Prediction of uplink interference potential generated by an ancillary terrestrial network and/or radioterminals

• US 20060135070A1
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATC Technology Corporation (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ATC Technology Corporation (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Karabinis, Peter D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,634,234 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/63.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18523 Satellite systems for providing broadcast service to terrestrial stations, i.e. broadcast satellite service arrangements specially adapted for satellite broadcast receiving H04H40/90; picture transmission via satellite H04N1/00103; television transmission via satellite H04N7/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18563 Arrangements for interconnecting multiple systems data switching networks H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/72 of terrestrial networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/70 characterised in that receivers can be addressed
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/27 specially adapted for broadcast systems covered by groups H04H20/53 - H04H20/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Methods are provided for predicting uplink interference potential to a mobile satellite system (MSS) generated by ancillary terrestrial components (ATCs) of an ancillary terrestrial network (ATN) and/or ATC radioterminals that are configured to terrestrially use/reuse satellite frequencies that are used and/or authorized for use by a MSS. The methods include measuring power transmitted by and/or received at one or more radioterminals communicating with one or more terrestrial networks and/or transmitted by and/or received at the one or more terrestrial networks communicating with the one or more radioterminals using terrestrial frequencies that are at least partially outside a range of the satellite frequencies. Uplink interference potential to the MSS generated by terrestrial use/reuse of satellite frequencies by the ATN and/or the ATC radioterminals is predicted responsive to the measured power. Related ancillary terrestrial networks are also described.

Claims

1. A method of predicting uplink interference potential to a mobile satellite system (MSS) generated by ancillary terrestrial components (ATCs) of an ancillary terrestrial network (ATN) and/or ATC radioterminals that are configured to terrestrially use/reuse satellite frequencies, the method comprising:

measuring power transmitted by and/or received at one or more radioterminals communicating with at least one terrestrial network and/or transmitted by and/or received at the at least one terrestrial network communicating with the one or more radioterminals using terrestrial frequencies that are at least partially outside a range of the satellite frequencies; and

predicting uplink interference potential to the MSS generated by terrestrial use/reuse of satellite frequencies by the ATN and/or radioterminals communicating therewith responsive to the measured power.

2. The method of claim 1, where the terrestrial frequencies used by the one or more radioterminals and/or by the at least one terrestrial network are substantially different from the satellite frequencies.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the terrestrial frequencies are at least partially within a band of frequencies allocated to a cellular/PCS wireless network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to define a maximum output power that can be transmitted by the ATC radioterminals and/or the ATCs responsive to the predicted uplink interference potential.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential when determining placement of ATC antennas in a geographic area responsive to the predicted uplink interference potential.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising limiting a number of the ATC antennas deployed in the geographic area responsive to the predicted uplink interference potential.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to define a geographic area of communications coverage for the ATN.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to define in the ATN a maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

increasing the maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs when the predicted uplink interference potential is less than a threshold value; and

decreasing the maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs when the predicted uplink interference potential is greater than a threshold value.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to influence decisions by the ATC radioterminals and/or the ATN of when to carry out handoff of ATC radioterminals between at least one of the ATCs and a space-based component.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

comparing a number of ATC radioterminals that need to simultaneously communicate in an area to a threshold handoff value to determine whether to handoff ATC radioterminals from at least one of the ATCs to a space-based component;

increasing the threshold handoff value when the predicted uplink interference potential is less than a threshold interference value; and

decreasing the threshold handoff value when the predicted uplink interference potential is greater than a threshold interference value.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to influence selection among differing coding techniques and/or communications modes used by the ATC radioterminals and/or the ATCs for communication therebetween.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the predicted uplink interference potential to influence selection of a range of satellite frequencies that are terrestrially used/reused for communications between the ATC radioterminals and the ATN.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

increasing a measure of the range of satellite frequencies that are terrestrially used/reused for communications between the ATC radioterminals and the ATN when the predicted uplink interference potential is less than a threshold value; and

decreasing the measure of the range of satellite frequencies that are terrestrially used/reused for communications between the ATC radioterminals and the ATN when the predicted uplink interference potential is greater than a threshold value.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or transmitted by and/or received at the at least one terrestrial network comprises measuring a power level transmitted from the one or more radioterminals.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or transmitted by and/or received at the at least one terrestrial network comprises measuring a power level received by the at least one terrestrial network from the one or more radioterminals and/or a power level received by the one or more radioterminals from the at least one terrestrial network.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or transmitted by and/or received at the at least one terrestrial network comprises measuring a power level transmitted from the at least one terrestrial network.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals comprises:

sampling a power level transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or at the at least one terrestrial network over time; and

averaging the samples to generate the measured power.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting uplink interference potential to the MSS is further responsive to a maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs of the ATN.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or at the at least one terrestrial network is carried out with the one or more radioterminals at least partially within a radio horizon of the MSS relative to the one or more radioterminals and/or the at least one terrestrial network.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or at the at least one terrestrial network further comprises measuring power at a plurality of spaced apart locations over a geographic area that is at least partially within the radio horizon of the MSS relative to the one or more radioterminals and/or the at least one terrestrial network.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein measuring power at a plurality of spaced apart locations over the geographic area that is at least partially within the radio horizon of the MSS comprises measuring power at a plurality of locations in the geographic area that provide substantially different distances between the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein measuring power at a plurality of spaced apart locations over a geographic area that is at least partially within the radio horizon of the MSS comprises measuring power at a plurality of locations in the geographic area that experience substantially different amounts of blockage of signals communicated between the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein predicting uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises adjusting influence of separate ones of the power measurements to the prediction of uplink interference potential based on a maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATN from the locations of the one or more radioterminals associated with the separate ones of the power measurements.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or at the at least one terrestrial network comprises measuring power during differing levels of communications traffic between the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring power transmitted by and/or received at the one or more radioterminals and/or at the at least one terrestrial network comprises measuring power while the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network are using differing coding and/or communications modes over time in their communications.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein measuring power while the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network are using differing coding and/or communications modes over time comprises measuring power while the one or more radioterminals and the at least one terrestrial network are selectively using different ones of a plurality of different vocoders to encode and decode voice communications and/or different circuit-switched and/or packet-switched data modes.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises estimating an effect of difference(s) in frequency between the terrestrial frequencies and the range of the satellite frequencies on dissipation of power transmitted by the ATC radioterminals and the ATN, and using the estimated difference(s) in the dissipation of power in the prediction of the uplink interference potential to the MSS.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS using a transmitted and/or received power measurement from at least one ATC radioterminal and/or the ATN that terrestrially uses/reuses satellite frequencies that are used and/or authorized for use by the MSS.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises measuring an indication of the power received at the ATN from the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or transmitted by the at least one ATC radioterminal using/reusing satellite frequencies.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises measuring an indication of the power transmitted from the ATN in communications with the at least one ATC radioterminal using satellite frequencies.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS is further responsive to a maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs of the ATN.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises measuring the transmitted and/or received power from the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or one or more of the ATCs during differing levels of communications traffic between the at least one ATC radioterminal and the one or more ATCs.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises measuring the transmitted and/or received power from the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or one or more of the ATCs while the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or the one or more of the ATCs is/are using differing coding and/or modes of communications with the one or more ATCs.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein updating the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS comprises measuring the transmitted and/or received power from the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or the one or more of the ATCs while the at least one ATC radioterminal and/or the one or more of the ATCs is/are selectively using different ones of a plurality of different vocoders to encode and decode voice communications and/or different circuit-switched and/or packet-switched data modes.

36. The method of claim 29, further comprising controlling the maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs of the ATN responsive to the updated prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising controlling selection among a plurality of different coding techniques and/or communications modes used by the ATC radioterminals and/or the ATCs for communications therebetween responsive to the updated prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising controlling selection of a range of satellite frequencies that are terrestrial used/reused for communications between the ATC radioterminals and the ATCs responsive to the updated prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

39. The method of claim 29, further comprising controlling maximum output power from ATC radioterminals and/or the ATCs responsive to the updated prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

40. An ancillary terrestrial network (ATN) comprising:

a plurality of ancillary terrestrial components (ATCs) that are configured to communicate with a plurality of ATC radiotelephones over satellite frequencies; and

an interference controller that is configured to control the ATCs and/or ATC radiotelephones that communicate with the ATCs responsive to a prediction of uplink interference potential to a mobile satellite system (MSS) based on measurements of power transmitted by and/or received at one or more radioterminals communicating with at least one terrestrial network and/or transmitted by and/or received at the at least one terrestrial network communicating with the one or more radioterminals using terrestrial frequencies that are at least partially outside a range of the satellite frequencies.

41. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to update the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS responsive to measurements of power transmitted by the ATCs and/or power transmitted by ATC radiotelephones communicating with the ATCs using/reusing satellite frequencies.

42. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control a maximum number of ATC radioterminals that can simultaneously communicate with the ATCs responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

43. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control selection among a plurality of different coding techniques and/or communications modes used by the ATCs and/or ATC radioterminals that communicate therewith responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

44. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control selection among a plurality of different coding techniques and/or communications modes used by ATC radioterminals and/or the ATCs for communication therebetween responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

45. The ATN of claim 44, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control selection among a plurality of different vocoders to encode and decode voice communications between ATC radioterminals and the ATCs and/or different circuit-switched and/or packet-switched data modes responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

46. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control selection of a range of satellite frequencies that are terrestrially used/reused for communications between ATC radioterminals and the ATCs responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

47. The ATN of claim 40, wherein the interference controller is further configured to control maximum output power from the ATCs and/or ATC radioterminals communicating with the ATCs responsive to the prediction of uplink interference potential to the MSS.

48. One or more radioterminals that communicate with one or more base stations using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate with the one or more base stations in at least one voice mode using at least one vocoder that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one vocoder that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

49. One or more radioterminals that communicate with one or more base stations using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate with the one or more base stations using at least one data mode that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one data mode that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

50. One or more radioterminals that communicate with one or more base stations using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate with the one or more base stations using at least one air interface protocol that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one air interface protocol that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more radioterminals communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

51. One or more base stations that communicate with one or more radioterminals using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more base stations communicate with the one or more radioterminals in at least one voice mode using at least one vocoder that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one vocoder that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more base stations communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

52. One or more base stations that communicate with one or more radioterminals using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more base stations communicate with the one or more radioterminals using at least one data mode that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one data mode that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more base stations communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

53. One or more base stations that communicate with one or more radioterminals using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein the one or more base stations communicate with the one or more radioterminals using at least one air interface protocol that is substantially the same as and/or is based on at least one air interface protocol that is used by a terrestrial wireless system that communicates using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more base stations communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.

54. One or more base stations that communicate with one or more radioterminals using frequencies of a satellite band, wherein at least one of the one or more base stations is substantially co-located with and/or is using a tower of at least one base station of at least one terrestrial wireless system that communicate(s) using frequencies that are substantially different from the frequencies of the satellite band, and wherein the one or more base stations communicate using frequencies of the satellite band and produce a level of interference to a mobile satellite system that is less than or equal to a predetermined level.