Open wireless architecture (OWA) unified airborne and terrestrial communications architecture

• US 8,559,391 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2010
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Research, Inc.
• Original Assignee: David Dexi Lu, Jianhong Hu, Michael Lu, Wei Lu
• Inventors: Lu, Wei, Hu, Jianhong, Lu, Michael, Lu, David Dexi
• Primary Examiner(s): Faroul, Farah
• Application Number:
  US12/704,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20100142482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331, 370/332, 455/431, 455/436, 455/442
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18502 Airborne stations
• 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: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/083 wherein at least one of the access points is a moving node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/16 Performing reselection for specific purposes

Abstract

This invention relates to an Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) unified airborne and terrestrial communications architecture providing optimal high-speed connections with open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) between aircrafts and ground cells, and between different aircrafts in Ad-Hoc or Mesh network group, to construct the multi-dimensional unified information delivery platform across the airborne networks and the terrestrial networks wherein the same OWA mobile device or OWA mobile computer can be used seamlessly and continuously both in the aircrafts and on the ground.

Claims

1. An Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) Unified Airborne and Terrestrial Communications system, said system comprising:

a) OWA.Air Transceiver to connect an aircraft with Ground Cells or Ground Airports in both up-link (from Ground to aircraft) and down-link (from aircraft to Ground), or connect one aircraft with another aircraft in an Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group,

b) OWA.Ground Transceiver to connect with said OWA.Air Transceiver in both said up-link and said down-link with Predictable airborne mobile handover protocol, and connect with terrestrial Ground Cell and backbone Ground Network,

c) OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point to construct and manage In-Flight wireless mobile network in aircraft cabins, and to connect to said Ground Network through said OWA.Air Transceiver,

d) OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook to connect to said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point for In-Flight mode with said In-Flight wireless mobile network in aircraft cabins, and switch to Terrestrial mode with said Ground Network when said aircraft returns to or arrive at said Ground Airports, and

e) OWA.VMS (Virtual Mobile Server) to synchronize and manage OWA Mobile Devices or OWA Mobile Notebooks between the Terrestrial mode and the In-Flight mode when mobile users travel across airborne networks and terrestrial networks, and to support many processing tasks and modules moved from said OWA Mobile Devices or OWA Mobile Notebooks to said OWA.VMS to optimize the wireless transmission performance and wireless system performance.

2. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Air Transceiver and said OWA.Ground Transceiver communicate each other by open Radio Transmission Technologies (RTTs) of OWA systems.

3. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Ground Transceiver is an improved terrestrial commercial cellular mobile transceiver system based on OWA technology with antenna beam-forming technology, and space-time antenna array and diversity technology to generate narrow beams to connect said OWA.Air Transceiver for the broadband high-speed connection in said up-link, and provide signal receiving technology from said OWA.Air Transceiver in said down-link.

4. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Ground Transceiver connects said OWA.Air Transceiver through improved terrestrial cellular mobile system with said predictable airborne mobile handover protocol, said handover protocol comprising:

a) said OWA.Air Transceiver loading aircraft navigation routing information and Ground Cells information,

b) said OWA.Air Transceiver detecting current and next said Ground Cells for airborne mobility handover control based on detection of received signal strengths from said OWA.Ground Transceivers of said Ground Cells and an updated Ground Cells'"'"' sequence by pre-loaded or updated Ground Cells information,

c) said OWA.Air Transceiver operating handover among detected Ground Cells through connecting to said OWA.Ground Transceivers by OWA transmission of said improved terrestrial cellular mobile systems when moving aircraft is ready for handover, and

d) said OWA.Air Transceiver updating said Ground Cells information for next handover to come after current handover is completed, and repeating the above steps again.

5. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Air Transceiver in one Aircraft connecting with another said OWA.Air Transceiver in another Aircraft with an ad-hoc protocol utilized in said Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group, said ad-hoc protocol comprising:

a) said OWA.Air Transceiver in one moving aircraft loading said Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group information and Ground Airports information,

b) said OWA.Air Transceiver in said moving aircraft requesting said Group member(s) for Ad-Hoc network connection or mesh network connection based on different airborne networks topology in different regions,

c) said OWA.Air Transceiver sending said request until it is accepted by one new Member of said Group,

d) said OWA.Air Transceiver in said moving aircraft connecting said new Group Member for Ad-Hoc or Mesh network connection, and

e) said moving aircraft, equipped with said OWA.Air Transceiver, further connecting to assigned ground airport by separate OWA aircraft-ground links through said OWA.Air Transceiver to connect said Ad-Hoc or Mesh network with said backbone ground network and dispatch airborne in-flight information and traffic to said ground network and vice versa if said moving aircraft is close to said ground airport, either after take-off, before landing or passing by.

6. A system as recited in claim 5 wherein said Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group comprises aircrafts with the shortest distance or slowest speed between each other within certain amount of time, and said group is updated frequently at a certain interval.

7. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point supporting following In-Flight radio transmission technologies (RTTs):

a) standard wireless local area network (WLAN) with reduced and lowest possible transmitting power for airborne in-flight connection, fully monitored and controlled at all times by said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point to avoid frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems,

b) modified wireless local area network for airborne in-flight connection (WLAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with airborne communication regulations and guidelines,

c) standard wireless personal access network or personal area network (WPAN) with reduced and lowest possible transmitting power for airborne in-flight connection, fully monitored and controlled at all times by said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point to avoid frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems, and

d) modified wireless personal access network or personal area network for airborne in-flight connection (WPAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with the airborne communication regulations and guidelines.

8. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook connecting to said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point with an in-flight protocol utilized for In-Flight mode, said in-flight protocol comprising:

a) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook immediately turning off all of its terrestrial radio transceivers and switching to said In-Flight mode automatically when receiving an In-Flight Pilot Signal of an aircraft through a separate in-flight broadcasting channel in aircraft cabins,

b) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook being connected to said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point through said In-Flight RTTs, and

c) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook being synchronized to said OWA.VMS on the ground, and being able to push any information to said OWA.VMS or retrieve any information from said OWA.VMS.

9. A system as recited in claim 8 wherein said In-Flight Pilot Signal remains ON and continues broadcasting to all said OWA.in Flight Mobile Devices or Mobile Notebooks in said aircraft cabins to maintain said In-Flight mode as long as said aircraft leaves airport Gate, and said In-Flight Pilot Signal is turned off only after said aircraft returns to and stops completely at airport Gate to enable said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook switch back to said Terrestrial Mode with said ground network.

10. A system as recited in claim 8 wherein said in-flight broadcasting channel utilizes any short-distance wireless broadcasting method to be used in airborne cabins or aircrafts.

11. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA Mobile Device or said OWA Mobile Notebook automatically becomes said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook in said In-Flight mode, and automatically becomes OWA.Terrestrial Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook in said Terrestrial mode.

12. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.VMS is also utilized for mobile user with said OWA Mobile Device or said OWA Mobile Notebook in both said Terrestrial mode and said In-Flight mode, and multiple said OWA Mobile Devices or said OWA Mobile Notebooks can share same said OWA.VMS.

13. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook also supports wireline connection mode by plugging into said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point through a networking cable or other forms of wiring in the aircraft.

14. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Air Transceiver supports same or different said RTTs (radio transmission technologies) in said up-link and said down-link channels to optimize the airborne transmission performance subject to spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency and transmission efficiency in different commercial environments or regions.

15. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said OWA.Air Transceiver has an onboard Server caching users'"'"' In-Flight broadband information and forwarding said In-Flight broadband information and traffic to ground networks or other aircrafts in said Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group, and vice versa.

16. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said airborne mobile handover protocol system to control among multiple said Ground Cells by OWA transmission of improved terrestrial cellular mobile systems is based on preloaded navigation routing information and said Ground Cells information, to enable airborne mobile handover to be predictable and well planned in advance which optimizes airborne connections more effectively and more stably, and further enable airborne mobile handover to be seamless and lossless.

17. An Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) In-Flight Mobile Access Control method, said method comprising:

a) an OWA Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook remaining in Terrestrial mode with Ground cellular networks if said OWA Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook does not receive an In-Flight Pilot Signal in aircraft cabins,

b) said OWA Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook immediately turning off its Terrestrial radio transceivers, switching to In-Flight Mode accordingly after receiving said In-Flight Pilot Signal in aircraft cabins, and said OWA Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook becoming an OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook,

c) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook searching whether a WLAN.Air (wireless local area network for airborne in-flight connection) RTT (radio transmission technology) is available for aircraft in-flight connection, and said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook being connected in said WLAN.Air connection mode if said WLAN.Air RTT is available, otherwise, said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook further searching whether a WPAN.Air (wireless personal access network or personal area network for airborne in-flight connection) RTT (radio transmission technology) is available for aircraft in-flight connection, and said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook being connected in said WPAN.Air connection mode if said WPAN.Air RTT is available,

d) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook further searching a standard WLAN (wireless local area network) RTT (radio transmission technology) or a standard WPAN (wireless personal access network or personal area network) RTT (radio transmission technology) if both said WLAN.Air RTT and said WPAN.Air RTT are not available for aircraft in-flight connection, and said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook first reducing its radio transmitting power to the minimal level, then connecting to OWA In-Flight Network in said WLAN or said WPAN connection mode if either said WLAN RTT or said WPAN RTT is available, and

e) said OWA.in Flight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook also supporting wireline connection mode by plugging into OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point through a networking cable or other forms of wiring in aircraft.

18. A method as recited in claim 17 wherein said In-Flight Pilot Signal is broadcasted by any short-distance wireless broadcasting method used in airborne cabins or aircrafts.

19. A method as recited in claim 17 wherein control of said OWA In-Flight Network and all said RTTs for aircraft in-flight connections are fully managed by said OWA.on Board Wireless Router and Access Point in an aircraft to avoid frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems.

20. A method as recited in claim 17 wherein access method of said OWA Mobile Device or OWA Mobile Notebook comprises open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) including terrestrial RTTs and in-flight RTTs based on open wireless architecture (OWA) in both terrestrial mode and in-flight mode.