POSITION-BASED ANTENNA SWITCHING

• US 20170352941A1
• Filed: 06/07/2016
• Published: 12/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peitzer, Haywood, Hirvela, George O'Quinn, Morris, Nadia, Parra, Darwin, Seam, Alisha, Wolters, II, James A.
• Application Number:
  US15/175,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20170352941A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1257 using the received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform

Abstract

A method includes identifying an access point through which a drone can connect to a network based on a first location along a route of the drone. The method includes determining an orientation for an antenna of the drone based on the first location and configuring the antenna based on the orientation. The method also includes determining a second orientation based on a second location along the route.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an access point through which a drone can connect to a network based on a first location along a route of the drone;

determining a first orientation for an antenna of the drone based on the first location;

configuring the antenna based on the first orientation; and

determining a second orientation for the antenna based on a second location along the route.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring the antenna based on the second orientation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the antenna comprises selecting one of a plurality of unidirectional antennas of the antenna.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying a second access point based on a third location along the route;

determining a third orientation that the antenna based on the second access point; and

configuring the antenna based on the third orientation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the antenna comprises orienting the drone.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that a signal quality from the access point is below a threshold requirement; and

switching from using the antenna to using an omnidirectional antenna, wherein the antenna comprises a unidirectional antenna.

7. A drone comprising:

an antenna;

a processor; and

memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

identifying a desired access point;

based on a relative location of the drone to the desired access point, determining an orientation;

configuring the antenna drone based on the orientation; and

causing the drone to communicate with the desired access point via the antenna.

8. The drone of claim 7, wherein configuring the antenna comprises orienting the drone.

9. The drone of claim 7, the operations further comprising identifying the antenna from a plurality of fixed antennas of the drone based on the orientation.

10. The drone of claim 7, wherein identifying the desired access point comprises:

detecting a plurality of signals, each of a plurality of signals from a plurality of access points, wherein each of the plurality of signals has a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; and

selecting the desired access point from the plurality of access points based on at least one of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios.

11. The drone of claim 7, wherein identifying a desired access point comprises determining a geographic location of the drone.

12. The drone of claim 7, wherein the antenna is a unidimensional antenna.

13. The drone of claim 7, wherein the desired access point comprises a cellular network device.

14. A method comprising:

identifying a desired access point;

based on a relative location of a drone to the desired access point, determining an orientation;

configuring an antenna of the drone based on the orientation; and

causing the drone to communicate with the desired access point via the antenna.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein configuring the antenna comprises orienting the drone.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying the antenna from a plurality of fixed antennas of the drone based on the orientation.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein identifying the desired access point comprises:

detecting a plurality of signals, each of a plurality of signals from a plurality of access points, wherein each of the plurality of signals has a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio; and

selecting the desired access point from the plurality of access points based on at least one of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein identifying a desired access point comprises determining a geographic location of the drone.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the antenna is a unidimensional antenna.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the desired access point comprises a cellular network device.