Position-based modulation system and method

• US 8,090,007 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Mitchell, James P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Shuwang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hassan, Sarah
• Application Number:
  US11/527,156
• Time in Patent Office: 1,925 Days
• Field of Search: 375/149, 370/329
• US Class Current: 375/149
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0034 where the transmitter decides based on inferences, e.g. use of implicit signalling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

The present invention is a position-based modulation system for communications devices. The device may comprise one or more of the following features: (a) a global positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of receiving positioning data from GPS satellites; (b) a radio frequency (RF) transceiver having at least a first channel and a second channel; (c) a geographical information system (GIS) database of topographical data; (d) a processor capable of optimizing transceiving parameters of the RF transceiver based on the positioning data and topographical data; and (e) a bus linking the GPS receiver, RF transceiver, GIS database, and processor.

Claims

1. A communications device comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of receiving position data;

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver having at least a first transceiving channel;

a geographical information system (GIS) database of topographical data; and

a processor configured for;

calculating a line-of-site from position data associated with the communications device and position data associated with a second communications device,

calculating a link-loss value for the first transceiving channel based on the line-of-sight and the topographical data of the GIS database, and

optimizing a modulation mode for the first transceiving channel based on the link-loss value.

2. The communications device of claim 1, further comprising:

a database having position data of fixed-position communications devices including the second communications device.

3. The communications device of claim 1, wherein the modulation mode is selected from the group comprising:

16 QAM;

64 QAM;

PSK;

ASK;

AM; and

FM.

4. The communications device of claim 1

wherein the RF transceiver is configured for transmitting position data associated with the communications device via a second channel and receiving positioning data associated with the second communications device via the second channel.

5. The communications device of claim 1,

wherein the GIS database maintains information including at least one of:

terrain elevations;

locations of permanent natural and man-made objects; and

physical compositions of the natural and man-made objects.

6. A method for data communications comprising the steps of:

receiving position data associated with a first communications device;

receiving position data associated with a second communications device;

accessing a geographic information system (GIS) database having topographical data;

calculating a line-of-site from position data associated with the communications device and position data associated with a second communications device;

calculating a link-loss value for the first transceiving channel based on the line-of-sight and the topographical data of the GIS database;

optimizing a modulation mode for the first transceiving channel based on the link-loss value; and

transceiving communications data via the first transceiving channel.

7. The method of claim 6,

further comprising the step of:

negotiating a mutual modulation mode between the first communications device and the second communications device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the negotiating occurs via a second transceiving channel.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting position data associated with the first communications device;

wherein the transmitting position data associated with the first communications device and the receiving position data associated with the second communications device occurs via a second transceiving channel.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising machine executable instructions for executing a process, the process comprising:

receiving position data associated with a communications device;

receiving position data associated with a second communications device;

calculating a line-of-site from position data associated with the communications device and position data associated with a second communications device;

accessing a GIS database to obtain topographical data;

calculating a link-loss value for the first transceiving channel based on the line-of-sight and the topographical data of the GIS database;

optimizing a modulation mode for the first transceiving channel based on the link-loss; and

transceiving instructions transceive communications data via the first transceiving channel.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, the process further comprising:

negotiating a mutual modulation mode between the communications device and the second communications device.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the negotiating occurs via a second transceiving channel.