Pseudo-geosynchronous communications in satellite platforms

• US 10,270,521 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2018
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Vector Launch, Inc.
• Inventors: Coleman, Shaun, Garber, Darren D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E
• Application Number:
  US15/922,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20190028183A1
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18521 Systems of inter linked satellites, i.e. inter satellite service for optical links between satellites H04B10/118
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software described herein provide enhancements for orbital satellite platform. In one example, a satellite system includes satellite devices in low-earth orbit (LEO) configured to establish a pseudo-geosynchronous configuration corresponding to a ground communication system by at least transferring instructions for traffic routing from outgoing satellite devices leaving the pseudo-geosynchronous window for receipt by target satellite devices entering the pseudo-geosynchronous window. During passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous window, the target satellite devices are each configured to route communications received in the target satellite devices from ones of the satellite devices through the ground communication system in accordance with the instructions for traffic routing.

Claims

1. A satellite system, comprising:

satellite devices in low-earth orbit (LEO) configured to establish a pseudo-geosynchronous communication window corresponding to a ground communication system by at least transferring traffic routing instructions from outgoing satellite devices leaving the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window for receipt by target satellite devices entering the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate at least a portion of communication traffic among the satellite system for routing to the ground communication system; and

during passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, the target satellite devices each configured to route at least the portion of communications received in the target satellite devices in accordance with the traffic routing instructions, wherein the satellite devices route at least the portion of communications for delivery to the target satellite devices through zero or more intermediate ones of the satellite devices.

2. The satellite system of claim 1, comprising:

responsive to detecting exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, the outgoing satellite devices each configured to determine at least a portion of the traffic routing instructions, and deliver at least the portion of the traffic routing instructions to associated target satellite devices.

3. The satellite system of claim 1, comprising:

responsive to detecting entry into the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, the target satellite devices each configured to request at least a portion of the traffic routing instructions from associated outgoing satellite devices.

4. The satellite system of claim 1, comprising:

the satellite devices configured to determine entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on determining overhead proximity to the ground communication system as defined by geographic coordinates.

5. The satellite system of claim 1, comprising:

the satellite devices configured to determine entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on line-of-sight established with the ground communication system.

6. The satellite system of claim 1, comprising:

the satellite devices configured to determine entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on signal strength of the ground communication system.

7. The satellite system of claim 1, wherein a subset of the satellite devices orbit in a higher orbital distance from others of the satellite devices that pass through the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, and comprising:

the subset of the satellite devices configured to route associated communications for delivery to the ground communication system via the others of the satellite devices that pass through the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window.

8. The satellite system of claim 1, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate to route at least a portion of satellite-to-ground communications received in the target satellite devices for delivery through the ground communication system;

and

wherein the traffic routing instructions further indicate to route ground-to-satellite communications received from the ground communication system in the target satellite devices to one or more of the satellite devices.

9. A method of operating a satellite system, comprising:

establishing a pseudo-geosynchronous communication window among satellite devices in low-earth orbit (LEO) with relation to a ground communication system by at least transferring traffic routing instructions from outgoing satellite devices leaving the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window for receipt by target satellite devices entering the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate at least a portion of communication traffic among the satellite system for routing to the ground communication system; and

during passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, routing at least the portion of communications received in the target satellite devices in accordance with the traffic routing instructions, wherein the satellite devices route at least the portion of communications for delivery to the target satellite devices through zero or more intermediate ones of the satellite devices.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the outgoing satellite devices, responsive to detecting exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, determining at least a portion of the traffic routing instructions, and delivering at least the portion of the traffic routing instructions to associated target satellite devices.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the target satellite devices, responsive to detecting entry into the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, requesting at least a portion of the traffic routing instructions from associated outgoing satellite devices.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the satellite devices, determining entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on overhead proximity to the ground communication system as defined by geographic coordinates.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the satellite devices, determining entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on line-of-sight established with the ground communication system.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the satellite devices, determining entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on signal strength of the ground communication system.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a subset of the satellite devices orbit in a higher orbital distance from others of the satellite devices that pass through the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, and further comprising:

in the subset of the satellite devices, routing associated communications for delivery to the ground communication system via the others of the satellite devices that pass through the pseudo-geosynchronous window.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate to route at least a portion of satellite-to-ground communications received in the target satellite devices through the ground communication system;

and

wherein the traffic routing instructions further indicate to route ground-to-satellite communications received in the target satellite devices from the ground communication system to one or more of the satellite devices.

17. A satellite device, comprising:

a control system configured to detect overhead proximity to a ground communication system and establish a pseudo-geosynchronous communication window corresponding to the overhead proximity to the ground communication system while the satellite device orbits in a low-earth orbit;

a processing system configured to execute communication routing tasks with regard to the ground communication system in accordance with traffic routing instructions received from a further satellite device exiting the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate at least a portion of communication traffic received in the satellite device for routing to the ground communication system, and wherein one or more satellite devices route at least the portion of communications for delivery to the satellite device through zero or more intermediate satellite devices; and

responsive to the control system detecting exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, a communication system configured to transfer information comprising further traffic routing instructions for delivery to at least another satellite device for use in execution of further communication routing tasks by the other satellite device during passage through the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window.

18. The satellite device of claim 17, comprising:

the control system configured to determine entry into or exit from the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window based at least on detected signal strength of the ground communication system;

during the orbital passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, the processing system further configured to direct the communication system to route at least the portion of communications traffic received from one or more satellite devices in accordance with corresponding traffic routing instructions to deliver at least the portion of the communications traffic to the ground communication system; and

during the orbital passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, the processing system further configured to direct the communication system to route at least a portion of further communications traffic received by the satellite device from the ground communication system in accordance with the corresponding traffic routing instructions to deliver at least the portion of the further communications traffic to the one or more satellite devices.

19. A satellite system, comprising:

satellite devices in low-earth orbit (LEO) configured to establish a pseudo-geosynchronous communication configuration corresponding to a ground communication system by at least transferring traffic routing instructions from outgoing satellite devices leaving the pseudo-geosynchronous window for receipt by target satellite devices entering the pseudo-geosynchronous window, wherein the traffic routing instructions at least indicate traffic of the satellite system to route to the ground communication system;

during passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous window, the target satellite devices each configured to route at least a portion of communications received in the target satellite devices from the satellite devices for delivery to the ground communication system in accordance with the traffic routing instructions; and

a subset of the satellite devices configured to route associated communications for delivery to the ground communication system via the target satellite devices, wherein the subset of the satellite devices orbit in a higher orbital distance than the target satellite devices.

20. A method of operating a satellite system, comprising:

establishing a pseudo-geosynchronous communication window among satellite devices in low-earth orbit (LEO) with relation to a ground communication system by at least transferring traffic routing instructions from outgoing satellite devices leaving the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window for receipt by target satellite devices entering the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, wherein the traffic routing instructions indicate at least a portion of communication traffic among the satellite system for routing to the ground communication system;

during passage within the pseudo-geosynchronous communication window, routing at least the portion of communications received in the target satellite devices in accordance with the traffic routing instructions; and

in a subset of the satellite devices, routing associated communications for delivery to the ground communication system via the target satellite devices, wherein the subset of the satellite devices orbit in a higher orbital distance than the target satellite devices.