SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND MOBILE COMMUNICATION SERVICES

• US 20110182230A1
• Filed: 07/23/2009
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Michael, Wild, Thorsten, Ohm, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,848,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/185 Space-based or airborne stations; Stations for satellite systemsH04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 at least one of which is mobile

Abstract

The invention relates to a ground-based wireless cellular communication system (1a) for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, comprising: at least one ground-based base station (2) adapted for generating at least one cell (C1, C2) defining a solid angle of the space surrounding the base station (2), the ground- based base station (2) further comprising at least one antenna array (5a, 5a) using two-dimensional-beamforming for generating at least one beam (6a-c, 7a-c) for serving at least one airplane (8a-c, 8c-e) in the space covered by the at least one cell (C1, C2) using spatial-division multiple access, SDMA. The invention also relates to an airplane equipment for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, comprising: at least one antenna for exchange of user data with the ground-based wireless cellular communication system (1a), a transceiver unit connected to the at least one antenna for handling the air-to-ground and ground-to-air communication with the ground-based wireless cellular communication system (1a), and an inside-airplane communication system for distributing the user data to and from terminals within the airplane.

Claims

1. A ground-based wireless cellular communication system for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, comprising:

at least one ground-based base station adapted for generating at least one cell defining a solid angle of the space surrounding the base station, the ground-based base station further comprising at least one antenna array using two-dimensional-beamforming to generate at least one beam for serving at least one airplane in the space covered by the at least one cell using spatial-division multiple access, SDMA,

wherein

the ground-based base station is adapted to form beams, in particular adaptive beams, for tracking the current position of the at least one airplane.

3. The ground-based communication system according to claim 1, further comprising a gateway for connection to a core network.

4. The communication system comprising a ground-based wireless cellular communication system according to claim 1, and at least one airplane equipment for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, the airplane equipment comprising:

at least one antenna for exchange of user data with the ground-based wireless cellular communication system, a transceiver unit connected to the at least one antenna for handling the air-to-ground and ground-to-air communication with the ground-based wireless cellular communication system, an inside-airplane communication system, in particular of a wireless type, for distributing the user data to and from terminals within the airplane, and

an inter-communication unit for communication between the transceiver unit and the inside-airplane communication system.

5. The communication system, according to claim 4, wherein the at least one antenna is arranged outside of a hull of the airplane, and wherein the inside-airplane communication system is arranged inside the hull of the airplane.

6. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the antenna (9) is a mechanically steered directive antenna or a two-dimensional beamforming antenna array adapted for automatic tracking of the ground-based base stations.

7. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the inside airplane communication system is a cellular wireless system which comprises at least one airborne base station for generating a cell inside the airplane.

8. The communication system according to claim 7, wherein the inside airplane cellular wireless communication system is compatible to at least one wireless communication standard of the mobile passenger terminals, in particular selected from the group consisting of:

GSM, UMTS, and LTE.

9. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the inside-airplane wireless communication system is a non-cellular wireless communication system, in particular a WLAN system.

10. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the inside-airplane communication system comprises a plurality of airplane-operator-owned terminals installed inside the airplane.

11. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the wireless inside-airplane communication system comprises a relay station.

12. The communication system according to claim 4, being adapted for performing Doppler compensation and/or frequency translation of the signals received and transmitted by the at least one antenna, preferably using airplane movement data, in particular provided by a GPS receiver or a navigation system of the airplane.

14. The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the ground based base station of the ground-based wireless cellular communication system and a transceiver unit of the at least one airplane equipment are adapted to exchange multiplexed data.

2. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

15. A method for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, comprising:

performing two-dimensional-beamforming with an antenna element array of a ground-based base station to generate at least one beam for serving at least one airplane in the space covered by at least one cell of the ground-based base station using spatial-division multiple access, SDMA, whereby

forming beams, in particular adaptive beams, in the ground-based base station for tracking the current position of the at least one airplane.