Terrestrial based air-to-ground communications system and related methods
First Claim
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1. An air-to-ground communications system comprising:
- a plurality of base stations, each comprising a ground-based transceiver and associated ground-based controller; and
a plurality of aircraft, each comprising an aircraft-based transceiver and associated aircraft-based controller;
a given aircraft-based controller of a given aircraft configured todetermine a position and speed of the given aircraft,determine a position of a given base station,determine an autonomous timing advance based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station, andtransmit an access signal with the autonomous timing advance to a given ground-based controller of the given base station for initial acquisition,wherein the given aircraft-based controller is configured to;
determine an estimated propagation delay between the given aircraft and the given base station based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station; and
determine the autonomous timing advance based upon the estimated propagation delay.
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Abstract
An air-to-ground communications system includes at least one base station to be positioned on the ground and including a ground-based transceiver, a phased array antenna coupled to the ground-based transceiver, and a beamforming network coupled to the ground-based transceiver. The ground-based transceiver is configured to provide data traffic and control information to an aircraft. The beamforming network is configured to simultaneously generate at least one narrow antenna beam for the data traffic and at least one wide beam for the control information.
19 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An air-to-ground communications system comprising:
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a plurality of base stations, each comprising a ground-based transceiver and associated ground-based controller; and a plurality of aircraft, each comprising an aircraft-based transceiver and associated aircraft-based controller; a given aircraft-based controller of a given aircraft configured to determine a position and speed of the given aircraft, determine a position of a given base station, determine an autonomous timing advance based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station, and transmit an access signal with the autonomous timing advance to a given ground-based controller of the given base station for initial acquisition, wherein the given aircraft-based controller is configured to; determine an estimated propagation delay between the given aircraft and the given base station based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station; and determine the autonomous timing advance based upon the estimated propagation delay. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. Aircraft communications equipment for an air-to-ground communications system comprising a plurality of base stations, each base station comprising a ground-based transceiver and associated ground-based controller, the aircraft communications equipment comprising:
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an aircraft-based transceiver; and an aircraft-based controller cooperating with said aircraft-based transceiver and configured to determine a position and speed of the aircraft, determine a position of a given base station, determine an autonomous timing advance based upon the position and speed of the aircraft and the position of the given base station, and transmit an access signal with the autonomous timing advance to a given ground-based controller of the given base station for initial acquisition, wherein said aircraft-based controller is configured to; determine an estimated propagation delay between the aircraft and the given base station based upon the position and speed of the aircraft and the position of the given base station; and determine the autonomous timing advance based upon the estimated propagation delay. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of air-to-ground communications comprising:
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operating a plurality of base stations, each comprising a ground-based transceiver and associated groundbased controller; and operating a plurality of aircraft, each comprising an aircraft-based transceiver and associated aircraft-based controller; operating a given aircraft-based controller of a given aircraft to determine a position and speed of the given aircraft, determine a position of a given base station, determine an autonomous timing advance based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station, and transmit an access signal with the autonomous timing advance to a given ground-based controller of the given base station for initial acquisition, wherein operating the given aircraft-based controller comprises; determining an estimated propagation delay between the given aircraft and the given base station based upon the position and speed of the given aircraft and the position of the given base station; and determining the autonomous timing advance based upon the estimated propagation delay. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification