EP-4736346-A1 - METHODS FOR TRANSMITTING, COLLECTING, AGGREGATING AND PROCESSING DATA IMPLEMENTED BY SATELLITES, AND CORRESPONDING MASTER, COLLECTOR, AGGREGATOR AND PROCESSING SATELLITES

Abstract

The invention relates to collaboration between a number of satellites 1-1 to 3-3. The fact that access nodes providing access to the radio access network (RAN) are deployed with splits that differ depending on requirements of a managing operator limits the possibilities and advantageousness of inter-satellite collaboration. Specifically, in the context of such collaboration, the data collected and processed by the satellites must have undergone the same processing. This is not systematically the case. It is thus necessary to apply, to the data collected by the satellites, processing operations implemented in high-level layers such as layers of level 3 or higher. This results in a long processing time and generates additional traffic load. The invention enables efficient collaboration between satellites by specifying, in a data collection request intended to be broadcast, the minimum processing that must be applied to the data collected by the collector satellites 1-1, 1-2 before they are transmitted to a master satellite 4.

Inventors

• KELIF, JEAN-MARC
• STEPHAN, EMILE

Assignees

• ORANGE

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240626

Claims (20)

1. 1. Method for transmitting data to at least one piece of equipment belonging to a communications network, said method comprising the following steps implemented by a first satellite, called the master satellite (4): - broadcasting, to at least one second satellite, called a collector satellite (1-1, 1-2), a request to collect data transported by at least one subcarrier frequency, - collection of data transported by said at least one subcarrier frequency, - aggregation of said collected data and data transmitted by said collecting satellite (1-1, 1-2), - transmission of aggregated data to said at least one device belonging to a communications network.
2. 2. A method of transmitting data according to claim 1, wherein said at least one subcarrier frequency is allocated to at least one terminal located in a cell of a radio communication network served at least by said master satellite (4).
3. 3. A method of transmitting data according to claim 1, wherein said collection request comprises parameters relating to said cell of said radio communication network.
4. 4. Data transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, where said collection request comprises at least one identifier of at least one first function of said at least one collector satellite (1-1, 1-2) intended to be applied to the data collected prior to their transmission to the master satellite (4).
5. 5. Transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the collection request comprises: - information relating to the modulation and coding scheme of a radio signal intended to modulate said at least one subcarrier frequency, - information relating to the type of modulation to be applied to said at least one subcarrier frequency.
6. 6. Transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 in which the collection request comprises an identifier of said at least one collecting satellite (1-1, 1-2).
7. 7. Transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 in which the collection request comprises: - an identifier of at least one third satellite, called an aggregator satellite (2-1), configured to collect and aggregate said data transmitted by said at least one collector satellite (1-1, 1-2).
8. 8. Transmission method according to claim 7 in which the collection request comprises: - at least one identifier of at least one second function of said at least one aggregator satellite (2-1) intended to be applied to aggregated data prior to their transmission to the master satellite (4).
9. 9. Transmission method according to claim 7 or 8 in which the collection request comprises: - an identifier of at least one fourth satellite, called a processing satellite, configured to process said aggregated data transmitted by said at least one aggregator satellite (2-1).
10. 10. A transmission method according to claim 9 wherein the collection request further comprises: - at least one identifier of at least one third function of said at least one processing satellite intended to be applied to the data received prior to their transmission to the master satellite (4).
11. 11. Method for collecting data, said method comprising the following steps implemented by a second satellite, called a collector satellite (1-1, 1-2): - reception, from at least one first satellite, called master satellite (4), of a request to collect data transported by at least one subcarrier frequency, - collection of data transported by said at least one subcarrier frequency, - processing by applying at least a first function of said collecting satellite (1-1, 1-2) to said collected data, - transmission of processed data to the master satellite (4).
12. 12. A method of collecting data according to claim 11, wherein said at least one subcarrier frequency is allocated to at least one terminal located in a cell of a radio communication network served at least by said master satellite (4).
13. 13. A method of collecting data according to claim 11 or 12 wherein said collection request comprises parameters relating to said cell of the radio communication network.
14. 14. Data collection method according to any one of claims 9 to 13 wherein said collection request comprises at least one identifier of said first function of said collecting satellite (1-1, 1-2).
15. 15. Data aggregation method, said method comprising the following steps implemented by a second satellite, called aggregator satellite (2-1): - reception, from at least one first satellite, called the master satellite, of a request to collect data transported by at least one subcarrier frequency, - collection of data transmitted by at least a third satellite, called a collector satellite (1-1, 1-2), - aggregation of said data collected by said at least one collecting satellite (1-1, 1-2) - processing by applying at least one second function of said aggregator satellite (2-1) to said aggregated data, - transmission of processed data to the master satellite (4).
16. 16. A method of data aggregation according to claim 15 wherein said at least one subcarrier frequency is allocated to at least one terminal located in a cell of a radio communication network served at least by said master satellite (4).
17. 17. A method of aggregating data according to claim 15 or 16 wherein said collection request comprises parameters relating to said cell of the radio communication network.
18. 18. Data aggregation method according to any one of claims 15 to 17 wherein said collection request comprises at least one identifier of said second function of said aggregator satellite (2-1).
19. 19. Data processing method, said method comprising the following steps implemented by a second satellite, called processing satellite (3-1): - reception, from at least one first satellite, called master satellite (4), of a request to collect data transported by at least one subcarrier frequency, - collection of data transmitted by at least a third satellite, called an aggregator satellite (2-1), - processing by applying at least one third function of said processing satellite (3-1) to said collected data, - transmission of processed data to the master satellite (4).
20. 20. Data processing method according to claim 19 wherein said at least one subcarrier frequency is allocated to at least one terminal located in a cell of a radio communication network served at least by said master satellite (4).

Description

DESCRIPTION TITLE: Methods of transmitting, collecting, aggregating and processing data implemented by satellites, and corresponding master, collector, aggregator and processing satellites. Field of invention The field of the invention is that of cloud computing. More specifically, the invention relates to the collaboration between several satellites belonging or not to the same constellation of satellites in order to improve the quality of the transmission in the uplink, that is to say, from a terminal to a satellite serving a cell of a communication network in which the terminal is located. Prior art and its drawbacks In recent years, the deployment of satellites, particularly in the form of satellite constellations consisting of several hundred to several thousand satellites in low orbit around the Earth, has been accelerating. The objective of such deployment of satellite constellations is, among other things, to provide user terminals with high-speed access to a communications network when access to the latter via terrestrial radio access networks is not satisfactory. A satellite constellation consists of a group of artificial satellites working together to provide a service, such as access to a communications network, by providing the most complete possible ground coverage of the Earth's surface in order to ensure continuity in the provision of this service. To this end, a satellite carries at least one access node of a radio access network interconnected to a core network whose equipment is based on the ground. Furthermore, each satellite belonging to the same constellation circulates in an orbit chosen so that all the ground coverages of each of the satellites in the constellation complement each other. The resources of a satellite are not used continuously over time. Indeed, a satellite may be required to fly over desert areas, aquatic surfaces, forests or agricultural areas, in which few, if any, user terminals are located. Thus, the radio communication resources of these satellites are free over many time slots. In order to be able to exploit these radio communication resources, cooperation between several satellites of the same constellation or belonging to different constellations can be envisaged. Thus, a satellite belonging to a first constellation flying over an area in which there is no communication terminal to be served can share its radio communication resources with another satellite belonging to a second constellation located in a position in its orbit that is not not allowing it to optimally serve a given radio cell because its distance and/or its degree of inclination relative to the ground surface of this radio cell, and to the air zone attached to this surface, does not offer sufficient transmission conditions to guarantee an acceptable quality of service to the communication terminals located within this radio cell. In order to increase the transmission capacity and reduce the transmission delay within a radio access network (RAN), the fifth generation of radio communications standards or 5G takes advantage of the development of virtual machines and cloud computing to propose a restructured 5G access node or gNB. More particularly, such a gNB access node is divided into three units: a first unit called RU for "radio unit", a second unit called DU for "distributed unit" and a third unit called CU for "centralized unit". These three units are hardware and/or software units, these implementation choices depending on the operating constraints of the radio access network operators (RAN). Most commonly, the RU is a hardware unit designed to convert radio signals sent to and from at least one antenna into a digital signal for transmission over a packet communication network. The RU handles the functions performed by the lower layer 1 or physical layer as well as the beamforming functionality by the antenna. The RU is deployed within the network access node. The DU is, generally, a software unit deployed within a server located near the RUs. This DU performs functions of the layer 2 layers such as the RLC (Radio Link Control) and MAC (Medium Access Control) layers and sometimes part of the physical layer functions. The RU unit and the DU unit are connected by means of a transport network called "fronthaul". The data exchanges carried out by means of this fronthaul comply with the eCPRI (evolved Common Public Radio Interface) protocol. Finally, the CU, which is also a software unit, performs functions of the upper layer 2 layers such as the RRC (Radio Resource Control), SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol) or PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) layers and functions of the layer 3 layers. The CU can be deployed in the cloud to allow the RAN radio access network to benefit from the advantages offered by edge computing, which allows data to be processed as close as possible to their source or destination. A single CU can manage one or more DUs, thus reducing the deployment and mainten