Antenna orientation determination

• US 8,284,112 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2010
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Otto, Troy, Jaramillo, Harold, Tomko, Joseph E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hoang V
• Application Number:
  US12/796,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20110298672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 343/765, 343/766, 343/757, 343/760, 342/359
• US Class Current: 343/765
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/02 using mechanical movement of antenna or antenna system as a whole
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/08 for varying two co-ordinates of the orientation

Abstract

A method of determining a current orientation of an antenna compared to a desired orientation is presented. In the method, current orientation data indicating a current orientation of the antenna is generated in circuitry mounted to the antenna. Data indicating a desired orientation for the antenna at the geographical location of the antenna is received. The desired orientation data is compared with the current orientation data. Based on this comparison, alignment information is generated which indicates whether the current orientation of the antenna aligns with the desired orientation of the antenna.

Claims

1. A method of determining a current orientation of an antenna compared to a desired orientation, the method comprising:

in circuitry mounted to a low-noise block-converter (LNB), wherein the circuitry is in a fixed orientation relative to the antenna, determining elevation and skew information from at least one inclinometer, and determining azimuth information from a compass, wherein the least one inclinometer and the compass reside in the circuitry,

generating current orientation data indicating the current orientation of the antenna, wherein the current orientation data is determined from the determined elevation, skew and azimuth;

receiving desired orientation data indicating the desired orientation for the antenna based on a geographical location of the antenna;

comparing the desired orientation data with the current orientation data; and

generating alignment information as to whether the current orientation of the antenna aligns with the desired orientation of the antenna based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current orientation data comprises a current azimuth value, a current elevation value, and a current skew value for the antenna as determined by the inclinometer and the compass of the circuitry mounted to the LNB;

the desired orientation data comprises a desired azimuth value, a desired elevation value, and a desired skew value for the antenna; and

the current orientation aligns with the desired orientation of the antenna when the current azimuth value is within a first error value of the desired azimuth value, the current elevation value is within a second error value of the desired elevation value, and the current skew value is within a third error value of the desired skew value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the desired orientation data comprises:

based on geographical data corresponding to the geographical location of the antenna, extracting the desired orientation data from a data structure comprising information indicating a desired antenna orientation for each of a plurality of geographical locations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the desired orientation data comprises:

transmitting geographical data corresponding to the geographical location of the antenna to a remote communication node; and

receiving the desired orientation data from the remote communication node, the desired orientation data determined at the remote communication node in response to receiving the transmitted geographical data.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

in response to determining that the geographical location of the antenna does not correspond to a location identified with a subscriber, at least partially disabling a receiver that receives a signal from the LNB.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the geographical location of the antenna does not correspond to the location identified with the subscriber occurs at the remote communication node.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the geographical location of the antenna does not correspond to the location identified with the subscriber occurs at the receiver.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the alignment information comprises a binary indication as to whether the current orientation of the antenna aligns with the desired orientation of the antenna.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the alignment information comprises at least one value quantifying a difference between the current orientation of the antenna and the desired orientation of the antenna.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a signal strength value indicating a strength of a signal received via the antenna;

receiving a signal strength threshold value; and

generating an indication that the signal strength is reduced for a reason other than the antenna being misaligned if the alignment information indicates the antenna is aligned according to its desired orientation, and the signal strength value is below the signal strength threshold value.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the alignment information indicates the current orientation of the antenna does not align with the desired orientation of the antenna, activating at least one electric motor to align the antenna based on the alignment information.

12. A communication antenna, comprising:

a mechanical structure defining an angular orientation of the communication antenna;

a signaling structure affixed to the mechanical structure, wherein signaling structure is in a fixed orientation relative to the communication antenna;

signaling circuitry in the signaling structure, the signaling circuitry configured to at least receive reflected wireless signals from the communication antenna;

orientation circuitry in the signaling structure, the orientation circuitry configured to generate current orientation data indicating the angular orientation of the communication antenna relative to a reference orientation;

a signal interface in the signaling structure, the signal interface configured to communicate a signal corresponding to the received reflected wireless signals to a receiver; and

control circuitry configured to transfer the current orientation data from the orientation circuitry to the receiver, and configured to receive alignment information from the receiver, wherein the alignment information corresponds to a difference between the current orientation of the communication antenna and a desired orientation of the communication antenna that is based on a location of at least the antenna.

13. The communication antenna of claim 12, wherein:

the current orientation data comprises at least one of a current azimuth value, a current elevation value, and a current skew value relative to the reference orientation.

14. The communication antenna of claim 12, wherein:

the orientation circuitry comprises two-axis inclinometer circuitry for determining a current elevation value and a current skew value for the communication antenna.

15. The communication antenna of claim 12, wherein:

the orientation circuitry comprises compass circuitry for determining a current azimuth value for the communication antenna.

16. The communication antenna of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one motor coupled to the mechanical structure and configured to alter at least one of an azimuth, an elevation, and a skew of the current orientation of the communication antenna;

wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the at least one motor to align the current orientation of the communication antenna to a desired orientation of the communication antenna based on the current orientation data and desired orientation data indicating the desired orientation of the communication antenna.

17. The communication antenna of claim 16, further comprising:

location circuitry configured to generate current location data indicating the current location of the communication antenna,

wherein the current location data is determined via communication with a global positioning system, and

wherein the signal interface is configured to transfer the current location data to the communication device.

18. A device affixed to a structure supporting an antenna, wherein a communication device is in a fixed orientation relative to the antenna, the communication device comprising:

a signal interface configured to communicate a signal to a remote communication node, the signal corresponding to at least reflected signals received from the antenna;

orientation circuitry configured to generate current orientation data indicating current orientation of the antenna; and

control circuitry configured to;

receive the current orientation data indicating the current orientation of the antenna;

compare the current orientation data with desired orientation data indicating a desired orientation for the antenna, wherein the desired orientation for the antenna is received from the remote communication node, and wherein the desired orientation for the antenna is based on a current location of the antenna and location of at least one satellite; and

generate deviation information indicating whether the current orientation aligns with the desired orientation within a predetermined limit based on the current orientation data and the desired orientation data.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

periodically repeat receiving the current orientation data and comparing the current orientation data with the desired orientation data; and

generate new deviation information for each repetition to the remote communication node via the signal interface to identify orientation changes of the antenna.

20. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

location circuitry configured to determine a location indicating a current location of the antenna,

wherein the control circuitry is further configured to transmit current location data indicating a current location of the antenna to the communication node; and

wherein the control circuitry receives the desired orientation data from the communication node after transmitting the current location data.

21. The device of claim 18, comprising:

data storage configured to store multiple entries of desired orientation data and geographic location data, wherein each entry of desired orientation data is associated with a corresponding entry of the geographic location data;

wherein the control circuitry is configured to compare the determined location indicating the current location of the antenna with the geographic location data to determine the desired orientation data for the current location of the antenna.