Protected overlay of assigned frequency channels

• US 10,305,646 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2016
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxar Space LLC (Galileo Parent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Space Systems/Loral Incorporated (Loral Space and Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hreha, William, Grybos, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Mills, Donald L
• Application Number:
  US15/163,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20170214500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7136 Arrangements for generation of hop frequencies, e.g. using a bank of frequency sources, using continuous tuning or using a transform
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/71307 Partial band interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2041 Spot beam multiple access
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

A communication platform such as a spacecraft, airborne platform, or terrestrial line of site wireless platform is provided with adaptive digital beamforming. The satellite digitizes a full spectrum allocation for digital channelization. A channelization engine can determine a particular user or user group associated with an uplink signal. In this manner, the communication platform can apply different processing based on the user or group associated with a signal. For example, the communication platform receives uplink signals associated with a first user group and a second user group in one embodiment. The platform dynamically generates one or more spot beams for the first user group and the second group. The platform discriminates the uplink signals to apply frequency hopping for the downlink frequency channel assignments to the second user group while the downlink frequency channel assignments for the first user group remain fixed.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving at a communication relay platform a plurality of uplink signals associated with a first user group and a second user group;

generating one or more spot beams for the first user group;

generating one or more spot beams for the second user group;

assigning the one or more spot beams generated for the first user group to a first subset of frequency channels, the assignment of the first subset of frequency channels to the first user group being fixed during a period of time, the first subset of channels being one or more of a plurality of orthogonal frequency channels within a continuous frequency spectrum allocation for the one or more spot beams; and

dynamically assigning the one or more spot beams generated for the second user group to a second subset of the frequency channels during the period of time, the second subset of channels being one or more of the plurality of orthogonal channels, the second subset of channels being distinct from the first subset of channels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically assigning to the second user group a second subset of the channels comprises:

frequency hopping the second user group around the fixed frequency channel assignments of the first user group during the period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting a first continuous frequency spectrum allocation comprising the plurality of uplink signals into a plurality of orthogonal digitized channels; and

determining a user group associated with each of the plurality of digitized channels.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

applying dynamic beamforming to a first subset of the plurality of digitized channels that are associated with the first user group; and

applying fixed beamforming to a second subset of the plurality of digitized channels that are associated with the second user group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating one or more spot beams for the first user group and the second user group includes:

detecting interference associated with a first downlink signal to the second user group; and

generating the one or more spot beams to include one or more nulls associated with the first downlink signal.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the one or more spot beams includes:

generating a first spot beam associated with the first user group, the first spot beam including the fixed channel assignments associated with the first user group; and

generating a second spot beam associated with the second user group, the second spot beam including the dynamic channel assignments associated with the second user group.

7. A wireless communication platform, comprising:

a feeder link antenna configured to receive a plurality of uplink signals associated with a first user group and a second user group;

an adaptive beamformer configured to generate one or more spot beams for the first user group and one or more spot beams for the second user group; and

a digital channelization engine configured to convert a first continuous frequency spectrum allocation comprising the plurality of uplink signals into a plurality of digitized channels, the digital channelization engine assigns to the first user group in the one or more spot beams a first subset of frequency channels, the assignment of the first subset of channels to the first user group being fixed during a period of time, the first subset of channels being one or more of a plurality of orthogonal frequency channels within a second frequency continuous spectrum allocation for the one or more spot beams, the digital channelization engine dynamically assigns to the second user group in the one or more spot beams a second subset of the frequency channels during the period of time, the second subset of channels being one or more of the plurality of orthogonal channels, the second subset of channels being distinct from the first subset of channels.

8. The wireless communication platform of claim 7, further comprising:

a frequency hop engine configured to frequency hop the second user group around the fixed frequency channel assignments of the first user group during the period of time.

9. The wireless communication platform of claim 8, wherein:

the digital channelization engine includes an input channelization engine that generates a plurality of digitized input channels; and

the digital channelization engine includes an output channelization engine coupled to the frequency hop engine to generate the dynamic frequency channel assignments for the second user group and the fixed frequency channel assignments for the first user group based on the plurality of digitized input channels.

10. The wireless communication platform of claim 9, wherein:

the adaptive beamformer includes a dynamic beamformer coupled between the input channelization engine and the frequency hop engine to generate one or more downlink signals for the one or more spot beams that are associated with the second user group.

11. The wireless communication platform of claim 10, wherein:

the adaptive beamformer includes a fixed beamformer coupled between the input channelization engine and the output channelization engine to generate one or more downlink signals for the one or more spot beams that are associated with the first user group.

12. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving at a communication platform a plurality of uplink signals;

converting a first continuous spectrum allocation comprising the plurality of uplink signals into a plurality of input channels; and

applying fixed beamforming for a first subset of the input channels, the fixed beamforming including assigning a first, fixed subset of one or more frequency channels from a plurality of orthogonal frequency channels within a second continuous spectrum allocation;

concurrently with applying fixed beamforming to the first subset of the input channels, applying dynamic beamforming for a second subset of the input channels, the dynamic beamforming including dynamically assigning a second subset of one or more frequency channels from the plurality of orthogonal frequency channels within the second continuous spectrum allocation, the second subset of channels being distinct from the first subset of channels; and

generating one or more spot beams based on the fixed beamforming and the dynamic beamforming.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the one or more spot beams include a first set of one or more spot beams based on the fixed beamforming; and

the one or more spot beams include a second set of one or more spot beams based on the dynamic beamforming.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the one or more spot beams include a first set of one or more spot beams based on the fixed beamforming and the dynamic beamforming, the first set of spot beams including the fixed output channel assignments and the dynamic output channel assignments.

15. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining a plurality of input channels associated with one or more uplink signals;

applying to a first subset of the input channels fixed beamforming to generate a plurality of fixed output channels within a continuous frequency spectrum for each of the first subset of input channels;

concurrently with generating the plurality of fixed output channels, applying to a second subset of the input channels dynamic beamforming to generate a plurality of dynamic output channels within the continuous frequency spectrum for each of the second subset of input channels, wherein the fixed output channels and the dynamic output channels being distinct subsets of a plurality of orthogonal frequency channels within the continuous frequency spectrum; and

generating one or more spot beams including the plurality of dynamic output channels and the plurality of fixed output channels.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more uplink signals include a first set of uplink signals including the first subset of input channels associated with a first user group and a second set of uplink signals including the second subset of input channels associated with a second user group.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first set of uplink signals are received from a first terminal and the second set of uplink signals are received from a second terminal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said applying to the second subset of the input channels dynamic beamforming includes frequency hopping the plurality of dynamic output channels of the second user group around the plurality of fixed output channels of the first user group.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein generating the one or more spot beams includes:

generating a first set of one or more spot beams based on the fixed beamforming, the first set of spot beams including the plurality of fixed output channels; and

generating a second set of one or more spot beams based on the dynamic beamforming, the second set of spot beams including the plurality of dynamic output channels.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein generating the second set of one or more spot beams includes:

detecting interference associated with a first spot beam of the second set; and

dynamically generating the first spot beam to include one or more nulls to mitigate the effects of the interference.

21. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving at a communication platform a plurality of uplink signals;

converting a first continuous spectrum allocation comprising the plurality of uplink signals into a plurality of digitized input channels; and

generating a first set of one or more downlink signals including a second continuous spectrum allocation for one or more spot beams, wherein the one or more downlink signals include a set of fixed output channels for a first subset of the plurality of digitized channels,

wherein generating the first set of one or more downlink signals includes frequency hopping a second subset of the plurality of digitized channels concurrently with generating the set of fixed output channels for the first subset of the plurality of digitized channels, the first subset and the second subset being distinct subsets of a plurality of orthogonal digitized channels within a second continuous frequency spectrum.

22. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving at a communication platform a plurality of uplink signals associated with a first user group and a second user group;

converting a first continuous spectrum allocation comprising the plurality of uplink signals into a plurality of digitized channels;

determining a user group associated with the plurality of digitized channels;

generating one or more spot beams for the first user group and the second user group;

frequency hopping a first user group using a first frequency hopping pattern within a second continuous spectrum allocation for the one or more spot beams during a period of time; and

frequency hopping a second user group using a second frequency hopping pattern within the second continuous spectrum allocation for the one or more spot beams during the period of time, the second frequency hopping pattern is orthogonal to the first frequency hopping pattern.