A Real Time RF Analog Signal Processor for Time Delay Estimation

In this paper, a time-delay estimator operating at RF frequency is proposed by designing a microwave Hilbert transformer and a correlator-based estimator. Comparing to conventional cross correlation, our proposed estimator enables zero crossing for time delay detection directly at its operating frequency without having complicated digital domain signal processing. The theoretical analysis is carried out to demonstrate the estimation function, and the transient-time simulation is conducted to demonstrate proposed novel concept.