Satellite antenna system employing electronic elevation control for signal acquisition and tracking
First Claim
1. A satellite receiver comprising:
- a) an array of antenna elements each receiving electromagnetic radiation that includes a received signal within a first frequency band;
b) a plurality of tuners corresponding to said array of antenna elements, each tuner comprising an amplification stage, mixer and bandpass filter stage, said amplification stage and mixer operably coupled to a corresponding antenna element and operating on said received signal received at said corresponding antenna element to downconvert said received signal to a second frequency band lower than said first frequency band, and said bandpass filter stage operating on output of said mixer to remove unwanted signal components therein;
c) a summing amplifier for summing output of each bandpass filter stage in said plurality of tuners to produce a combined signal that is output for subsequent processing;
d) a local oscillator that generates a local oscillating signal;
e) delay means for introducing different phase delays to said local oscillating signal to generate a plurality of oscillating signal waveforms with different phase delays, and for supplying said plurality of oscillating signal waveforms to said mixers of said plurality of tuners; and
f) a controller that electronically adjusts an elevation angle pointing direction by varying frequency of said local oscillating signal.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved satellite receiver includes a phased array antenna subsystem with a local oscillator that produces a local oscillating signal and delay means that introduces different phased delays to the local oscillating signal to produce a plurality of oscillating waveform signals with different phase delays. These oscillating waveform signals are supplied to downconverting mixers in the processing channels of the phased array antenna subsystem. A controller electronically adjusts an elevation angle pointing direction of the satellite receiver by varying frequency of the local oscillating signal produced by the local oscillator. Such electronic elevation pointing direction control is preferably performed as part of an antenna position initialization routine that scans over large elevation angle pointing directions (via updates to the frequency of the local oscillating signal) to lock onto position of the transmitting satellite and/or part of a signal tracking routine that maximizes received signal strength of a particular received signal. In addition, the controller varies frequency of the local oscillating signal in response to user channel selection information communicated thereto.
32 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A satellite receiver comprising:
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a) an array of antenna elements each receiving electromagnetic radiation that includes a received signal within a first frequency band;
b) a plurality of tuners corresponding to said array of antenna elements, each tuner comprising an amplification stage, mixer and bandpass filter stage, said amplification stage and mixer operably coupled to a corresponding antenna element and operating on said received signal received at said corresponding antenna element to downconvert said received signal to a second frequency band lower than said first frequency band, and said bandpass filter stage operating on output of said mixer to remove unwanted signal components therein;
c) a summing amplifier for summing output of each bandpass filter stage in said plurality of tuners to produce a combined signal that is output for subsequent processing;
d) a local oscillator that generates a local oscillating signal;
e) delay means for introducing different phase delays to said local oscillating signal to generate a plurality of oscillating signal waveforms with different phase delays, and for supplying said plurality of oscillating signal waveforms to said mixers of said plurality of tuners; and
f) a controller that electronically adjusts an elevation angle pointing direction by varying frequency of said local oscillating signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A satellite receiver according to claim 71 wherein:
said user channel selection information is communicated from a DBS Receiver to said controller over a wireless communication link therebetween.
Specification