WO2003021815A1 - Satellite communications system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates - Google Patents
Satellite communications system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates Download PDFInfo
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- WO2003021815A1 WO2003021815A1 PCT/US2002/023227 US0223227W WO03021815A1 WO 2003021815 A1 WO2003021815 A1 WO 2003021815A1 US 0223227 W US0223227 W US 0223227W WO 03021815 A1 WO03021815 A1 WO 03021815A1
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
- H04B7/14—Relay systems
- H04B7/15—Active relay systems
- H04B7/185—Space-based or airborne stations; Stations for satellite systems
- H04B7/18502—Airborne stations
- H04B7/18506—Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
- H04B7/18508—Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
Definitions
- the present invention relates to communication systems and methods employing satellite links, and more particularly to a communication system employing satellite links using multiple simultaneous data rates to optimize the data throughput and coverage to multiple geographically distributed users.
- the performance of a communication link between a satellite and a mobile platform is influenced by many factors. Most prominently is the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the satellite antenna, in addition to the slant range, rain loss, and Gain over noise temperature (G/T) of the receive antenna being used to form the link with the satellite.
- EIRP effective isotropic radiated power
- G/T Gain over noise temperature
- the EIRP of satellite transponders typically varies across a coverage region, as does the slant range and rain loss.
- some antennas such as a planar phased array antennas, exhibit a large G/T reduction with increasing scan angle .
- the antenna scan angle, and hence the receive G/T can vary significantly with the location and attitude (pitch, roll and yaw) of the mobile platform.
- the result is that the performance of a communication link from the satellite to the mobile platform can vary over a large range depending on whether the mobile platform is in a favorable or unfavorable location and attitude (relative to the satellite) in a coverage region.
- this performance variation can be as large as 10x (10dB) over a coverage region.
- Performance variation can become even larger when the mobile receivers use different size aperture antennas. Larger antennas provide better link performance.
- Link performance can be defined in many ways. In this context, it is defined as the maximum data rate at which the communication link can operate with a given bit error rate (BER), as described further in the following paragraphs.
- BER bit error rate
- FIG. 1 shows the effect of slant range and antenna scan angle loss across CONUS.
- the scan angle loss for a planar phased array antenna manufactured by The Boeing Company is approximately equal to cos 1 2 ( ⁇ ), where ⁇ is the elevation scan angle to the target satellite, measured with respect to an axis extending perpendicular to the planar aperture.
- BER bit error rate
- a communication link is considered to be “closed” or “available” when it achieves less than some threshold BER.
- the threshold BER is assumed to be 1 E-9, or one erred bit for every billion received. Any excess received power beyond that required to "close” the link is referred to as “margin”.
- data rate will be used, however, an even more accurate term for "data rate” is "information rate", which is the available data rate after removing forward error correction (FEC) and other overhead information.
- FEC forward error correction
- data rate and “information rate” will be used interchangeably throughout the following discussion, although “information rate” is, strictly speaking, a more accurate term to describe the available data rate of a communication link.
- a user that is in a favorable location within a coverage region is one that can close his communication link at a higher data rate.
- a challenged user, or a user in a less favorable location within a coverage region will only be able to achieve communication link closure using lower data rates.
- this figure shows contours of the highest data rates at which links can be "closed” using a Ku-band transponder on Telstar 6 using a Boeing planar phased array receive antenna having an active aperture measuring 17 inch (43.18 cm) x 24 inch (60.96 cm) and having 1500 elements mounted flat on the crown of an aircraft flying in level attitude.
- the analysis used to generate this is highly sophisticated and includes the effect of adjacent satellite interference. Adjacent satellite interference is caused by the use of small aperture mobile antennas and the elongation of the phased array antenna beam that occurs with increasing scan angle. Adjacent satellite interference causes further variations in the link performance across a coverage region.
- the contours are generated by performing a link analysis at equally spaced geographic grid points and constructing performance contours.
- the maximum data rate at which the link can be closed for the worst case heading is shown in Figure 2.
- the maximum channel data rate at which the link can be closed is 12 Mbps.
- a maximum channel data rate of 10 Mbps can be used.
- region C a maximum of 8 Mbps, within region D, 6 Mbps; within Region E, 4 Mbps; and within region F, a maximum of 2 Mbps can be utilized.
- forward link it is meant a signal from a satellite to the mobile platform.
- a disadvantaged mobile platform typically operates with little or no margin, which means that the communication link is not very robust.
- a disadvantaged mobile platform e.g., an aircraft
- a forward link data rate chosen so that the communication link with the satellite is barely closed.
- the aircraft banks away from the satellite during flight. If the aircraft is using a planar phased array antenna mounted flush on the crown of the aircraft, then the scan angle to the satellite will increase and the G T will decrease. This can cause a loss of the communication link. Similarly, the aircraft could stray outside the designated coverage region and lose its communication link.
- problems with the existing "single data rate" approach include capacity inefficiency and lack of robustness (i.e., lack of margin).
- the lack of robustness can cause a loss of the communication link if the operational environment is adversely affected such as by adverse weather.
- Rain loss as well as standing water and/or ice on the aircraft receive antenna radome or aperture also represents situations where the lack of robustness of a single data rate approach can compromise the ability to achieve and maintain link closure with a mobile platform.
- the lack of margin also makes it more difficult to initially acquire the target satellite if the antenna on the mobile platform is not pointed precisely at the target satellite.
- One method for addressing the above-described problem of managing communications links with a number of different mobile platforms capable of operating at varying data rates within a given coverage region could involve the use of a single carrier that is continuously switched between different data rates.
- Data packets sent to advantaged mobile platforms could be sent at a higher data rate than to disadvantaged mobile platforms.
- Making such "on-the- fly" data rate changes requires significant time to synchronize the mobile platform RF receiver to each burst of data that is received at different data rates, resulting in a loss of efficiency.
- burst mode receivers are far more complex, expensive, and provide reduced performances compared with continuous mode receivers, which are used in the invention.
- FEC forward error correction
- the present invention is directed to a system and method for providing a satellite communication link between a base station and a plurality of mobile platforms by using multiple simultaneous communication channels operating at different data transmission rates to increase the link throughput, coverage and reliability.
- the method and apparatus of the present invention utilizes transmitting data from a satellite to many geographically distributed mobile platforms via multiple carriers, wherein each carrier forms a single, independent communication channel and each of said mobile platforms has the ability to simultaneously receive multiple channels.
- the channels are operated at multiple transmission rates chosen to optimize the throughput, geographic coverage and reliability of the communication links.
- the present invention employs a ground based communication system operable to transmit information on a selected one of a plurality of channels, and therefore at a selected one of a plurality of different information transmission rates.
- a space based transponder system is employed for transponding the information from the ground based communication system over the selected one of the plurality of communication channels to a mobile platform incorporating a plurality of radio frequency (RF) receivers.
- the selected information rate/channel is determined in part by the geographic location of the mobile platform at any given time within a coverage region.
- the ground based communication system selects the maximum information transmission rate that can be utilized by each mobile platform based in part on the mobile platforms position within the coverage region at any given time.
- each mobile platform incorporates a plurality of receivers, each of which is tuned to a different satellite transponder channel that is operating at more than one data rate. As the mobile platform traverses a coverage region, it will be able to close the communication link on at least one of the different communication channels. Therefore, at least one of the plurality of operational receivers on each mobile platform will be successfully receiving data at any time.
- the ground based system knows which communication channels are viable (which ones can achieve link closure) by real time knowledge of the platform's position within the coverage region (as shown in Fig. 2). When the link does not close on a data channel, a high percentage of the received data packets contain errors, and the receiver discards the data. So data must be sent from the ground based system to the mobile platform using only the communication channels that are closed, otherwise data will be lost.
- the ground based system decides which one, of the plurality of communication channels being received by the mobile platform, to send the data destined for that mobile platform.
- the ground based system typically selects the highest data rate communication channel on which link closure is achieved.
- the information transmission rate can be tailored for each particular mobile platform as it moves between the various subregions of a given coverage region in a manner which maximizes the overall information transmission rate so that overall communication efficiency is increased but without causing a loss of data to any particular mobile platform.
- the method and apparatus of the present invention thus allows multiple information transmission rates to be used with multiple mobile platforms without causing a loss of data to any given aircraft, and further without under- utilizing the link capacity of any given aircraft.
- Figure 1 is an illustration of a map of the continental United States (CONUS) showing the EIRP variation for a typical Ku-band geostationary satellite transponder (i.e., Telstar 6) at 93° W longitude, and showing the variation in dBW across this coverage area;
- Figure 2 illustrates the various subregions of the continental
- Figures 3a and 3b are examples of the coverage vs. capacity tradeoff in selecting a forward link information transmission rate, the lower data giving the greater coverage area, and vice versa;
- Figure 4 is a simplified representation of an exemplary communication system which may be used to implement the system and method of the present invention
- Figure 5 is a detailed block diagram of a mobile terminal used on each of the aircraft shown in Figure 4;
- Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating multiple communications channels used by the present invention for communicating information at different information transmission rates to a pair of mobile terminals;
- Figure 7 is an illustration of the continental United States (CONUS) illustrating the point of a transmission handoff between the two Mbps coverage region and the 8 Mbps coverage region during a flight of an aircraft between Seattle and Miami;
- CONUS continental United States
- Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating the routing of non- mission critical data packets to the highest data rate channel
- Figure 9 illustrates the use of load balancing when considering a selection of channel information transmission rates within a given coverage region.
- FIG. 4 there is shown a system 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention for providing data content to and from a plurality of moving platforms 12a-12f in one or more distinct coverage regions 14a and 14b.
- the system 10 generally comprises a ground segment 16, a plurality of satellites 18a-18f forming a space segment 17, and a mobile system 20 disposed on each moving platform 12.
- the moving platforms 12 could comprise aircraft, cruise ships or any other moving vehicle.
- the illustration of the moving platforms 12 as aircraft in the figures herein, and the reference to the mobile platforms as aircraft throughout the following description should not be construed as limiting the applicability of the system 10 to only aircraft.
- satellite 18a is illustrated having four transponders 18a 18a 6 (four of which are visible in Figure 4). It will be appreciated that each other satellite 18 illustrated could have a greater or lesser plurality of RF transponders as required to handle the anticipated number of aircraft 12 operating in the coverage area.
- the transponders provide "bent-pipe" communications between the aircraft 12 and the ground segment 16.
- the frequency bands used for these communication links could comprise any radio frequency band from approximately 10MHz to 100GHz.
- the transponders preferably comprise Ku-band transponders in the frequency band designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for fixed satellite services FSS or BSS satellites.
- FCC Federal Communications Commission
- ITU International Telecommunications Union
- the ground segment 16 includes a ground station 22 in bi-directional communication with a content center 24 and a network operations center (NOC) 26.
- a second ground station 22a located in the second coverage area 14b may be used if more than one distinct coverage area is required for the service.
- ground station 22a would also be in bi-directional communication with the NOC 26 via a terrestrial ground link or any other suitable means for establishing a communication link with the NOC 26.
- the ground station 22a would also be in bi-directional communication with a content center 24a.
- the system 10 will be described with respect to the operations occurring in coverage region 14a.
- the ground station 22 comprises an antenna and associated antenna control electronics needed for transmitting data content to the satellites 18a and 18b.
- the antenna of the ground station 22 may also be used to receive data content transponded by the transponders 18a ⁇ - 18a ⁇ originating from each mobile system 20 of each aircraft 12 within the coverage region 14a.
- the ground station 22 may be located anywhere within the coverage region 14a.
- ground station 22a if incorporated, can be located anywhere within the second coverage area 14b.
- the content center 24 is in communication with a variety of external data content providers and controls the transmission of video and data information received by it to the ground station 22.
- the content center 24 may be in contact with an Internet service provider (ISP) 30, a video content source 32 and/or a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 34.
- ISP Internet service provider
- PSTN public switched telephone network
- the content center 24 may also communicate with one or more virtual private networks (VPNs) 36.
- the ISP 30 provides Internet access to each of the occupants of each aircraft 12.
- the video content source 32 provides live television programming, for example, Cable
- the NOC 26 performs traditional network
- the content center 24a associated with the ground station 22a in the second coverage region 14b may also be in communication with an ISP 38, a video content provider 40, a PSTN 42, and optionally a VPN 44.
- Each mobile system 20 includes a data content management system in the form of a router/server 50 (hereinafter “server”) which is in communication with a communications subsystem 52, a control unit and display system 54, and a distribution system in the form of a local area network (LAN) 56.
- server 50 can also be configured for operation in connection with a National Air Telephone System (NATS) 58, a crew information services system 60 and/or an in-flight entertainment system (IFE) 62.
- NTS National Air Telephone System
- IFE in-flight entertainment system
- the communications subsystem 52 includes a transmitter subsystem 64 and a receiver subsystem comprising a plurality of receivers 66. While a plurality of six receivers 66a-66f are illustrated, it will be appreciated that a greater or lesser plurality of receivers could be employed.
- the transmitter subsystem 64 includes an encoder 68, a modulator 70 and an up-converter 72 for encoding, modulating and up-converting information content signals from the server 50 to a transmit antenna 74.
- the receiver subsystem 66 includes a decoder 76, a demodulator 78 and a down-converter 80 for decoding, demodulating and down-converting signals received by the receive antenna 82 into baseband video and audio signals, as well as data signals.
- a system controller 84 is used to control all subsystems of the mobile system 20.
- the system controller 84 provides signals to an antenna controller 86 which is used to electronically steer the receive antenna 82 to maintain the receive antenna pointed at a particular one of the satellites 18, which will hereinafter be referred to as the "target" satellite.
- the transmit antenna 74 is slaved to the receive antenna 82 such that it also tracks the target satellite 18. It will be appreciated that some types of mobile antennas may transmit and receive from the same aperture. In this case the transmit antenna 74 and the receive antenna 82 are combined into a single antenna.
- the local area network (LAN) 56 is used to interface the router/server 50 to a plurality of access stations 88 associated with each seat location on board the aircraft 12a.
- Each access station 88 can be used to interface the server 50 directly with a user's laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other personal computing device of the user.
- PDA personal digital assistant
- the access stations 88 could also each comprise a seat back mounted computer/display.
- the LAN 56 enables bi-directional communication of data between the user's computing device and the server 50 such that each user is able to request a desired channel of television programming, access a desired website, access his/her email, or perform a wide variety of other tasks independently of the other users on board the aircraft 12.
- the receive and transmit antennas 82 and 74 may comprise any form of steerable antenna.
- these antennas comprise electronically scanned, phased array antennas.
- Phased array antennas are especially well suited for aviation applications where aerodynamic drag is important considerations.
- One particular form of electronically scanned, phased array antenna suitable for use with the present invention is disclosed in U.S. Patent no. 5,886,671 , assigned to The Boeing Co., which is hereby incorporated by reference.
- the data content is preferably formatted into packets before being transmitted by either the ground station 22, or from the transmit antenna 74 of each mobile system 20.
- a transmission of information (i.e., data) content in the form of packets from the ground station 22 will be referred to as a "forward link" transmission.
- Packet multiplexing is also preferably employed such that data content can be provided to each of the aircraft 12 operating within the coverage region 14a using unicast, transmissions.
- the data content packets received by each of the transponders 18a ⁇ - 18a 4 are then transponded by the transponders to each aircraft 12 operating within the coverage region 14a. While multiple satellites 18 are illustrated over coverage region 14a, it will be appreciated that at the present time, a single satellite (Telstar 6) is capable of providing coverage to an area encompassing the entire continental United States (CONUS). Thus, depending upon the geographic size of the coverage region and the mobile platform traffic anticipated within the region, it is possible that only a single satellite may be required to provide coverage for the entire region. Other distinct coverage regions besides CONUS include Europe, South/Central America, East Asia, Middle East, North Atlantic, etc. It is anticipated that in service regions larger than CONUS, that a plurality of satellites 18 each incorporating one or more transponders may be required to provide complete coverage of the region.
- CONUS continental United States
- the receive antenna 82 and transmit antenna 74 are each preferably disposed on the top of the fuselage of their associated aircraft 12.
- the receive antenna 74 of each aircraft receives the entire RF transmission of encoded RF signals representing the data content packets from at least one of the transponders 18a ⁇ - 18a .
- the receive antenna 82 receives horizontally polarized (HP) and vertically polarized (VP) signals which are input to the receivers 66a-66f.
- Each receiver 66a-66f decodes, demodulates and down-converts the encoded RF signals to produce video and audio signals, as well as data signals, that are input to the router/server 50.
- the ground segment 16 can be seen to include a router 100 and a plurality of RF transmitters 102a-102f coupled to outputs 100a-100f of the router 100.
- the router 100 and the RF transmitters 102a-102f form a router subsystem 103 which preferably is provided as part of the ground station 22.
- At least one transmitter 102 operates at the lowest data rate (in this example 2Mbps), while one transmitter 102 operates at a "medium" data rate (e.g., 6 Mbps), and one transmitter 102f operates at the highest transmission rate (i.e., 12 Mbps).
- transmitter 102a may operate at 2 Mbps, transmitter 102b at 4 Mbps, transmitter 102c at 6 Mbps, transmitter 102d at 8 Mbps, transmitter 102e at 10 Mbps and transmitter 102f at 12 Mbps.
- a greater or lesser number of transmitters may be incorporated to accommodate a greater or lesser dynamic range than the 10 db dynamic range provided for by the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
- the operational data rates selected for transmitters 102 are dependent on the particular communication system parameters.
- satellite 18a is provided with six transponders 18a ⁇ - 18a 6 .
- transponder 18a ⁇ is independently associated with transmitter 102a
- transponder 18a2 is independently associated with transmitter 102b and so forth.
- Each of the transmitters 102a-102f, in connection with their respective transponders 18ar18a 6 thus forms a distinct, independent communication channel over which information is provided at a predetermined information transmission rate.
- Each mobile platform 12 includes a plurality of receivers 66, and in this example six receivers 66a-66f, as also explained in connection with Figure 5. Again, it will be appreciated that a greater or lesser plurality of receivers can be incorporated on each mobile platform 12. However, the greater the number of receivers, the greater the number of different communication channels that the mobile terminal 20 will be able to receive without the need for re-tuning, and hence the greater the flexibility of the mobile terminal 20 in receiving information transmitted at varying information transmission rates.
- the output data streams from receivers 66a - 66f are coupled to the input of mobile router 50.
- the data streams may contain data packets addressed to other aircraft 12 so the router 50 filters off only those packets addressed to the destination aircraft 12 and discards the remainder.
- Each transponder 18a 18a 6 may convey one or more transmit channels on separate RF carriers, but in the preferred embodiment there is one spread spectrum channel handled by each transponder.
- the ground router 100 directs data packets to the appropriate output 100a-100f so that the data packets are transmitted over the desired communications channel.
- the ground router 100 may direct data packets to whatever channel 100a-100f is available to a particular aircraft 12 with which the ground segment 26 is attempting to transmit information. Again, a disadvantaged aircraft 12 may only have link availability on the lowest information transmission rate channel (i.e., in this example the 2 Mbps channel), while an advantaged aircraft may have link availability on all channels.
- the preferred embodiment of the present invention also uses the ground router100 to direct all critical data (i.e., all data pertaining to aircraft operation and flight conditions) to the lowest data rate channel, which in this instance is the 2 Mbps channel.
- This communication link is depicted by dash lines 104 in Figure 6.
- This low data rate link has the highest margin against fading. Amongst the many possible causes of channel fading are: scan angle loss (e.g., due to aircraft banking, etc.), rain, standing water/ice on the radome, etc. Sending critical data on this link also increases system reliability.
- FIG. 7 An example of when the system 10 would hand off communications from one channel to another is shown in Figure 7.
- the Telstar 6 satellite in this example, satellite 18a
- Contour 106 corresponds to an 8 Mbps information transmission rate channel
- contour 108 corresponds to a 2 Mbps transmission rate channel.
- an aircraft 12 flying in level attitude above 10,000 feet altitude achieves a greater than 99.9% link availability with less than 1 E-9 BER while communicating at 2 Mbps.
- An aircraft 12 flying from Seattle to Miami would start in a region where only the 2 Mbps channel is available, as defined by contour 108, and then would transition into the region defined by contour 106 where an 8 Mbps channel is available. Within the area defined by contour 106, both the 8 Mbps data channel and the 2 Mbps channel are available. However, to achieve maximum efficiency from the system 10, the highest data rate channel would be selected by the system 10. The exception for this would be mission critical data which preferably always uses the lowest data rate channel (i.e., 2 Mbps) for maximum reliability.
- the ground router 100 switches (i.e., hands off) all non-critical data packets from the lower data rate channel (i.e., the 2 Mbps channel) to the higher, 8 Mbps, data rate channel.
- a principal advantage of the present invention 10 is that no retuning or reconfiguration is required on the aircraft 12 or with the satellite 18a when a channel handoff occurs.
- the aircraft receivers 66a-66f are tuned to specific transponder frequencies (or channels) when the aircraft 12 enters the service region (i.e. Continental United States) and remain tuned to these channels as the aircraft traverses the service region.
- the receivers 66a-66f When the link is available, data packets will be received on the aircraft 12 by all of the receivers 66a-66f. When the links are not available, no packets are received in receivers 66a-66f. In the preferred embodiment, the receivers 66a-66f discard heavily erred packets before sending them to mobile router 66. Thus, in the example illustrated in Figure 7, the receiver 66 tuned to the 8 Mbps channel would produce erred data packets when its associated aircraft 12 is outside contour 106. The 8 Mbps link is not considered to be available outside of contour 106 so the ground router 100 would not switch data packets to the aircraft 12 using the 8 Mbps data transmission rate when it is in this region.
- the ground based router 100 employs a routing table which is updated to accomplish the needed handoff.
- the updating of this routing table can be accomplished in more than one way.
- a preferred method for updating involves using the position and attitude information reported from each aircraft 12and using this information to calculate whether the communication link may be closed on each channel that the aircraft 12 is currently receiving In practice, this operation could be table driven using data rate contour maps such as presented in Figures 2 and 7.
- the routing table is updated to route non- mission critical packets to the higher data rate channel and mission critical packets to the lower data rate channel.
- An alternative method for updating the routing table involves continuously checking the availability of the communication channel to the aircraft 12 using "pings" from a ground based controller 105, as indicated in Figure 1.
- the aircraft 12 is required to respond to a "ping" that is received on the forward link channels by replying on its return link.
- This method allows the ground based controller 105 to determine which forward link communications channels are available to each aircraft 12.
- the drawback to this method is the overhead and complexity associated with continuously pinging dozens, hundreds or even thousands of aircraft 12 operating within a given coverage region. While the controller 105 is indicated as being associated with the ground station 22, it will be appreciated that the controller 105 could be located anywhere within the ground segment 16.
- An alternative embodiment of the invention would use one receiver 66 that is retuned to different data rate channels as the aircraft 12 traverses the coverage region.
- the aircraft 12 would either have a table that defines where to retune or the receiver 66 would periodically search, by cycling through the receive channels, to find the channel with the highest available data rate.
- the aircraft 12 would then inform the ground based controller 105 of the channel change. This requires the mobile terminal 20 of the aircraft 12 to coordinate with the ground based controller 105 during a handoff sequence. For this and other reasons, single receiver operation is anticipated to be less preferable than using multiple receivers to simultaneously receive information transmitted over a plurality of channels.
- routing tables are automatically updated by the ground controller based on position reports from the aircraft and a geographic map similar to Figure 2 that shows the operational regions for each data rate channel.
- High priority or mission critical data is preferably routed through the lowest data rate channel, as depicted by data path 112 in Figure 8.
- the system 10 is generally useful for transmitting unicast content.
- the difference between unicast data transmission and multicast transmission is that unicast data packets are directed to individual mobile platforms 12 and multicast transmissions are directed to multiple aircraft 12 within a coverage region. Since multicast data is transmitted to a region, the transmissions must use a channel transmission rate that is available to all aircraft 12 in that region. Accordingly, the most disadvantaged aircraft 12 within the region will determine the maximum data rate at which multicast transmissions can occur. For example, if the invention were used to multicast/broadcast within CONUS, then Figure 2 illustrates that the maximum multicast/unicast data rate is 6 Mbps. If a higher data rate were to be selected, then not all aircraft 12 would be able to receive the data.
- any number of the channels could be used to convey multicast/broadcast content.
- the choice of specific channel transmission rates is preferably based on both achievable link closure data rates (as previously described) and the geographic distribution of users. For example, if it is desired to provide service in CONUS, where the data rate demand is quite high, and also to provide service in southern Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, where the aggregate data rate demand is substantially less, then the system 10 may be implemented with only two data rate channels.
- a good choice of transmission rates based on the contours shown in Figure 2 is 8 Mbps for the high demand region within CONUS and 2 Mbps for the low demand regions in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. These regions are illustrated in Figure 9. The 8 Mbps region is indicated by reference numeral 114 and the 2 Mbps region indicated by reference numeral 116.
- a preferred embodiment of the system 10 of the present invention also uses closed loop spatial tracking of the target satellite (i.e., satellite 18a) based on receive signal strength indications (RSSI) from the mobile platform receiver 66.
- RSSI receive signal strength indications
- the lowest data receiver 66a would generate a receive signal strength indication that would be coupled to the tracking system used to keep the receive and transmit antenna beams pointed at the satellite 18a while the aircraft 12 moves. This provides the maximum margin against signal fading and permits disadvantaged aircraft 12 to acquire and track the target satellite.
- the system 10 of the present invention thus provides for a means for maximizing the efficiency of information transmitted to one or more mobile platforms operating within a given coverage region as the mobile platform(s) travel throughout the coverage region, and further without causing a loss of the communication link between a ground station transmitting information to one or more mobile platforms.
- no operator intervention is required on the mobile platforms in order to receive information at different information transmission rates.
- no configuration is required on the mobile platform during a handoff between communication channels. Handoffs from one communication channel to another are accomplished seamlessly as a mobile platform travels within various subregions of a given coverage region.
- Information transmission rates are selected which allow the maximum transmission rate to be used for information transmitted to any given mobile platform, depending upon the mobile platform's location and attitude within the coverage region, without being too high to cause a loss of the communication link.
Abstract
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Priority Applications (3)
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JP2003526027A JP4371809B2 (en) | 2001-08-30 | 2002-07-19 | Satellite communication system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates |
EP02747075A EP1421712B1 (en) | 2001-08-30 | 2002-07-19 | Satellite communications system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates |
CA2455779A CA2455779C (en) | 2001-08-30 | 2002-07-19 | Satellite communications system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates |
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US09/943,679 US6847801B2 (en) | 2001-08-30 | 2001-08-30 | Communications system and method employing forward satellite links using multiple simultaneous data rates |
US09/943,679 | 2001-08-30 |
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WO2003021815A1 true WO2003021815A1 (en) | 2003-03-13 |
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PCT/US2002/023227 WO2003021815A1 (en) | 2001-08-30 | 2002-07-19 | Satellite communications system and method using multiple simultaneous data rates |
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EP (1) | EP1421712B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP4371809B2 (en) |
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WO2013046078A1 (en) * | 2011-09-27 | 2013-04-04 | Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ) | Transport channel flexibility over satellite backhaul links |
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Also Published As
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CA2455779A1 (en) | 2003-03-13 |
CN1327636C (en) | 2007-07-18 |
CA2455779C (en) | 2011-05-03 |
US20030045231A1 (en) | 2003-03-06 |
US7120389B2 (en) | 2006-10-10 |
CN1579056A (en) | 2005-02-09 |
JP4371809B2 (en) | 2009-11-25 |
JP2005502264A (en) | 2005-01-20 |
US6847801B2 (en) | 2005-01-25 |
EP1421712A1 (en) | 2004-05-26 |
US20050070222A1 (en) | 2005-03-31 |
EP1421712B1 (en) | 2012-09-12 |
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