Method and apparatus for providing substantially uninterrupted communications in a satellite network system
First Claim
1. A communication planning system, comprising:
- at least one satellite comprising a plurality of communication resources and adapted to produce a footprint comprising at least one signal beam, wherein said at least one signal beam is projected onto a ground surface;
a transceiver for communicating with said at least one satellite using at least a first of said plurality of communication resources; and
a control system, for determining a configuration of said plurality of communication resources such that said at least one satellite allocates said at least first communication resource to said transceiver.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communication management system and technique that provides a flexible yet efficient means of coordinating communications between an Earth bound user and a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation. The system distributes the majority of the management of communications links to operations and control center and the ground based users. Therefore, the responsibility for handling communication management is performed by the ground based users and control center as opposed to being the responsibility of the NGSO satellites. This allows the NGSO satellites to be minimized in size and cost while maximizing the resources available to users. Furthermore, the ground based systems may be more easily updated and maintained than would be the case if the satellites were responsible for this task.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A communication planning system, comprising:
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at least one satellite comprising a plurality of communication resources and adapted to produce a footprint comprising at least one signal beam, wherein said at least one signal beam is projected onto a ground surface;
a transceiver for communicating with said at least one satellite using at least a first of said plurality of communication resources; and
a control system, for determining a configuration of said plurality of communication resources such that said at least one satellite allocates said at least first communication resource to said transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method to ensure that a communication is generally constant between a satellite constellation and a transceiver comprising an organizational unit, the method comprising:
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providing a satellite constellation comprising at least one satellite orbiting the Earth in a non-geosynchronous orbit;
providing a plurality of signal resources on said at least one satellite;
producing a footprint comprising a plurality of signal beams adapted to allow transmission of a data stream using said plurality of signal resources;
transmitting a data stream between the transceiver and said at least one satellite by transmitting a signal along said signal beam using one of said signal resources; and
determining an optimal configuration of said plurality of signal resources to ensure that said data stream is substantially continuous between said transceiver and said at least one satellite. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for providing substantially uninterrupted communications between a terrestrial based transceiver and an orbiting satellite network, comprising:
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at least one transceiver adapted to communicate with a satellite in at least one configuration;
at least one satellite adapted to communicate with said transceiver, wherein said satellite comprises a communication resource and an antenna, wherein said antenna is adapted to produce a footprint comprising at least two beams which are movable relative to said transceiver;
a storage system for storing a location of said transceiver;
a processor, for allocating said communication resources among said two beams; and
wherein said configuration of said transceiver corresponds to said communication resource to allow sending and receiving a data stream between said transceiver and said satellite. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification