System and method for high-resolution radio occultation measurement through the atmosphere

• US 10,379,260 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2018
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc. (Spire Global, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Spire Global, Inc.
• Inventors: Platzer, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, An H
• Application Number:
  US15/979,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20180364393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• Field of Search: 702 2, 702 3
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/955 mounted on satellite
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/10 Devices for predicting weather conditions computers per se G06; display devices G09
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system

Abstract

A constellation of individual satellites are employed to concurrently collect occultation data from multiple GPSS originating signals that pass through atmospheric sections of interest. By coordinating the collection and processing of the data using state of the art receivers on a constellation of low earth orbit satellites and networked processing, highly accurate calculation of atmospheric conditions and related future weather events are possible.

Claims

1. A system for determining atmospheric conditions, comprising:

a transmission link to a plurality of satellite-based radio transmitters from one or more Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), wherein the transmitters transmit radio signals and said signals comprise data reflecting occultation of GNSS based radio signals collected from multiple paths by a constellation of satellites placed in low earth orbit;

a computer linked database storing said data; and

a computer processor implementing an occultation analysis algorithm to ascertain atmospheric conditions for use in identifying weather conditions associated with said occultation data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the constellation includes at least 50 satellites in low earth orbit.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the constellation communicates with said transmission link via a network of ground stations.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the ground stations communicate with said computer linked database to provide recently collected occultation data.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display system to deliver details regarding atmospheric conditions to one or more users by network communications.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the display system further comprises graphical representation of atmospheric trends or conditions.

7. A method for assessing atmospheric conditions comprising:

collecting radio occultation (RO) data from a plurality of satellites based on a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal tracking;

collecting image data regarding a region of atmosphere of interest;

storing in computer memory RO and image data; and

processing RO and image data to ascertain properties about select regions of atmosphere.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said plurality of satellites includes at least 50 satellites placed in low earth orbit.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said image data is generated by one or more of said plurality of satellites.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said RO data is developed from GNSS signals using multiple paths through a common region of atmosphere.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said RO data is collected using a plurality of low priced, low life expectancy satellites equipped with receivers for multiple GNSS signals.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the collection satellites form a constellation linked to internet communications by plural ground stations.

13. A database and associated processor platform in communication with a plurality of low earth orbit satellites, said platform comprises:

a. A communication link to said satellites assessing and recalling satellite data on atmospheric occultated signals;

b. A database storing said data with time, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and location information regarding each occultated signal;

c. A computer processor programmed with one or more occultation analysis algorithms in communication with said database for implementing said algorithm and rendering projections based on atmospheric conditions determined by said algorithm; and

d. System output link to deliver projections to one or more network affiliates platform.

14. The platform of claim 13 further comprising an inter-satellite communication link to pass data without instructions between orbiting satellites.

15. The platform of claim 13, wherein the computer processor is configured to analyze image data generated by satellite based cameras in conjunction with said occultation signals.

16. The platform of claim 13 when said image data is generated by USER communication.