Adjusting beam width of air-to-ground communications based on distance to neighbor balloon(s) in order to maintain contiguous service
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- determining, based on respective locations of a plurality of balloons and areas covered by respective ground-facing communication beams of the balloons, a contiguous ground coverage area served by the plurality of balloons, wherein the ground-facing communication beam of a first balloon of the plurality defines a first individual coverage area within the contiguous ground coverage area;
determining an increase in a horizontal distance between the first balloon and a second balloon of the plurality of balloons;
based on the increase in the horizontal distance between the first balloon and the second balloon, identifying a gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon; and
in response to identifying the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon, adjusting a continuously adjustable antenna to cause a communication system of the first balloon to transmit a wider ground-facing communication beam in order to expand the first individual coverage area to cover the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area, wherein adjusting the continuously adjustable antenna comprises adjusting a separation distance between a radiator and a ground-facing reflector that is configured to reflect the wider ground-facing communication beam toward a ground surface.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Example methods and systems for adjusting the beam width of radio frequency (RF) signals for purposes of balloon-to-ground communication are described. One example method includes determining, based on respective locations of a plurality of balloons and areas covered by respective ground-facing communication beams of the balloons, a contiguous ground coverage area served by the plurality of balloons, where the communication beam of a balloon defines a corresponding individual coverage area within the ground coverage area, determining a change in position of at least one of the balloons, based on the change in position of the at least one balloon, determining an adjustment to a first of the individual coverage areas in an effort to maintain the contiguous ground coverage area after the change in position of at least one of the balloons, and adjusting a width of the ground-facing communication beam of the balloon corresponding to the first individual coverage area in order to make the determined adjustment to the first individual coverage area.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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determining, based on respective locations of a plurality of balloons and areas covered by respective ground-facing communication beams of the balloons, a contiguous ground coverage area served by the plurality of balloons, wherein the ground-facing communication beam of a first balloon of the plurality defines a first individual coverage area within the contiguous ground coverage area; determining an increase in a horizontal distance between the first balloon and a second balloon of the plurality of balloons; based on the increase in the horizontal distance between the first balloon and the second balloon, identifying a gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon; and in response to identifying the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon, adjusting a continuously adjustable antenna to cause a communication system of the first balloon to transmit a wider ground-facing communication beam in order to expand the first individual coverage area to cover the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area, wherein adjusting the continuously adjustable antenna comprises adjusting a separation distance between a radiator and a ground-facing reflector that is configured to reflect the wider ground-facing communication beam toward a ground surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 9, 10)
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4. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of balloons; and a control system configured to; determine, based on respective locations of the balloons and areas covered by respective ground-facing communication beams of the balloons, a contiguous ground coverage area served by the balloons, wherein the ground-facing communication beam of a first balloon of the plurality defines a first individual coverage area within the contiguous ground coverage area; determine an increase in a horizontal distance between the first balloon and a second balloon of the plurality of balloons; based on the increase in the horizontal distance between the first balloon and the second balloon, identify a gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon; and in response to identifying the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon, adjust a continuously adjustable antenna to cause a communication system of the first balloon to transmit a wider ground-facing communication beam in order to expand the first individual coverage area to cover the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area, wherein adjusting the continuously adjustable antenna comprises adjusting a separation distance between a radiator and a ground-facing reflector that is configured to reflect the wider ground-facing communication beam toward a ground surface. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions, that when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform functions comprising:
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determining, based on respective locations of a plurality of balloons and areas covered by respective ground-facing communication beams of the balloons, a contiguous ground coverage area served by the plurality of balloons, wherein the ground-facing communication beam of a first balloon of the plurality defines a first individual coverage area within the contiguous ground coverage area; determining an increase in a horizontal distance between the first balloon and a second balloon of the plurality of balloons; based on the increase in the horizontal distance between the first balloon and the second balloon, identifying a gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon; and in response to identifying the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area between the first balloon and the second balloon, adjusting a continuously adjustable antenna to cause a communication system of the first balloon to transmit a wider ground-facing communication beam in order to expand the first individual coverage area to cover the gap in the contiguous ground coverage area, wherein adjusting the continuously adjustable antenna comprises adjusting a separation distance between a radiator and a ground-facing reflector that is configured to reflect the wider ground-facing communication beam toward a ground surface. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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Specification