SATELLITE COMMUNICATION RANGING

• US 20170332252A1
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Published: 11/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Vasavada, Yash M., Antia, Yezdi
• Granted Patent: US 10,200,885 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/185 Space-based or airborne stations; Stations for satellite systemsH04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a plurality of ranging terminals programmed to communicate with a plurality of satellites over a plurality of frequencies. A processor, having a memory, is programmed to receive ranging data from each of the plurality of ranging terminals, determine a plurality of power levels for each of the plurality of terminals, and transmit the plurality of power levels to each of the plurality of ranging terminals. Each power level is associated with one of the plurality of frequencies. The plurality of ranging terminals is programmed to transmit signals to the plurality of satellites over the plurality of frequencies in accordance with the power levels determined by the processor.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system comprising:

a plurality of ranging terminals programmed to communicate with a plurality of satellites over a plurality of frequencies; and

a processor having a memory and programmed to receive ranging data from each of the plurality of ranging terminals, determine a plurality of power levels for each of the plurality of ranging terminals, wherein each power level is associated with one of the plurality of frequencies, and transmit the plurality of power levels to each of the plurality of ranging terminals,

wherein each of the plurality of ranging terminals is programmed to transmit signals to the plurality of satellites over the plurality of frequencies in accordance with the power levels determined by the processor.

2. The telecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the ranging data received from each of the plurality of ranging terminals is affected by an interference floor value associated with one of the plurality of frequencies.

3. The telecommunication system of claim 2, wherein the ranging data received from each of the plurality of ranging terminals is affected by a terminal offset value associated with one of the plurality of ranging terminals.

4. The telecommunication system of claim 3, wherein the processor is programmed to aggregate the interference floor values and terminal offset values received from each of the plurality of ranging terminals.

5. The telecommunication system of claim 4, wherein the processor is programmed to determine, using the measured range data, the aggregated interference floor values and aggregated terminal offset values.

6. The telecommunication system of claim 5, wherein the processor is programmed to determine the power levels from the measured range data.

7. The telecommunication system of claim 3, wherein the ranging data received from each of the plurality of ranging terminals includes a noise value.

8. The telecommunication system of claim 7, wherein the processor is programmed to determine, using the measured range data, the aggregated interference floor values, aggregated terminal offset values, and aggregated noise values.

9. A ranging terminal comprising:

a transmitter programmed to communicate with a plurality of satellites over a plurality of frequencies; and

a processor having a memory storing measured range data representing a plurality of power levels, wherein each power level is associated with at least one of the plurality of satellites and at least one of the plurality of frequencies, wherein the processor is programmed to generate a command signal commanding the transmitter to transmit with the plurality of satellites in accordance with the measured range data,

wherein the transmitter is programmed to communicate with the plurality of satellites in accordance with the measured range data in response to receiving the command signal.

10. The ranging terminal of claim 9, wherein the measured range data is affected by an interference floor value, each associated with one of the plurality of frequencies.

11. The ranging terminal of claim 10, wherein the measured range data is affected by a terminal offset value common to all of the plurality of frequencies.

12. The ranging terminal of claim 9, wherein the processor is programmed to determine the interference floor affecting each of the plurality of frequencies for each of the plurality of satellites and for each of the plurality of frequencies from the measured range data.

13. The ranging terminal of claim 9, wherein the measured range data includes a noise value.

14. A telecommunications system comprising:

a plurality of terminals, wherein a subset of the plurality of terminals are programmed to perform multi-frequency ranging and wherein the multi-frequency ranging at each of the plurality of terminals is affected by a terminal-specific perturbation,

wherein each of the plurality of terminals is programmed to range on a subset of a plurality of inroute frequencies, and wherein different terminals range on different subsets of the plurality of inroute frequencies.

15. The telecommunications system of claim 14, wherein one of the plurality of terminals ranges on a first subset of the plurality of inroute frequencies and another of the plurality of terminals ranges on a second subset of the plurality of inroute frequencies, wherein at least one of the inroute frequencies is included in the first subset and in the second subset.

16. The telecommunications system of claim 15, wherein ranging measurements taken by each of the plurality of terminals are combined to determine a plurality of interference floor values, each affecting one of the plurality of inroute frequencies.

17. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the ranging data received from each of the plurality of terminals includes an interference floor value associated with one of the plurality of inroute frequencies and a terminal offset value associated with one of the plurality of terminals.

18. The telecommunication system of claim 17, further comprising a processor programmed to determine the interference floor values and terminal offset values for each of the plurality of terminals from aggregated measured range data.

19. The telecommunication system of claim 18, wherein the processor is programmed to determine the power levels from the aggregated measured range data.

20. The telecommunication system of claim 19, wherein the processor is programmed to receive measured range data from each of the plurality of terminals and aggregate the measured range data.