine interface (10) of the motor vehicle, and in which the demodulator causes the test radio-frequency signal to be emitted through the cable by controlling the display of the determined image on the display screen.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the equipment of the motor vehicle containing the parasitic source is an electrical equipment such as a third overhead stop lamp (51) or a rear view camera (52) arranged at the rear of the vehicle in the vicinity of the receiving antenna arranged in the rear window of the motor vehicle or in the side window glass of the rear side panel, and the demodulator causes the parasitic source to emit the test radio frequency signal by controlling the operation of the equipment.

8. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to carry out all the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when said program is run by the computer.

9. A radio frequency demodulator comprising means for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A motor vehicle comprising a radio frequency receive chain having a radio frequency demodulator according to claim 9.

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to radio frequency receivers on motor vehicles, and more particularly to a method of radio frequency receive chain self-test of motor vehicles.

Background

A radio for motor vehicles or car radio allows radio programs to be received by the hertzian route. Broadcasters transmit these radio programs in the form of Radio Frequency (RF) signals. These RF signals are modulated in a more or less complex manner by signals in the "auditory frequency" range, which in acoustics refers to signals with frequencies between 20Hz and 20kHz that are audible to humans.

Historically, the first such over-the-air broadcast signal was an analog signal, particularly in terms of Modulation Amplitude (AM, meaning "Amplitude Modulation" in english), Modulation of long wave or GO (150kHz-300kHz), or Modulation of short wave or PO (525kHz-1605 kHz).

Then, Frequency Modulation (FM, which refers to "Frequency Modulation" in English) is introduced in the VHF band II (87.5-108MHz or in the 76-108MHz band in Japan).

More recently, DAB + (referring to "digital radio broadcasting in english, which involves digital terrestrial radio or RNT) digital radio format allows broadcasters to add information such as text, images, and even video. The carrier frequency used is the VHF band III (174-240 MHz). The modulation used is phase-shift keying (PSK), which is intended to convey binary information via the phase of a reference signal (carrier) only by an orthogonal frequency division digital signal coding method (OFDM, which is referred to as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing in the english) in the form of a plurality of subcarriers, which provides good immunity to inter-symbol attenuation and inter-symbol interference caused by a plurality of paths.

Thus, regardless of analog or digital modulation, useful acoustic information is received by being carried by Radio Frequency (RF) signals in different frequency bands. These RF signals are demodulated, that is, the useful sound information is brought back to baseband by the tuner. A tuner is therefore a device responsible for demodulating the RF signal received on the various channels selectable by the user to receive the station he chooses.

A typical car radio includes at least one AM/FM analog tuner and at least one DAB + digital tuner. In high-end car radios, the extra tuner is responsible for updating the list and pre-searching the stations.

In addition, newer car radios often include bluetooth technology that allows the use of a mobile phone, for example hands-free operation or playing audio files stored in the driver's or passenger's mobile phone. Bluetooth (R) protocol^TMIs a communication standard for very short range two-way data exchange by using UHF radio waves in the ISM band (2400-2483.5MHz) which is referred to as "Industrial, Scientific and Medical", the operation of which does not require administrative licence in view of low transmission power and low interference risk. Thus, the car radio includes a 2.4GHz digital radio tuner to demodulate Bluetooth signals.

Newer car radios also allow connection to the internet through an integrated 3G/LTE/4G receiver, or more generally through a Wi-Fi connection (IEEE 802.11 and ISO/IEC 8802-11 standards) shared with a connected tablet, such as a mobile phone, or one of the driver or passengers of the vehicle. Wi-Fi signals are radio signals in the SHF radio band at 5GHz (the 802.11a standard, also known as Wi-Fi 5) or the ISM band at 2.4 GHz. The modulation used depends on the radio conditions: BPSK, QPSK, or QAM modulation. Thus, the car radio includes a Wi-Fi digital radio tuner, sometimes referred to as an "Internet tuner".

In addition, the vehicle's GPS ("global positioning system") receiver receives and demodulates signals transmitted by satellites over one or more pseudo random codes on precise days and over navigation messages at two L1(1575.42MHz) and L2(1227.60MHz) frequencies, which are modulated in Phase (BPSK) instead of "Binary Phase Shift Keying"). In particular, a display screen is given that shares a Human-Machine Interface or public HMI (or HMI, standing for "Human-Machine Interface" in english) to return information to the user. The GPS system and the car radio are part of the same multimedia system in current motor vehicles.

In summary, recent motor vehicles include: a plurality of radio receive chains, wherein the analog and digital tuners are adapted to receive radio programs; as well as bluetooth and Wi-Fi receivers; and others such as GPS receivers. Support receiving information far beyond broadcast programs and make car radios true multimedia handsets for entertainment, communication (voice and data) and navigation.

The radio receive chain includes a receive antenna followed by a receive amplifier coupled to a tuner by a cable.

In the prior art, the tuner completes the verification of the installation by performing open/closed circuit detection in the direct current, which allows to verify the correct connection of the tuner, the cable and the amplifier. However, the correct connection of the antenna is not verified, and the radio performance of the entire chain is not verified.

Documents CA 2204679 and WO 200889574 disclose a method for self-testing by a device comprising a radio frequency transmitter, but these self-tests are not controlled by the tuner/demodulator.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention proposes a method for the self-test of a radio frequency receive chain of a motor vehicle, the radio frequency receive chain comprising a receive antenna, followed by a receive amplifier, and a demodulator coupled to the receive amplifier by a radio frequency cable, the method comprising:

-activating, under control of the demodulator, the radio-frequency source to emit a test radio-frequency signal having one or more harmonics of respective substantially known levels, the harmonics being in the operating frequency band of the tuner, the receiving antenna being capable of receiving the test radio-frequency signal;

-determining, by the demodulator, the radio performance of the radio frequency receive chain upstream of the demodulator on the basis of the effect of the radio frequency receive chain on the radio reception, the harmonics received by the receive antenna and conducted by the receive chain to the demodulator.

Thanks to the invention, a self-test of the whole radio frequency receive chain can be performed by using the known radio signals (parasitic or not) generated by the vehicle itself. Thus, a test of the radio performance of the entire receive chain is achieved and only partial coverage of the dc current chain as in the prior art is no longer possible.

Embodiments taken alone or in combination further provide:

the radio frequency source emitting the test radio frequency signal may comprise a radio frequency transmitter internal to the demodulator, adapted to generate one or more harmonics in the operating frequency band of the tuner;

the radio frequency transmitter may comprise an oscillator generating a radio frequency signal having a primary harmonic of a given frequency and a secondary harmonic of a frequency that is a multiple of the frequency of the primary harmonic;

the radio frequency transmitter may further comprise spreading means for spreading the frequency spectrum of the radio frequency signal generated by the oscillator;

the radio frequency source emitting the test radio frequency signal may be a parasitic source within the tuner-controllable vehicle device, adapted to generate the test radio frequency signal having one or more harmonics, which are in the operating frequency band of the tuner;

the parasitic source may be a cable connecting the demodulator to a display screen of a human-machine interface of the motor vehicle, the demodulator then causing the test radio-frequency signal to be emitted through the cable by controlling the display of the determined image on the display screen;

the device of the motor vehicle containing the parasitic source may be a device such as a third high mounted stop lamp or a rear view camera, which is arranged at the rear of the vehicle in the vicinity of a receiving antenna arranged in the rear window or in the side window glass of the rear side panel of the motor vehicle, while the demodulator causes the parasitic source to emit the test radio frequency signal by controlling the operation of the device.

In a second aspect, the invention also relates to a computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to carry out all the steps of the method according to the first aspect described above, when the program is run by the computer. The computer program product includes one or more sequences of instructions stored on a storage medium readable by a machine including a processor of the computer.

In a third aspect, the invention also relates to a radio frequency demodulator comprising means for implementing the method according to the first aspect.

A fourth and final aspect of the invention finally relates to a motor vehicle comprising a radio frequency receiving chain with a radio frequency demodulator according to the third aspect described above.

Drawings

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description. The description is purely illustrative and should be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a human-machine interface of a car radio according to an example of arrangement in a motor vehicle;

fig. 2 is a functional diagram of the main elements of the radio frequency channel RF to which the automatic test method can be applied;

FIG. 3 shows an implementation example of a self-test technique according to the current art applied to the receive chain of FIG. 1;

fig. 4 shows an implementation of the self-test method according to the invention applied to the receive chain of fig. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating steps of an embodiment of the method according to the invention; and is

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of the rear of a motor vehicle, showing an example of the arrangement of the devices of the vehicle that can be used to implement the self-test method.

Detailed Description

In the following description of the embodiments and in the accompanying drawings, the same elements or similar elements have the same numerical references as in the drawings.

Embodiments of the invention will be described below in the non-limiting context of a radio receive chain of a car radio of a motor vehicle. The invention is of course not at all limited to this example. The invention is applicable to all radio receive chains present in a vehicle.

Fig. 1 shows a car radio 1 arranged on the dashboard of a motor vehicle. The car radio 1 comprises a Human Machine Interface 10 or IHM (or HMI, standing for "Human Machine Interface" in english) with a display screen 11 and control and adjustment buttons 12.

The buttons 12 are arranged to be easily actuated by the driver by hand and the screen 11 is used to display, for example, available channels, names and other information relating to radio programmes being listened to or to be listened to next, information for adjusting and configuring the car radio 1, etc. This is typically a multi-function screen and is therefore used for other functions such as GPS navigation, phone use, internet browsing etc.

Therefore, the latest car radios are provided with three radio receive chains, namely three radio tuners: an AM/FM analog radio tuner, a DAB + digital radio tuner, and a Wi-Fi internet digital radio tuner for receiving broadcast programs broadcasted through the internet.

With reference to the functional schematic diagram of fig. 2, the radiofrequency receiving chain of the motor vehicle comprises a receiving antenna 21 suitable for receiving wireless signals in the radiofrequency domain. The antenna forms a signal link with a receive amplifier 21 which is adapted to amplify radio frequency signals received via the antenna 21. If necessary, the amplification is limited to certain frequency bands corresponding to channels selectable by the user and, conversely, the energy present in the radiofrequency spectrum of the received signal lying outside this band is rejected. The radio frequency chain also includes a demodulator or tuner 24. The tuner 24 is coupled to the output of the receiving amplifier 22 by a radio frequency cable 23 to receive the radio frequency signal received by the antenna 21 and amplified by the amplifier 22.

The receive amplifier is located closest to the receive antenna to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) as early as possible. The radio frequency cable may have a length that is not negligible, depending on the layout constraints of the antenna and the tuner in the vehicle. For example, tuners are often installed in car radios at the dashboard of a vehicle, and thus at the front of the vehicle, whereas antennas are often provided in the rear windows of the vehicle where they are protected from impacts and electromagnetic interference generated by vehicle components mainly located at the front.

When installing a system comprising a receive chain in a vehicle, i.e. when the installation of the car radio in the example considered here is carried out at the assembly plant of the vehicle, an installation verification test of the receive chain is typically performed.

Typically, this verification test is done by the tuner itself (and why this is called a self-test) by detecting the most common faults in direct current, which are of the "open" or "short" type.

Referring to the functional schematic of fig. 3, a self test according to the current technology consists in injecting a direct current on the tuner 24 side through a continuous voltage source 31, a surge resistor 33, a surge inductor 35, whereupon the injected direct current is discharged to ground on the amplifier 22 side through the surge inductor 34 and the surge resistor 32 assembled in series. The passage of direct current means the correct connection of the elements passed through. Thus, the self-test allows for verification of the proper connection of the tuner, cable and amplifier (e.g., no open circuit and short to ground).

However, the correct connection of the antenna is not verified, and the radio frequency performance of the entire radio frequency receive chain is not verified. However, many other installation failures can affect these properties, such as:

the connectors of the radio-frequency cable 23 do ensure the continuity of the passage of direct current, but do provide unsatisfactory performance at radio frequencies due to impedance breaks that produce reflections along the radio-frequency cable 23;

radio frequency cables that are "pinched" at certain points in their path through the vehicle do allow direct current to pass, but provide reduced RF performance;

the amplifier 22 does not have good gain at the correct frequency;

-and so on.

The self-test method according to an embodiment of the present invention allows to overcome this drawback of the above described self-test methods of the current art.

An implementation example of the method will now be described with reference to the functional schematic diagram of fig. 4 and the step diagram of fig. 5.

The self-test is implemented by the tuner itself and can be initiated in the factory, for example, at the end of the assembly chain of the vehicle. The initiation of the self-test is denoted 101 in the step diagram of fig. 5.

At 102, tuner 24 controls activation of the rf source. This activation causes the emission of a test radio frequency signal 40, which may or may not be a spurious signal, having one or more harmonics of respective substantially known levels. A priori knowledge of the harmonics of such a test signal 40 comes from calibration of the device previously implemented, in the laboratory and/or on the test vehicle. The harmonics of the test signal are in the operating frequency band of the tuner.

The test signal 40 can be received by a receiving antenna. This means in particular that the radio frequency source generating the test signal is not too far from the antenna and/or that the radiation of the test signal 40 towards the antenna is not hindered by electromagnetic obstacles that can shield such propagation in the free field.

The test signal 40 is then received by the receive antenna 21 of the radio frequency receive chain under test at 103. The harmonics of the test signal 40 are amplified by the radio frequency amplifier 23 and conducted through the receive chain to the tuner 24.

At 104, tuner 24 determines the radio performance of the upstream radio frequency receive chain (including antenna 21, amplifier 22 and radio frequency cable 23) based on the effect of the radio frequency receive chain on radio reception, the harmonics of test radio frequency signal 40 received by the receive antenna.

Thus, the self-test involves a complete radio frequency receive chain through a known radio signal (parasitic or not) generated by the vehicle itself. Thus, a test of the radio performance of the entire receive chain is achieved without only partially covering the dc current chain as in the prior art.

In an embodiment, the radio frequency source that emits the test radio frequency signal 40 may comprise an internal radio frequency transmitter in a demodulator adapted to generate one or more harmonics in the operating frequency band of the tuner.

The radio frequency transmitter may be a small dedicated oscillator (not shown in the drawings) capable of generating a radio frequency signal having a primary harmonic of a given frequency and a secondary harmonic of a frequency that is a multiple of the frequency of the primary harmonic and falling within the operating frequency band of the tuner. Furthermore, such a radio frequency transmitter may comprise spreading means for spreading the frequency spectrum of the radio frequency signal generated by the oscillator. Spreading typically uses a pseudo-random sequence generated by an XOR logic gate (i.e., an exclusive or gate) to spread a narrowband signal into a relatively wideband signal. The receiver recovers the original signal by correlating the received signal with a replica of the pseudorandom sequence.

Preferably, however, with means already present in the tuner 23, such as a switching power supply (not shown in the figure) operating at, for example, 1MHz, a small number of harmonics thereof fall in, for example, the FM band.

In other implementation examples, the radio frequency source emitting the test radio frequency signal may be a parasitic source within a device of the motor vehicle controllable by the tuner, adapted to generate the test radio frequency signal with one or more harmonics located in an operating frequency band of the tuner.

Thus, for example, in the example shown in fig. 4, the parasitic source may be a cable 44 connecting the demodulator 24 to the display screen 11 of a human-machine interface 10 of a motor vehicle, which human-machine interface 10 has been described above with reference to fig. 1. In this case, the demodulator 24 causes the test radio frequency signal 40 to be emitted through the cable 44 by controlling (step 102) the display of the determined image on the display screen 11. It should be noted that the displayed image may be specifically selected so that the frequency content of the test signal 40 transmitted from the cable 44 has harmonics that are well suited for receive chain testing. Such patterns may be specifically designed or selected during the design of the system at a previous characterization stage.

At a minimum, the cable 44 connecting the tuner 24 to the display 11 carries a 33.33MHz clock, the harmonic 3 (of 99.99 MHz) of which is entered into the FM band of the tuner and the harmonic 6 (of 199.99 MHz) of which falls into the DAB band of the tuner. By the tuner detecting the level of these harmonics, it is possible to automatically verify the correct mounting of the different components of the receive chain, not used in the state of the art self-test places, in which the antenna 21 is included.

Alternatively, the tuner may perform reception performance measurement of the reception radio frequency signal before and after the screen start. By observing the effect of the level of the harmonics of the test signal 40 during screen start-up, the tuner is able to verify that the entire radio chain (antenna 21, amplifier 22 and cable 23) provides the desired performance. The performance referred to herein may be a received Signal level measurement for FM harmonics (or SSI, which is an english "Signal Strength Indicator"), or a Bit Error Rate (or BER, which is an english "Bit Error Rate") for a DAB tuner.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the pre-characterization performed by the vehicle allows defining the accepted threshold level according to the needs and constraints specific to each vehicle.

In other implementation examples, the device of the motor vehicle containing the parasitic source may be a standard electrical device of the vehicle. In fact, any electrical device generates electromagnetic interference that may constitute a test radio frequency signal for the receive chain.

Referring to fig. 6, such electrical equipment may be, for example, a third high mounted stop lamp 51 or a rear view camera 52. The advantage of these examples is that they are devices that are disposed at the rear of the vehicle 50 near the receiver antenna 21, the receiver antenna 21 typically being disposed in the window glass of the rear window, or in the side window glass of the rear side panel of the vehicle. Tuner 24 then transmits a test radio frequency signal 40 via such a parasitic source in controlling the operation of the respective device. It is clear that the invention is not limited to these examples and that many other standard electrical devices of the vehicle 50 can be used as a source of the test radio frequency signal, depending on the positioning of the receiving antenna 21 of the radio frequency receiving chain to be tested. The above example is not given only because the antenna is usually provided on a window in the rear of the vehicle, which is either the window pane of the rear window other than the heating element or one of the side window panes of the rear side panel of the vehicle body.

In a possible embodiment, the invention has been described and illustrated in the present detailed description and the accompanying drawings. However, the invention is not limited to the presented embodiments. Other variations and embodiments can be derived and implemented by those skilled in the art from a reading of the specification and the drawings.

In particular, the invention is not limited to self-testing of the receive chain of a car radio of a motor vehicle, but relates to any radio receive chain, such as Wi-Fi, GPS, 2G/3G/4G, etc.

In the claims, the terms "comprising" or "including" do not exclude other elements or other steps. The invention may be implemented using a single processor or several other units. The various features presented and/or claimed may be advantageously combined. Their presence in the description or in different dependent claims does not exclude this possibility. The reference signs should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.