Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) beam pointing and data rate optimization for high throughput broadband access
First Claim
1. A ground terminal apparatus configured to form antenna beams toward an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
- an antenna system comprised of at least one antenna aperture configured to form at least one beam toward the UAV;
wherein the antenna system further comprises;
at least one axis mechanical steering mechanism that uses UAV position location coordinates to mechanically point the at least one antenna aperture toward the UAV;
wherein the at least one antenna aperture comprises a number of sub-apertures;
a radio transmitter configured to transmit uplink signals to the UAV via the at least one beam;
a radio receiver configured to receive downlink signals from the UAV via the at least one beam;
wherein the radio receiver is further configured to modify a downlink signal with a gain and a phase adjustment and form a received beam based at least in part on the modified downlink signal;
a processor sub-system, the processor sub-system further configured to control steering of the at least one beam to track a location coordinate associated with the UAV; and
wherein the radio transmitter is further configured to;
weight an uplink signal for each one of the number of sub-apertures by a second gain and a second phase adjustment corresponding to the gain and the phase adjustment for the respective ones of the number of sub-apertures;
adjust the weighted uplink signal by a third gain and a third phase adjustment selected to compensate for a hardware gain and a phase difference between a transmit and a receive path for each one of the number of sub-apertures; and
transmit the adjusted weighted uplink signal via each one of the number of sub-apertures.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods configured to form and manage different types of beams toward target ground terminals to “optimally” communicate with the terminals. In one set of embodiments, the UAV generates a set of beams to cover cells on the ground, the beams are divided into groups, and the UAV communications system deterministically and sequentially turns a subset of the beams on/off to reduce cross-beam interference and increase system throughput. In another embodiment, in order to increase throughput, the UAV communications system determines the highest data rate on the downlink and uplink that are decodable at the receiver given the received signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) while maintaining a low packet error rate. Systems and methods are described to determine the UAV antenna pattern toward different terminals needed for SINR calculation and data rate determination.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A ground terminal apparatus configured to form antenna beams toward an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
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an antenna system comprised of at least one antenna aperture configured to form at least one beam toward the UAV; wherein the antenna system further comprises; at least one axis mechanical steering mechanism that uses UAV position location coordinates to mechanically point the at least one antenna aperture toward the UAV; wherein the at least one antenna aperture comprises a number of sub-apertures; a radio transmitter configured to transmit uplink signals to the UAV via the at least one beam; a radio receiver configured to receive downlink signals from the UAV via the at least one beam; wherein the radio receiver is further configured to modify a downlink signal with a gain and a phase adjustment and form a received beam based at least in part on the modified downlink signal; a processor sub-system, the processor sub-system further configured to control steering of the at least one beam to track a location coordinate associated with the UAV; and wherein the radio transmitter is further configured to; weight an uplink signal for each one of the number of sub-apertures by a second gain and a second phase adjustment corresponding to the gain and the phase adjustment for the respective ones of the number of sub-apertures; adjust the weighted uplink signal by a third gain and a third phase adjustment selected to compensate for a hardware gain and a phase difference between a transmit and a receive path for each one of the number of sub-apertures; and transmit the adjusted weighted uplink signal via each one of the number of sub-apertures. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method of forming antenna beams toward at least one target coverage cell, comprising:
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scheduling a first plurality of broad beam transmissions covering a first area during at least a first time slot of a plurality of time slots; scheduling a second plurality of focused beam transmissions covering a smaller area within the first area during at least a second time slot of the plurality of time slots; for each time slot of the plurality of time slots; generating at least one beam that covers the at least one target coverage cell; wherein the at least one beam encompasses at least one ground terminal of a set of ground terminals within the at least one target coverage cell that is configured to modify a downlink signal with a gain and a phase adjustment to form a received beam based at least in part on the modified downlink signal; and receiving an adjusted weighted uplink signal from the at least one ground terminal, the adjusted weighted uplink signal comprising an uplink signal that has been weighted by a second gain and a second phase adjustment corresponding to a gain and the phase adjustment for respective ones of a number of sub-apertures and adjusted by a third gain and a third phase adjustment to compensate for a hardware gain and a phase difference between a transmit and a receive path for each one of the number of sub-apertures. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) apparatus configured to form antenna beams toward at least one target coverage cell, comprising:
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an antenna system comprised of at least one antenna aperture configured to form at least one beam toward a location; the at least one antenna aperture configured to form a broad beam to cover a first area at one or more first data rates, and a focused beam covering a smaller area within the first area at one or more second data rates, the one or more second data rates being greater than the one or more first data rates; a radio transmitter configured to transmit at least a first signal to a set of ground terminals within the at least one target coverage cell; wherein the first transmitted signal encompasses at least one ground terminal of a set of ground terminals within the at least one target coverage cell that is configured to modify a downlink signal with a gain and a phase adjustment to form a received beam based at least in part on the modified downlink signal; a radio receiver configured to receive at least a second signal from a set of ground terminals within the at least one target coverage cell; wherein the second received signal comprises an adjusted weighted uplink signal from the at least one ground terminal, the adjusted weighted uplink signal comprising an uplink signal that has been weighted by a second gain and a second phase adjustment corresponding to a gain and the phase adjustment for respective ones of a number of sub-apertures and adjusted by a third gain and a third phase adjustment to compensate for a hardware gain and a phase difference between a transmit and a receive path for each one of the number of sub-apertures; wherein the transmission and reception of signals can be switched between the broad beam and the smaller focused beam; a processor sub-system, the processor sub-system configured to cause generation of the at least one beam that covers the at least one target coverage cell; and wherein the at least one beam encompasses at least one ground terminal of the set of ground terminals. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification