Apparatus and method for communications management

• US 10,341,002 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2016
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Plc
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Plc
• Inventors: Hudson, Peter Noble, Eissa, Rania Hamdi, Al-Ameri, Monadl Abd Al-Abbas Mansour
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Siu M
• Application Number:
  US15/748,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20190028172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/336 Signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0469 taking special antenna structures, e.g. cross polarized antennas into account
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0634 Antenna weights or vector/matrix coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform

Abstract

Apparatus for management of communications resources of a moving platform comprising a communications system configured to effect wireless data communication between the moving platform and a recipient node, the communications resources comprising a plurality of wireless communications links for facilitating the wireless data communication and a plurality of antennas associated therewith, the apparatus comprising an antenna analysis and selection module residing with the communications system and configured to:

• • identify a communications requirement between the moving platform and a recipient node;
  • receive attribute data representative of movement of the platform, the attribute data including platform movement data comprising future known movement of the moving platform and/or future predicted movement of the moving platform and/or the recipient node;
  • determine, using the attribute data, suitability of each of a plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from the moving platform to the recipient node;
  • determine a quality metric for each of a plurality of antennas/portions of aperture antenna, the quality metric being indicative of a respective performance criterion; and
  • select one or more of the suitable antennas/portion of aperture antenna having a highest performance criterion, for the data transmission.

Claims

1. An apparatus for management of communications resources of a moving platform comprising:

a communications system configured to effect wireless data communication between said moving platform and a recipient node, said communications resources comprising a plurality of wireless communications links for facilitating said wireless data communication and a plurality of antennas associated therewith; and

an antenna analysis and selection module residing within said communications system and configured to;

identify a communications requirement between said moving platform and the recipient node;

receive attribute data representative of movement of said platform, said attribute data including platform movement data comprising future known movement of said moving platform and/or future predicted movement of said moving platform and/or said recipient node;

determine, using said attribute data, suitability of each of the plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from said moving platform to said recipient node;

determine a quality metric for each of the plurality of antennas/portions of aperture antenna, said quality metric being indicative of a respective performance criterion, wherein said quality metric is representative of an antenna gain characteristic of a respective antenna, based on moving platform position and/or attitude; and

select one or more of suitable antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna having a highest performance criterion, for said data transmission.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, configured to determine, by estimating a quality of a respective resultant communications link, said suitability of each of the plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from said moving platform to said recipient node.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute data includes data representative of emissions control criteria associated with said moving platform and/or said recipient node.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, configured to determine said suitability of each of the plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from said moving platform to said recipient node by determining, for each of said plurality of antenna and/or portion of antenna aperture, whether or not data transmission thereby to said recipient node will adhere to said emissions control criteria.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, configured to receive, during mission execution, platform movement data from a system/subsystem and/or function of said moving platform.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, configured to receive, during mission execution, attribute data representative of emissions control restrictions.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said platform movement data comprises position and/or attitude data associated with said moving platform and received from one or more systems/subsystems and/or functions of said moving platform.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said attribute data includes route and/or manoeuvre and/or trajectory data.

9. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said attribute data includes data representative of emissions control criteria associated with said moving platform and/or said recipient node, the apparatus being configured to receive, during a mission from one or more systems/subsystems and/or functions of said moving platform, the attribute data representative of said emissions control criteria, said attribute data comprising (i) location data representative of a specified emissions control region, and/or (ii) position and/or attitude and/or velocity data representative of an adversary node defining an emissions control region.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute data includes data representative of current movement of said moving platform.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, configured to obtain (i) data representative of a location of a fixed recipient node with respect to said moving platform, or (ii) data representative of position and/or attitude and/or velocity of a mobile recipient node with respect to said moving platform;

and to;

determine a direction of said moving platform relative to said fixed/mobile recipient node;

determine an antenna pointing loss of each said antenna/portion of aperture antenna at said recipient node and/or said moving platform; and

calculate a quality metric for each said antenna/portion of aperture antenna based on said pointing loss(es) or a performance metric based on said pointing loss.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said quality metric is indicative of antenna availability and/or preference and/or compatibility.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said attribute data includes data representative of emissions control criteria associated with said moving platform and/or said recipient node, configured to identify one or more suitable antennas or portions of aperture antenna from a plurality of antenna resources by (i) determining a location or position of an emissions control region;

(ii) determining orientation of said moving platform relative to said emissions control region;

(iii) obtaining modified antenna pointing data in respect of a specified antenna or portion of aperture antenna;

(iv) determining if wireless data transmission via said specified antenna or portion of aperture antenna will violate said emissions control region; and

calculating a quality metric for each said antenna or portion of aperture antenna of said moving platform relative to an emissions control region.

14. A method for management of communications resources of a moving platform comprising a communications system configured to effect wireless data communication between said moving platform and a recipient node, said communications resources comprising a plurality of wireless communications links for facilitating said wireless data communication and a plurality of antennas associated therewith, the method comprising using an antenna analysis and selection module residing with said communications system to:

identify a communications requirement between said moving platform and said recipient node;

receive attribute data representative of movement of said moving platform, said attribute data including platform movement data comprising future known movement of said moving platform and/or future predicted movement of said moving platform and/or said recipient node;

determine, using said attribute data, suitability of each of the plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from said moving platform to said recipient node, wherein said quality metric is representative of an antenna gain characteristic of a respective antenna, based on moving platform position and/or attitude;

determine a quality metric for each of the plurality of antennas/portions of aperture antenna, said quality metric being indicative of a respective performance criterion; and

select one or more of said suitable antennas/portion of aperture antenna having a highest performance criterion, for said data transmission.

15. An apparatus for management of communications resources of a moving platform comprising:

a communications system configured to effect wireless data communication between said moving platform and a recipient node, said communications resources comprising a plurality of wireless communications links for facilitating said wireless data communication and a plurality of antennas associated therewith; and

an antenna analysis and selection module residing within said communications system and configured to;

identify a communications requirement between said moving platform and the recipient node;

receive attribute data representative of movement of said platform, said attribute data including data representative of emissions control criteria associated with said moving platform and/or said recipient node and platform movement data comprising future known movement of said moving platform and/or future predicted movement of said moving platform and/or said recipient node;

determine, using said attribute data, suitability of each of the plurality of antennas and/or portions of aperture antenna for data transmission from said moving platform to said recipient node;

determine a quality metric for each of the plurality of antennas/portions of aperture antenna, said quality metric being indicative of a respective performance criterion; and

select one or more of suitable antennas and/or portion of aperture antenna having a highest performance criterion, for said data transmission.