Satellite communication array transceiver
First Claim
1. A transceiver for receiving and transmitting signals, said transceiver comprising:
- an array of antennas, each of the antennas being randomly positioned relative to each other, each of the antennas identifying a separate channel of the transceiver where one of the channels is a reference channel, each channel receiving and transmitting signals on a common carrier frequency including the same data;
a code generation system, said code generation system generating a unique calibration signal for each channel, each channel transmitting its calibration signal and receiving the calibration signals from all of the channels;
an alignment error system, said alignment error system generating an alignment error signal that identifies an alignment error between the calibration signal transmitted by each channel and the calibration signal transmitted by the reference channel;
a phase error determination system, said phase error determination system determining a phase error signal that is the difference between the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel; and
a correction system, said correction system generating a time correction for each channel that aligns the calibration signal transmitted by each channel with the calibration signal transmitted by the reference channel and generating a phase correction signal that aligns the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A satellite communications system (10) that employs an array of separate and easily deployable antennas (12) for transmission and reception purposes to accommodate high data rate transmissions. The antennas (12) can be deployed randomly at a communications site and are physically separated. Each antenna (12) transmits and receives the same information. A coded signal is used to identify the transmission from each antenna (12) for calibration purposes to align the bits transmitted by each antenna (12) and provide carrier frequency phase matching. The coded signals are used to compare the phase and timing relationship between each antenna signal and a reference antenna signal when the separate antennas receive all of the coded signals. Correction computations are performed and specialized phase and data alignment systems (24, 32) are employed to delay and adjust the phases of the various transmitted signals relative to the reference antenna (12) to provide the desired alignment. Additionally, phase and timing systems (194) are used to determine and correct the phase and data variations between the data received by the antennas (12) so that they can be combined and processed.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A transceiver for receiving and transmitting signals, said transceiver comprising:
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an array of antennas, each of the antennas being randomly positioned relative to each other, each of the antennas identifying a separate channel of the transceiver where one of the channels is a reference channel, each channel receiving and transmitting signals on a common carrier frequency including the same data;
a code generation system, said code generation system generating a unique calibration signal for each channel, each channel transmitting its calibration signal and receiving the calibration signals from all of the channels;
an alignment error system, said alignment error system generating an alignment error signal that identifies an alignment error between the calibration signal transmitted by each channel and the calibration signal transmitted by the reference channel;
a phase error determination system, said phase error determination system determining a phase error signal that is the difference between the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel; and
a correction system, said correction system generating a time correction for each channel that aligns the calibration signal transmitted by each channel with the calibration signal transmitted by the reference channel and generating a phase correction signal that aligns the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A satellite communications systems for transmitting signals between Earth based communications sites, one of the communication sites including a transceiver comprising:
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an array of antennas, each of the antennas identifying a separate channel of the transceiver where one of the channels is a reference channel, each channel receiving and transmitting signals on a common carrier signal and including the same data signal;
a code generation system, said code generation system generating a unique calibration signal for each channel, each channel transmitting its calibration signal and receiving the calibration signals from all of the other channels, said calibration signal being phase locked to the data signal;
an alignment error system, said alignment error system generating an alignment error signal that identifies an alignment error between the calibration signal and the data signal transmitted by each channel and the calibration signal and the data signal transmitted by the reference channel;
a phase error determination system, said phase error determination system determining a phase error signal that is a difference between the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel;
a correction system including a plurality of delay devices, said correction system generating a time correction for each channel that is applied to a delay device in that channel to align the calibration signal and the data signal transmitted by each channel with the calibration signal and the data signal transmitted by the reference channel, said correction system further generating a phase correction signal that aligns the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by each channel and the phase of the carrier signal transmitted by the reference channel; and
a receiver combining system, said receiver combining system determining a bit timing difference and a phase difference between data signals received by the reference channel and data signals received by the other channels, said combining system providing a time aligning signal and a phase correction signal for each channel to align the data signals in time and in phase. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of receiving and transmitting signals, said method comprising steps of:
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arbitrarily arranging a plurality of antennas at a communications site, each of the antennas identifying a separate channel where one of the channels is a reference channel;
transmitting and receiving signals including the same data to and from each antenna;
generating a unique calibration signal that is transmitted by each channel;
receiving all of the calibration signals from all of the channels in each channel;
separately identifying the calibration signal for each channel;
determining an alignment error between the calibration signal for each channel and the calibration signal for the reference channel;
determining a phase difference between the calibration signal for each channel and the calibration signal for the reference channel; and
providing a time and phase correction for the calibration signal in each channel so that it is aligned with the calibration signal transmitted by the reference channel. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification