CN-121986450-A - Gateway terminal architecture for non-geostationary orbit satellite communication system

Abstract

The present invention provides a satellite in a communication system that may be equipped with a phased array antenna system that includes various configurations of antenna arrays on one or more sides of the satellite.

Inventors

• Kenneth v. bull

Assignees

• 维尔塞特公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240314

Priority Date

20230317

Claims (20)

1. 1. A method, comprising: Configuring a satellite (120) to steer a boresight of a phased array antenna of the satellite (120) toward a first location (610) within a first service area (605) associated with a first set of one or more gateway terminals (130) for a first duration (625) during which the satellite (120) traverses a first portion of an orbital path (520); Configuring the satellite (120) to transmit first signaling between at least one gateway terminal of the first set of gateway terminals (130) and at least one first user terminal (150) located in the first service area (605) during the first duration (625) when steering the boresight of the phased array antenna towards the first location (610) within the first service area (605), the transmission of the first signaling based at least in part on beamforming one or more first user spot beams (125) within the first service area (605) using the phased array antenna and beamforming one or more first gateway spot beams (125) within the first service area (605); Configuring the satellite (120) to steer the boresight of the phased array antenna toward a second location (610) within a second service area (605) associated with a second set of one or more gateway terminals (130) for a second duration (625) during which the satellite (120) traverses a second portion of the orbital path (520), and The satellite (120) is configured to transmit second signaling between at least one gateway terminal of the second set of gateway terminals (130) and at least one second user terminal (150) located in the second service area (605) during the second duration (625) when steering the boresight of the phased array antenna towards the second location (610) within the second service area (605) based at least in part on beamforming one or more second user spot beams (125) within the second service area (605) using the phased array antenna and beamforming one or more second gateway spot beams (125) within the second service area (605).
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The satellite (120) is configured to steer the boresight toward the first position (610) when traversing the first portion of the orbital path (520), and The satellite (120) is configured to steer the boresight toward the second position (610) when traversing the second portion of the orbital path (520).
3. 3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising: The satellite (120) is configured to transition from steering the boresight of the phased array antenna toward the first location (610) within the first service area (605) to steering the boresight of the phased array antenna toward the second location (610) within the second service area (605) for a third duration (625) that is between the first duration (625) and the second duration (625), and during which the satellite (120) passes through a third portion of the orbital path (520).
4. 4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first location (610) is located at the centre of the first service area (605), or the second location (610) is located at the centre of the second service area (605), or both.
5. 5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first location (610) within the first service area (605) is different from a corresponding location of the first set of one or more gateway terminals (130), or the second location (610) within the second service area (605) is different from a corresponding location of the second set of one or more gateway terminals (130), or both.
6. 6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein steering the boresight toward the first location (610) is associated with steering a side of the satellite (120) toward the first location (610).
7. 7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein configuring the satellite (120) to transmit the first signaling comprises: configuring the satellite (120) to communicate forward link signaling from a gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) to the at least one first user terminal (150), and The satellite (120) is configured to communicate return link signaling from the at least one first user terminal (150) to the gateway terminal (130).
8. 8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein configuring the satellite (120) to transmit the first signaling comprises: configuring the satellite (120) to communicate forward link signaling from a first gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) to the at least one first user terminal (150), and The satellite (120) is configured to communicate return link signaling from the at least one first user terminal (150) to a second gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) that is different from the first gateway terminal (130).
9. 9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein configuring the satellite (120) to transmit the first signaling comprises: configuring the satellite (120) to communicate a first portion of the first signaling with a first gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) during a first portion of the first duration (625), and The satellite (120) is configured to communicate a second portion of the first signaling with a second gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) during a second portion of the first duration (625) that follows the first portion of the first duration (625).
10. 10. The method of any of claims 1-9, wherein configuring the satellite (120) to steer the boresight toward the first location (610) comprises: -transmitting an indication of the first location (610), an indication of the first duration (625), or a combination thereof to the satellite (120).
11. 11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising: Transmitting an indication of a respective configuration of each gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) to the satellite (120), wherein configuring the satellite (120) to transmit the first signaling is based at least in part on transmitting the respective configuration of the at least one gateway terminal of the first set of gateway terminals (130).
12. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the respective configuration indicates an association of each gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130) with the first service area (605).
13. 13. The method of any of claims 11 or 12, wherein the respective configuration indicates a portion of the first service area (605) allocated to each gateway terminal (130) of the first set of gateway terminals (130).
14. 14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the orbital path (520) is associated with a non-geostationary orbit.
15. 15. A method, comprising: configuring a satellite (120) to orient a boresight of a phased array antenna of the satellite (120) toward a location (610) within a service area (605) for a duration (625) during which the satellite (120) traverses a portion of a non-geostationary orbit path (520), the service area (605) being associated with a plurality of gateway terminals (130); Selecting a gateway terminal (130) of the plurality of gateway terminals (130) for communicating with at least one user terminal (150) located in the service area (605) based at least in part on configuring the satellite (120) to orient the boresight of the phased array antenna toward the location (610) within the service area (605), and The satellite (120) is configured to communicate signaling between the selected gateway terminal (130) and the satellite (120) for at least one user terminal (150) located in the service area (605) during the duration (625) and while orienting the boresight of the phased array antenna towards the location (610) within the service area (605) based at least in part on beamforming a gateway spot beam (125) towards the selected gateway terminal (130) and beamforming a user spot beam (125) using the phased array antenna.
16. 16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising: -transmitting said signaling between the selected gateway terminal (130) and said satellite (120).
17. 17. The method of any of claims 15 or 16, wherein configuring the satellite (120) to orient the boresight toward the location (610) within the service area (605) comprises: the satellite (120) is configured to steer the boresight toward the location (610) within the service area (605) while traversing the portion of the non-geostationary orbit path (520).
18. 18. The method of any of claims 15 to 17, wherein the location (610) is at a central portion of the service area (605).
19. 19. The method of any of claims 15 to 18, wherein the location (610) within the service area (605) is different from a location of the gateway terminal (130).
20. 20. The method of any of claims 15 to 19, wherein orienting the boresight is associated with orienting a side of the satellite (120) toward the location (610) within the service area (605).

Description

Gateway terminal architecture for non-geostationary orbit satellite communication system Cross reference The present patent application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/491,022, entitled "LOW EARTH ORBIT SATELLITE SYSTEM," filed on even 17, 2023, assigned to the assignee of the present patent application, and expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field The following relates to communications systems, including gateway terminal architectures for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite communications systems. Background In some communication systems, a terrestrial-based terminal may support wireless signaling of communication services via a constellation of satellites (constellation), which may include satellites in respective non-geostationary orbits (NGSOs), such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). For example, satellites in such systems may be configured with one or more antennas that support communication with or between terminals of a ground segment (e.g., gateway terminals, user terminals), and may support various aspects of reconfiguration to perform communications (e.g., for communication with different terminals or different locations) as the satellite traverses an orbital path. Some NGSO satellite communication systems may implement a relatively large number of satellites to maintain quality of service, such as continuous service coverage for user terminals via one or more satellites of a constellation. In order to support deployment of a relatively large number of satellites (e.g., in an NGSO satellite communication system), various design tradeoffs are considered in satellite characteristics, including cost, complexity, performance, power consumption, reliability, weight, size, form factor, and the like. Disclosure of Invention The described technology relates to communication systems, including such systems that may implement satellites in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) to support wireless signaling of communication services. Such a communication system may include one or more satellites that support relaying signals between target devices, such as signals between gateway terminals and user terminals. For example, a satellite in a satellite communication system may support receiving uplink signals (e.g., forward uplink signals from gateway terminals, return uplink signals from user terminals) and transmitting downlink signals (e.g., forward downlink signals to user terminals, return downlink signals to gateway terminals) based on the received uplink signals (e.g., according to an elbow payload configuration, according to a processing payload configuration). In some implementations, signals of a satellite communication system may be relayed via multiple satellites in a constellation such that one or more satellites in the satellite communication system may support receiving cross-link signals (e.g., from another satellite), transmitting cross-link signals (e.g., to another satellite), or both. A communication satellite in a satellite communication system may be equipped with an antenna system including various configurations of antenna arrays to receive and transmit signals, and a transponder system coupled with such antenna arrays and configured to route signals between one or more receive ports (e.g., of a receiving system) and one or more transmit ports (e.g., of a transmitting system) of the antenna system. In some examples, the antenna array or associated circuitry may be configured to perform directional reception (e.g., receive beamforming), directional transmission (e.g., transmit beamforming), or both, along one or more directions (e.g., beam direction, concurrently one or more directions, one or more directions configured according to beam hopping). In some examples, a repeater system between an array for signal reception and an array for signal transmission may perform one or more aspects of signal processing, such as frequency conversion, demodulation or modulation, multiplexing, signal extraction or insertion, analog-to-digital conversion or digital-to-analog conversion, or other examples of signal processing. To support payloads that may be efficiently implemented in a relatively large number of satellites (e.g., in an NGSO satellite communication system), the satellites may be configured with a particular combination of components in a receiving system (e.g., one or more receiving antenna systems, one or more receiving subsystems), a transmitting system (e.g., one or more transmitting antenna systems, one or more transmitting subsystems), and a repeater system between the receiving system and the transmitting system (e.g., to support various aspects of relayed communications). For example, in accordance with examples disclosed herein, a satellite may include a receiving system having one or more antenna elements (e.g., receiving elements, direct radiating antenna elements, receiving array