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Power control system for satellite communications

  • US 4,752,967 A
  • Filed: 11/29/1985
  • Issued: 06/21/1988
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1985
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. In a satellite communication system of the type having a satellite transponder for receiving a plurality of uplink signals transmitted by a set of geographically distributed ground stations on earth and for retransmitting each uplink signal as a corresponding downlink signal, with the signal level of each downlink signal equal to the signal level of the corresponding received uplink signal multiplied by the gain of the satellite transponder, a system for compensating for a change in the received signal level of the satellite of a given local uplink signal comprising:

  • a local ground station, being a first one of the ground stations in the set, for transmitting said given local uplink signal, which is retransmitted by the satellite as a local downlink signal, and for receiving the downlink signals retransmitted by the satellite;

    a first beacon ground station, being a second one of the ground stations in the set located at a first geographical site having a low probability of an atmospheric attenuation event occurring, for transmitting a first beacon uplink signal which is retransmitted by the satellite as a first beacon downlink signal;

    means for estimating the change of the signal level of said first beacon downlink signal received at said local ground station during the occurrence of a specific atmospheric attenuation event at said local ground station;

    means for estimating the change of the signal level of the local downlink signal received at said local ground station during said given atmospheric attenuation event;

    means for calculating the difference between said estimated signal changes of the local downlink signal and the first beacon signal; and

    means for increasing the signal level of the local uplink signal by about the calculated difference to compensate for uplink attenuation due to the given atmospheric attenuation event at the local ground station.

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