Time-frequency derivation of periodic wide band probing signals

An analysis of a discrete time-frequency distribution yields a new periodic wide band probing signal for use in unknown system identiication. The derivation is based on mathematical properties of the discrete Wigner distribution. Like the continuous distribution, the discrete version also sat-isses the covariance property, meaning transformations in the time-frequency plane are equivalent to transformations in the time domain. By utilizing this property, the linearly swept frequency measurement is extended to discrete, periodic signals. The resulting probing signal possesses favorable characteristics such as a short illumination time requirement and good resistance to noise. The performance of the proposed probing method is compared with m-sequence methods and chirp signal methods.