Miniaturized satellite transceiver

• US 7,667,643 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2007
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Mastropole, James, Ebert, Paul, Snively, Leslie, Handermann, Greg, Verahrami, Farhad, Rampersad, David, Thorne, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza; Thomas H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mull; Fred H
• Application Number:
  US11/685,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20070216573A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.1, 342/357.07, 342/357.09
• US Class Current: 342/357.64
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/39 the satellite radio beacon positioning system transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

Described is a miniaturized satellite transceiver for communicating with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and a communications satellite. The miniaturized satellite transceiver includes an integrated GPS receiver configured to receive communications from the GPS satellite, a satellite modem configured to transmit and receive communications from the communications satellite, and an operating system. The miniaturized satellite transceiver is installable in a hand-held device, a mobile satellite transceiver system, or an in-flight transceiver and locator system.

Claims

1. A miniaturized satellite transceiver for communicating with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and a communications satellite comprising:

a GPS receiver configured to receive communications from the GPS satellite;

a satellite modem configured to transmit and receive communications from the communications satellite;

an operating system for controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem; and

a serial interface for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the miniaturized satellite transceiver,

wherein the operating system is configured to send a text message to and receive a text message from the communications satellite via the satellite modem, and

wherein the text message comprises RFID data, the RFID data comprising an RFID tag identity.

2. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 1 wherein the miniaturized satellite transceiver is configured to be installed in a handheld device.

3. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 1 wherein the communications from the communications satellite are transmitted and received using an L-Band communications channel.

4. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 3 wherein the L-Band communications channel comprises MSAT, INMARSAT, Thuraya, Artemis, ACeS, OPTUS, or combinations thereof.

5. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 1 further comprising a left-hand circular polarized antenna connection and a right-hand circular polarized antenna connection.

6. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 1 wherein the communications transmitted and received via the satellite modem are encrypted using a Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm, an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm, a Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) algorithm, or combinations thereof.

7. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 1 wherein the communications transmitted and received via the satellite modem are sent over a Blue Force tracking network.

8. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 7 wherein the communications sent over the Blue Force Tracking network comprise voice over packet communications.

9. The miniaturized satellite transceiver of claim 8 wherein the voice over packet communications are sent over a dedicated satellite channel.

10. A method for communicating between a transport unit and an Earth station via a communications satellite comprising:

providing a miniaturized satellite transceiver comprising;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver receiving communications from a GPS satellite,

a satellite modem transmitting and receiving communications from the communications satellite,

an operating system controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem, and

a serial interface for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the miniaturized satellite transceiver;

creating, by the operating system, a communications transmission packet; and

sending, by the satellite modem, the communications transmission packet to the Earth station via the communications satellite,

wherein the communications transmission packet comprises RFID data, the RFID data comprising an RFID tag identity, including a tag number, a received signal strength indicator, a battery status code, and tag header data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the communications transmission packet comprises a location of the mobile satellite transceiver system based on received GPS coordinates, a text message, or combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the communications transmission packet provides communications beyond-line-of-sight.

13. A mobile satellite transceiver system for communicating with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and a communications satellite comprising:

a miniaturized satellite transceiver comprising;

(a) a GPS receiver configured to receive communications from the GPS satellite,

(b) a satellite modem configured to transmit and receive communications from the communications satellite, and

(c) an operating system for controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem and communicating with the mobile satellite transceiver system; and

(d) a serial interface for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the mobile satellite transceiver,

wherein the operating system is configured to send a text message to and receive a text message from the communications satellite via the satellite modem, and

wherein the text message comprises RFID data, the RFID data comprising an RFID tag identity.

14. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 13 wherein the operating system is configured to send and receive a text message to the communications satellite via the satellite modem of the miniaturized satellite transceiver.

15. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 13 further comprising at least a 512 kilobyte memory buffer.

16. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 13 wherein communications from the communications satellite are transmitted and received using an L-Band communications channel.

17. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 16 wherein the L-Band communications channel comprises MSAT, INMARSAT, Thuraya, Artemis, ACeS, OPTUS, or combinations thereof.

18. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 13 further comprising a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) interrogator.

19. The mobile satellite transceiver system of claim 13 further comprising a Ground-Based GPS Receiver Application Module (GB-GRAM) with a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM).

20. An in-flight transceiver system for communicating information securely at a high data rate between an in-flight unit and a ground unit comprising:

an antenna;

a miniaturized satellite transceiver housed in an aviation box conforming to a one-half, half short Air Transport Rack (ATR) form factor, the miniaturized satellite transceiver comprising;

(a) a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver configured to receive communications from a GPS satellite,

(b) a satellite modem configured to transmit and receive communications from a communications satellite,

(c) an operating system for controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem, and

(d) a serial interface for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the miniaturized satellite transceiver; and

a switch between the aviation box and the antenna for controlling a data signal between the antenna and the miniaturized satellite transceiver.

21. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 further comprising a signal booster between the aviation box and the antenna.

22. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the antenna is located outside a body of an aviation platform and wherein the aviation box is located inside the body of the aviation platform.

23. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the antenna is fin-shaped.

24. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the antenna is a dual-pole antenna.

25. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the antenna is an omni-directional antenna.

26. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the information is communicated bidirectionally between the in-flight unit and the ground unit.

27. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the information is a packet encrypted using a Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm, an Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) algorithm, a Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) algorithm, or combinations thereof.

28. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the information is transmitted over an L-Band satellite communication channel.

29. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the miniaturized satellite transceiver is Blue Force Tracking-capable.

30. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the miniaturized satellite transceiver is operable to send and receive voice over packet transmissions.

31. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the miniaturized satellite transceiver is assigned unique radio identifier.

32. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 31 wherein a customizable node name is associated with the unique radio identifier.

33. The in-flight transceiver system of claim 20 wherein the information is communicated beyond-line-of-sight.

34. A miniaturized satellite transceiver for communicating with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and a communications satellite comprising:

a GPS receiver configured to receive communications from the GPS satellite;

a satellite modem configured to transmit and receive communications from the communications satellite;

an operating system for controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem; and

a serial interface for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the miniaturized satellite transceiver;

wherein the communications transmitted and received by the satellite modem comprises GPS coordinates and a text message, and

wherein the text message comprises RFID data, the RFID data comprising an RFID tag identity.

35. A miniaturized satellite transceiver for communicating with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and a communications satellite comprising:

means for receiving communications from the GPS satellite;

means for transmitting and receiving communications from the communications satellite, wherein the communications transmitted and received from the communications satellite comprises GPS coordinates and a text message, and wherein the text message comprises RFID data, the RFID data comprising an RFID tag identity;

means for controlling an operation of the GPS receiver and the satellite modem; and

means for communicating with a transceiver client, the transceiver client controlling an operation of the miniaturized satellite transceiver.