Network engineering/systems engineering system for mobile satellite communication system

• US 6,185,409 B1
• Filed: 01/14/1998
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ATC Technology Corporation (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Amsc Subsidiary Corp. (PetIQ, Inc.)
• Inventors: Threadgill, Michael E., Lin, ShihChao
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMMING, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US09/007,172
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: 455/12.1, 455/430, 455/427
• US Class Current: 455/12.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18539 Arrangements for managing radio, resources, i.e. for establishing or releasing a connection

Abstract

A mobile satellite system includes at least one satellite and at least one network engineering/systems engineering (NE/SE) system. The NE/SE system performs at least one of the processes of comparing expected traffic loads with capability and availability of space and ground resources in the mobile satellite system; formulating tactical plans to maximize available resources of the at least one satellite, and producing frequency plans for different geographical regions; performing the processes of defining contingency plans for failure situations, including failure in the at least one satellite or a ground-based equipment outage; configuring the mobile satellite system including logical resources and physical components; and configuring communication paths to external organizations operatively connected to the mobile satellite system.

Claims

1. A mobile satellite system having at least one satellite therein in operative communication with at least one mobile earth terminal (MET), comprising:

at least one network operations controller (NOC) managing and controlling the resources of the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite;

at least one feederlink earth station (FES) managing communications links between the MET, at least one public switched telephone network (PSTN), and optionally at least one private network once a communication channel is established with the MET, and performing call management therefor;

at least one network control center (NCC), operatively connected to said FES and said NOC, said NCC managing real time allocation of communication channels between the MET and said FES in at least one circuit pool; and

at least one network engineering/systems engineering (NE/SE) system operatively connected to said NOC, said NE/SE system performing the following processes;

comparing expected traffic loads for mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite with capability and availability of space and ground resources;

formulating tactical plans to maximize available resources of the at least one satellite;

producing frequency plans for different geographical regions;

configuring the mobile satellite system including resources and components generating configurations, the configurations designed to expand the mobile satellite system capacity for increases in traffic demand, while also supporting new features and services of the mobile satellite system; and

configuring communication paths to external organizations operatively connected to the mobile satellite system.

2. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein communication between said NE/SE and said NOC is accomplished for at least one of the following messages:

event messages,

configuration updates,

restoral plan download file name messages,

logs and statistics collection requests, and

file transfer requests.

3. A mobile satellite system according to claim 2, wherein said NE/SE further comprises an NE/SE server, and wherein an event listener process is initiated by said NE/SE server at startup of said NE/SE and said NE/SE server listens for the event messages sent to said NE/SE by said NOC regarding events occurring in the mobile satellite system.

4. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein communication between said NE/SE and said NOC is accomplished for at least one of the following messages:

NOC configuration uploads,

NOC configuration downloads,

NOC logs and statistics, and

restoral plan.

5. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE is operatively connected to, and further communicates with:

a Customer Management Information System; and

a Gateway Switch.

6. A mobile satellite system according to claim 5, wherein said Gateway Switch (GWS) comprises a GWS Maintenance Administrative Position (MAP), and a GWS Traffic Data Collection system, and said NE/SE communicates with the GWS MAP, and the GWS Traffic Data Collection system.

7. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE configures the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite, the resources and the components including at least one of the following:

Satellite Power Management,

Satellite power allocation graph,

Channel power allocation graph,

Control Group (CG) Configuration,

L-Band Frequency Allocation,

Beam geography graphical display,

Network Control Center (NCC),

Feederlink Earth Station (FES),

Radio Frequency Equipment (RFE),

Channel Unit Subsystem (CUS),

Test and Monitor Station (TMS),

Support Resources, and

Audit and Reconciliation.

8. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE configures the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite, the resources and the components therein using configuration data, and said NE/SE verifies the configuration data against user defined configuration rules and deploys the configuration data to said NOC for distribution when verified, and said NE/SE maintains consistency between databases associated with said NOC and said NE/SE.

9. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE comprises a client-server architecture.

10. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, further comprising a customer management information system (CMIS) operatively connected to said NE/SE, providing customers and service providers with assistance and information including at least one of problem resolution, and service changes, and wherein said NE/SE provides at least one of registration support to CMIS and consistency checks on the configuration data sent to said CMIS from said NE/SE.

11. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE initiates NOC database uploads.

12. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein said NE/SE partitions at least one of the at least one satellite, satellite beams of the at least one satellite, and control groups into resources including at least one of the circuit pools, virtual networks and frequency plans.

13. A mobile satellite system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one satellite includes a plurality of satellites in the mobile communication system that are communicable with at least one of each other, said NOC, said NCC, and said FES.

14. In a mobile satellite system having at least one satellite, a method of engineering the mobile satellite system, comprising the steps of:

(a) comparing expected traffic loads with capability and availability of space and ground resources in the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite;

(b) formulating plans to maximize available resources of the at least one satellite;

(c) producing frequency plans for one or more different geographical regions;

(d) configuring the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite, resources and components generating configurations; and

(e) configuring communication paths to external organizations operatively connected to the mobile satellite system.

15. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, further comprising the step of communicating between the NE/SE and the NOC for at least one of the following messages:

event messages,

configuration updates,

restoral plan download file name messages,

logs and statistics collection requests, and

file transfer requests.

16. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein the NE/SE further comprises an NE/SE server, and wherein said method further comprising the step of initiating an event listener process by the NE/SE server at startup of the NE/SE, and listening by the NE/SE server for the event messages sent to the NE/SE by the NOC regarding events occurring in the mobile satellite system.

17. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, further comprising the step of communicating between the NE/SE and the NOC for at least one of the following messages:

NOC configuration uploads,

NOC configuration downloads,

NOC logs and statistic, and

restoral plans.

18. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, further comprising the step of communicating with:

a Customer Management Information System; and

a Gateway Switch.

19. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 18, wherein the Gateway Switch (GWS) comprises a GWS Maintenance Administrative Position (MAP), and a GWS Traffic Data Collection system, and said method further comprising the step of communicating with the GWS MAP, and the GWS Traffic Data Collection system.

20. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein said configuring step (d) further comprises the step of configuring the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite, the resources and the components including at least one of the following:

Satellite Power Management,

Satellite power allocation graph,

Channel power allocation graph,

Control Group (CG) Configuration,

L-Band Frequency Allocation,

Beam geography graphical display,

Network Control Center (NCC),

Feederlink Earth Station (FES),

Radio Frequency Equipment (RFE),

Channel Unit Subsystem (CUS),

Test and Monitor Station (TMS),

Support Resources, and

Audit and Reconciliation.

21. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein said configuring step (d) further comprises the step of configuring the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite, the resources and the components therein by creating and making available configuration data, verifying the configuration data against user defined configuration rules and deploying the configuration data to the NOC for distribution when verified, and maintaining consistency between databases associated with the NOC and the NE/SE.

22. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein the NE/SE comprises a client-server architecture for implementing said method.

23. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein the mobile satellite system further comprises a customer management information system (CMIS) operatively connected to the NE/SE, and said method further comprising the step of providing customers and service providers with assistance and information including at least one of problem resolution, service changes, registration support and consistency checks on the configuration data sent to the CMIS from the NE/SE.

24. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, further comprising the step of initiating NOC database uploads from the NE/SE.

25. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, further comprising the step of partitioning at least one of the at least one satellite, satellite beams of the at least one satellite, a nd control groups into resources including at least one of the circuit pools, virtual networks and frequency plans.

26. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 14, wherein the at least one satellite includes a plurality of satellites in the mobile communication system that are communicable with at least one of each other, said NOC, said NCC, and said FES.

27. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 26, wherein said comparing step (a) further comprises the step of comparing expected traffic loads with capability and availability of space and ground resources in the mobile satellite system including the plurality of satellites.

28. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 26, wherein said formulating step (b) further comprises the step of formulating plans to maximize available resources of the plurality of satellites.

29. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 26, wherein said configuring step (c) further comprises the step of configuring the mobile satellite system including the plurality of satellites, resources and components associated therewith.

30. In a mobile satellite system including at least one satellite, at least one network operations controller (NOC) managing and controlling the resources of the mobile satellite system and the at least one satellite, and at least one network engineering/systems engineering (NE/SE) system operatively connected to the NOC, said NE/SE system performing the following sequential or nonsequential processes:

comparing expected traffic loads with capability and availability of resources in the mobile satellite system;

formulating plans to utilize available resources of the at least one satellite;

producing frequency plans for one or more different geographical regions;

configuring the mobile satellite system including the at least one satellite and the resources; and

configuring communication paths to external organizations operatively connected to the mobile satellite system.

31. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 30, wherein the at least one satellite includes a plurality of satellites in the mobile communication system that are communicable with at least one of each other, said NOC, said NCC, and said FES.

32. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 31, wherein said comparing step further comprises the step of comparing expected traffic loads with capability and availability of space and ground resources in the mobile satellite system including the plurality of satellites.

33. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 31, wherein said formulating step further comprises the step of formulating plans to maximize available resources of the plurality of satellites.

34. A method for engineering a mobile satellite system according to claim 31, wherein said configuring the mobile satellite system step further comprises the step of configuring the mobile satellite system including the plurality of satellites and the resources associated therewith.

35. In a mobile satellite system including at least one satellite and at least one network engineering/systems engineering (NE/SE) system, said NE/SE system performing the following sequential or nonsequential processes of comparing expected traffic loads with the capability and availability of space and ground resources in the mobile satellite system;

formulating tactical plans to maximize available resources of the at least one satellite, and producing frequency plans for different geographical regions;

performing the processes of defining contingency for failure situations, including failure in the at least one satellite or ground-based equipment outage;

configuring the mobile satellite system including logical resources and physical components; and

configuring communication paths to external organizations operatively connected to the mobile satellite system.