FREE SPACE LASER AND MILLIMETRE WAVE(MMW) NETWORK FOR AIRBORNE RELAY NETWORKS

• US 20160285541A1
• Filed: 09/04/2014
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Liu, Xiaochen
• Granted Patent: US 10,181,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1123 Bidirectional transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1129 Arrangements for outdoor wireless networking of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/503 Laser transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/90 Non-optical transmission systems, e.g. transmission systems employing non-photonic corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/1851 Systems using a satellite or space-based relay H04B7/18508, H04B7/18521 take precedence; providing specific services H04B7/18523 - H04B7/18576

Abstract

An aircraft system comprises a first and second transceiver each configured to transmit and receive radio signals in respective first millimeter wave (mmW) frequency band and second mmW frequency band; and a processing unit configured to provide the data signals to the first and second transceivers for transmission and to receive demodulated signals from the first and second transceivers. The processing unit is further configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the first antenna to establish a first point-to-point connection with a first aircraft and to output signals to alter the orientation of the second antenna to establish a second point-to-point connection with a second aircraft; the first point-to-point connection and the second point-to-point connection forming part of a point-to-point aircraft relay ring network communicatively coupling a plurality of aircraft in a shared flight route area to each other.

Claims

1. An aircraft system comprising:

a first transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals in a first millimeter wave (mmW) frequency band via a first antenna;

a second transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals in a second mmW frequency band via a second antenna;

a processing unit configured to provide the data signals to the first and second transceivers for transmission and to receive demodulated signals from the first and second transceivers;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the first antenna to establish a first point-to-point connection with a first aircraft and to output signals to alter the orientation of the second antenna to establish a second point-to-point connection with a second aircraft;

the first point-to-point connection and the second point-to-point connection forming part of a point-to-point aircraft relay ring network communicatively coupling a plurality of aircraft in a shared flight route area to each other.

2. The aircraft system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze signal characteristics of signals received via the receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received signals passed.

3. The aircraft system of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is configured to transmit weather data regarding the determined weather conditions to the first aircraft via the transmitter.

4. The aircraft system of claim 3, wherein the weather data is assigned a higher priority than non-critical communications.

5. The aircraft system of claim 1, further comprising an inertial management unit having at least one gyroscope;

wherein the processing unit is configured to use measurements from the at least one gyroscope to determine the orientation of the transmit antenna and the receive antenna for establishing the respective point-to-point connections.

6. The aircraft system of claim 1, further comprising:

a free space optical (FSO) transmitter configured to transmit an optical signal through free space; and

an FSO receiver configured to receive an optical signal through free space;

wherein the processing unit is configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the FSO transmitter and FSO receiver in order to establish a point-to-point laser connection with another FSO transceiver.

7. The aircraft system of claim 6, wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze signal characteristics of signals received via the FSO receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received optical signals passed.

8. A point-to-point aircraft relay ring network comprising:

a plurality of aircraft flying in a flight route area; and

one or more ground stations communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of aircraft;

wherein each of the plurality of aircraft includes an aircraft system comprising;

a receive antenna configured to receive radio signals in a first millimeter wave (mmW) frequency band;

a receiver configured to demodulate radio signals received via the receive antenna;

a transmitter configured to modulate data signals for transmission;

a transmit antenna configured to direct radiated radio signals in a second mmW frequency band;

a processing unit configured to provide the data signals to the transmitter for transmission via the transmit antenna and to receive the demodulated signals from the receiver;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the transmit antenna to establish a first point-to-point connection with a respective first aircraft from the plurality of aircraft in the flight route area;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the receive antenna to establish a second point-to-point connection with a respective second aircraft from the plurality of aircraft in the flight route area;

wherein the first point-to-point connection and the second point-to-point connection form part of the point-to-point aircraft relay ring network communicatively coupling the plurality of aircraft together;

wherein the processing unit in the aircraft system of at least one of the plurality of aircraft is configured to analyze signal characteristics of signals received via the respective receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received signals passed.

9. The aircraft relay network of claim 8, wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze signal characteristics of signals received via the receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received signals passed.

10. The aircraft relay network of claim 9, wherein the processing unit in the at least one aircraft is configured to transmit weather data regarding the determined weather conditions to the respective first aircraft via the transmitter.

11. The aircraft relay network of claim 10, wherein the processing unit in the at least one aircraft is configured to transmit the weather data with a higher priority than non-critical communications.

12. The aircraft relay network of claim 8, wherein the aircraft system in each of the plurality of aircraft further comprises an inertial management unit having at least one gyroscope;

wherein the processing unit in the aircraft system of each of the plurality of aircraft is configured to use measurements from the at least one gyroscope to determine the orientation of the transmit antenna and the receive antenna for establishing the respective point-to-point connections.

13. The aircraft relay network of claim 8, wherein the aircraft system in each of the plurality of aircraft further comprises:

a free space optical (FSO) transmitter configured to transmit an optical signal through free space; and

an FSO receiver configured to receive an optical signal through free space;

wherein the processing unit is configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the FSO transmitter and FSO receiver in order to establish a point-to-point connection with another FSO transceiver.

14. The aircraft relay network of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze signal characteristics of signals received via the FSO receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received optical signals passed.

15. A method of communicating data through an aircraft relay network, the method comprising:

orienting a transmit antenna on a first aircraft to establish a first millimeter wave (mmW) point-to-point connection with a second aircraft;

orienting a receive antenna on the first aircraft to establish a second mmW point-to-point connection with a third aircraft, the first mmW point-to-point connection and the second mmW point-to-point connection forming part of a point-to-point aircraft relay ring network communicatively coupling aircraft together;

demodulating data received over the second mmW point-to-point connection; and

modulating data for transmission over the first mmW point-to-point connection.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

analyzing signal characteristics of signals received over the second mmW point-to-point connection to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received signals passed.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting weather data based on the analysis of the signal characteristics to the second aircraft via the first mmW point-to-point connection.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the weather data comprises transmitting the weather data with a higher priority than non-critical communications.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

orienting a laser transceiver to establish a point-to-point laser connection through free space with another laser transceiver.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein orienting the transmit antenna comprises orienting the transmit antenna based on measurements from a gyroscope onboard the first aircraft;

and

wherein orienting the receive antenna comprises orienting the receive antenna based on measurements from the gyroscope onboard the first aircraft.

21. An aircraft system comprising:

a free space optical (FSO) transmitter configured to transmit optical signals through free space;

an FSO receiver configured to receive optical signals through free space and convert the optical signals to electrical signals;

a processing unit configured to provide the data signals to the FSO transmitter for transmission and to receive the electrical signals from the FSO receiver;

wherein the processing unit is configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the FSO transmitter and FSO receiver in order to establish a point-to-point laser connection with another FSO transceiver located on another aircraft.

22. The aircraft system of claim 21, further comprising:

a first transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals in a first millimeter wave (mmW) frequency band via a first antenna; and

a second transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals in a second mmW frequency band via a second antenna;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to output signals to alter the orientation of the first antenna to establish a first point-to-point connection with a first aircraft and to output signals to alter the orientation of the second antenna to establish a second point-to-point connection with a second aircraft;

the first point-to-point connection and the second point-to-point connection forming part of a point-to-point aircraft relay ring network communicatively coupling a plurality of aircraft in a shared flight route area to each other.

23. The aircraft system of claim 21, wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze signal characteristics of optical signals received via the FSO receiver to determine weather conditions of the area through which the received optical signals passed.

24. The aircraft system of claim 21, wherein the FSO transmitter and the FSO receiver are configured to establish a point-to-point connection with an FSO transceiver in a satellite.