Satellite Diversity

• US 20170215190A1
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Published: 07/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxar Space LLC (Galileo Parent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Space Systems/Loral Incorporated (Loral Space and Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chung, Kirby
• Granted Patent: US 10,397,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18521 Systems of inter linked satellites, i.e. inter satellite service for optical links between satellites H04B10/118
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2041 Spot beam multiple access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A wireless communication system includes frequency reuse between terminals in common coverage regions using a multiple satellite architecture with spatial diversity. Different terminals may be associated with different ones of the satellites such that a common frequency can be reused by the different terminals. A gateway may communicate with a first satellite using a feeder beam having an overlapping geographic coverage region with a user beam used for communication between a set of user terminals and a second satellite. Spatial diversity is provided between the satellites, and the feeder beam and the user beam operate at common frequencies within the overlapping coverage region. In this manner, the bandwidth of both satellites at the common coverage region is used to increase the available capacity.

Claims

1. A method of satellite communication, comprising:

at a first satellite, providing a feeder beam using a first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the feeder beam is associated with a feeder beam coverage area;

transmitting from the first satellite to a second satellite a first set of inter-satellite communication signals based on first data received from the feeder beam;

at the second satellite, providing a service beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the service beam is associated with a service beam coverage area that is at least partially overlapping with the feeder beam coverage area; and

transmitting from the second satellite to the first satellite a second set of inter-satellite communication signals based on second data received from the service beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the feeder beam comprises:

receiving a first set of uplink signals using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting a first set of downlink signals using a second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the service beam comprises:

receiving a second set of uplink signals using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting a second set of downlink signals using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

receiving the first set of uplink signals comprises receiving the first set of uplink signals from a gateway in an overlapping region of the feeder beam coverage area and the service beam coverage area; and

receiving the second set of uplink signals comprises receiving the second set of uplink signals from one or more user terminals in the overlapping coverage region

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the feeder beam is a first feeder beam and the user beam is a second user beam, the method further comprising:

at the first satellite, providing a first user beam using a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the first user beam covering the overlapping region; and

at the second satellite, providing a second feeder beam using the third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second feeder beam covering the overlapping region.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the first user beam comprises:

receiving a third set of uplink signals using a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting a third set of downlink signals using a fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the second feeder beam comprises:

receiving a fourth set of uplink signals using the third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting a fourth set of downlink signals using a fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting from the first satellite to the second satellite a third set of inter-satellite communication signals based on third data received in the third set of uplink signals of the first user beam; and

transmitting from the second satellite to the first satellite a fourth set of inter-satellite communication signals based on fourth data received in the fourth set of uplink signals of the second feeder beam.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

converting the first set of uplink signals at the first satellite from the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization to a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization for the first set of inter-satellite communication signals; and

converting the first set of inter-satellite communication signals at the second satellite from the third combination to the second combination for the second set of downlink signals.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the service beam comprises:

receiving a second set of uplink signals using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting a second set of downlink signals using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first satellite is a dedicated gateway satellite providing a plurality of feeder beams including the first feeder beam; and

the second satellite is a dedicated user terminal satellite providing a plurality of service beams including the first service beam.

12. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first satellite configured to provide a feeder beam over a feeder beam coverage area using a first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the first satellite configured to transmit to a second satellite a first inter-satellite communication signal based on first data received from the feeder beam; and

a second satellite configured to provide a service beam over a service beam coverage area using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second satellite configured to transmit to the first satellite a second inter-satellite communication signal based on second data received from the service beam, wherein the service beam coverage area is at least partially overlapping with the feeder beam coverage area.

13. The wireless communication system of claim 12, wherein

the first satellite is configured to receive a first set of uplink signals in the feeder beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization;

and

the first satellite is configured to transmit first set of downlink signals in the feeder beam using a second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

14. The wireless communication system of claim 13, wherein:

the second satellite is configured to receive a second set of uplink signals in the service beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

the second satellite is configured to transmit a second set of downlink signals in the service beam using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

15. The wireless communication system of claim 14, wherein:

the first satellite is configured to receive the first set of uplink signals from a gateway in an overlapping region of the feeder beam coverage area and the service beam coverage area; and

the second satellite is configured to receive the second set of uplink signals from one or more user terminals in the overlapping coverage region

16. The wireless communication system of claim 15, wherein:

the feeder beam is a first feeder beam;

the user beam is a second user beam;

the first satellite is configured to provide a first user beam using a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the first user beam covering the overlapping region; and

the second satellite is configured to provide a second feeder beam using the third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second feeder beam covering the overlapping region.

17. The wireless communication system of claim 16, wherein:

the first satellite is configured to receive a third set of uplink signals in the first user beam using a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization;

the first satellite is configured to transmit a third set of downlink signals in the first user beam using a fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization;

the second satellite is configured to receive a fourth set of uplink signals in the second feeder beam using the third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

the second satellite is configured to transmit a fourth set of downlink signals using a fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

18. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a first satellite having one or more first repeaters including an input configured to receive first data in a first set of uplink signals of a feeder beam using a first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the feeder beam having a feeder beam coverage area, the one or more repeaters having an output configured to transmit to a second satellite a first set of inter-satellite communication signals based on the first data received from the feeder beam; and

a second satellite having one or more second repeaters including an input configured to receive second data in a second set of uplink signals of a service beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the service beam having a service beam coverage area that is at least partially overlapping with the feeder beam coverage area, the one or more second repeaters having an output configured to transmit to the first satellite a second set of inter-satellite communication signals based on the second data received from the service beam.

19. The wireless communication system of claim 18, further comprising:

one or more third repeaters on the first satellite, the one or more third repeaters including an input configured to receive the second set of inter-satellite communication signals, the one or more third repeaters including an output configured to transmit to a gateway in the feeder beam coverage area a first set of downlink signals using a second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

one or more fourth repeaters on the second satellite, the one or more fourth repeaters including an input configured to receive the first set of inter-satellite communication signals, the one or more fourth repeaters including an output configured to transmit to at least one user terminal in the service beam coverage area a second set of downlink signals using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

20. The wireless communication system of claim 18, wherein:

the input of the one or more first repeaters is configured to receive the first set of uplink signals from the gateway in an overlapping coverage region of the feeder beam coverage area and the service beam coverage area; and

the input of the one or more second repeaters is configured to receive the second set of uplink signals from the user terminal in the overlapping coverage region.

21. A method of satellite communication, comprising:

receiving first data at a first satellite from a feeder beam using a first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the feeder beam having a feeder beam coverage area;

transmitting the first data from the first satellite to a second satellite using a first inter-satellite communication link;

receiving second data at the second satellite from a user beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the user beam having a user beam coverage area that is at least partially overlapping with the feeder beam coverage area; and

transmitting the second data from the second satellite to the first satellite using a second inter-satellite communication link.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting the second data from the first satellite to a gateway in an overlapping region of the feeder beam coverage area and the user beam coverage area using a second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting the first data from the second satellite to a user terminal in the overlapping region using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the feeder beam is a first feeder beam, the gateway is a first gateway, the user beam is a second user beam, and the user terminal is a second user terminal, the method further comprising:

receiving third data at the first satellite from a first user terminal in the overlapping region using a first user beam at a third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the first user beam covering the overlapping region;

transmitting the third data from the first satellite to the second satellite using a third inter-satellite communication link; and

receiving fourth data at the second satellite from a second gateway using a second feeder beam at the third combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second feeder beam covering the overlapping region.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting the fourth data from the first satellite to the first user terminal in the overlapping region using a fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization; and

transmitting the third data from the second satellite to the second gateway using the fourth combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.

25. A method of satellite communication, comprising:

at a first satellite, providing a first user beam using a first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the feeder beam is associated with a common coverage region;

transmitting from the first satellite to a second satellite a first set of inter-satellite communication signals based on data received from the first user beam;

at the second satellite, providing a second user beam using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second user beam is associated with the common coverage region; and

transmitting from the second satellite to the first satellite a second set of inter-satellite communication signals based on data received from the second user beam.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein:

providing the first user beam comprises receiving at the first satellite a first uplink signal including first data from a first user terminal using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the first user terminal is located in the common coverage region;

transmitting the first set of inter-satellite communication signals includes transmitting a first inter-satellite communication signal including the first data; and

providing the second user beam comprises transmitting to a second user terminal a first downlink signal including the first data using a second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization, the second user terminal is located in the common coverage region.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein:

providing the second user beam comprises receiving at the second satellite a second uplink signal including second data from the second user terminal using the first combination of frequency band and antenna polarization;

transmitting the second set of inter-satellite communication signals includes transmitting a second inter-satellite communication signal including the second data; and

providing the first user beam comprises transmitting to the first user terminal a second downlink signal including the second data using the second combination of frequency band and antenna polarization.