Hybrid satellite radio system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9750079-B1
Application number	US-201313746036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 21, 2013
Priority date	Jan 21, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

An aircraft satellite communications system is provided. The aircraft satellite communications system may include a receiver/transmitter system configured for transmitting and receiving data from a low earth orbit satellite. The low earth orbit satellite is in communication with a host. The low earth orbit satellite is configured for receiving a request from the receiver/transmitter system and communicating the request to the host. The aircraft satellite communications system also includes a receiver configured for receiving data from a geostationary orbit satellite. The geostationary orbit satellite is also in communication with the host and is configured to receive a response to the request from the host and to transmit the response to the receiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hybrid communications system, comprising:
a vehicle transceiver system comprising a first antenna operating at a first frequency band and at a low connection speed to communicate with a first satellite and transmit an indexed internet request to the first satellite, the first satellite comprising a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite or a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite configured to transmit the indexed internet request from the LEO satellite or the MEO satellite to an off-board host including a network operations center; and
a receiver system of the vehicle comprising a second antenna operating at a second frequency band and at a high connection speed to receive communications from a second satellite, the second satellite comprising a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite that is in communication with the off-board host or the network operations center, the communications received including a response to the internet request from the off-board host or the network operations center that is transmitted to the vehicle from the GEO satellite.

2. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a small- to mid-sized aircraft.

3. The communications system of claim 2 , wherein the first antenna has a diameter of approximately eight centimeters or three inches.

4. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the first antenna comprises a conformal patch antenna and the second antenna comprises an electronically steered array antenna.

5. The communications system of claim 4 , wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft and the electronically steered array antenna comprises at least one of a K a band receiver panel and a K u band receiver panel configured to selectively engage and disengage based on whether a K a band GEO satellite or a K u band GEO satellite is in communication with the aircraft, and wherein selectively engaging the panel comprises tilting the panel to point towards a satellite and selectively disengaging comprises orienting or laying the panel flat against a surface of the aircraft.

6. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the indexed internet request comprises a low-bandwidth internet file request transmitted to the first satellite using a representation of a uniform resource locator (URL), meeting requirements of the low connection speed, and wherein the response comprises a high-bandwidth requested internet file transmitted within capabilities of the high connection speed.

7. The communications system of claim 6 , wherein the indexed internet request comprises the representation of the URL and the off-board host is configured to decode the representation of the URL to obtain a complete URL for the high-bandwidth requested internet file.

8. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the indexed request to the first satellite comprises communication via a first transmission link or over a first channel of the first satellite, the system being further configured for communication via an alternate transmission link, the alternate transmission link comprising one of: transmission from the transceiver system to a third satellite at a medium connection speed and transmission via a second channel of the first satellite.

9. The communications system of claim 8 , wherein the transceiver system is configured for transmitting the indexed internet request using the alternate transmission link when a data size of the indexed internet request exceeds a predetermined threshold.

10. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the indexed internet request comprises an internet file request and the response comprises the requested internet file and at least one additional internet file transferred simultaneously with the requested internet file.

11. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the indexed internet request is transmitted using a packet data mode service.

12. The communications system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a server, the server in communication with the transceiver system and configured for receiving the internet request from a user computer and further configured for indexing the internet request.

13. A method for receiving communications using a hybrid system, comprising:
indexing an internet request from a user computer on a vehicle;
transmitting the indexed internet request from a transceiver system of the vehicle to a first satellite, the first satellite comprising a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite or a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite, the transceiver system operating at a first frequency band and at a medium or low connection speed and comprising a first antenna;
transmitting the indexed internet request from the first satellite to a host including a network operations center;
transmitting a response including data to fulfill the internet request from the host or the network operations center to a second satellite; and
engaging a high-speed receiver system of the vehicle to receive the data to fulfill the internet request, the receiver system operating at a second frequency band to receive communications from the second satellite, the second satellite comprising a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
abbreviating or replacing a uniform resource locator (URL) of the internet request to reduce a bandwidth associated with communicating the internet request;
decoding the indexed internet request to obtain a complete URL of an internet page associated with the internet request, wherein the internet page is communicated to the vehicle at a high connection speed; and
indexing the complete URL and any associated URLs on the internet page upon receipt of an initial internet request.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the internet page is a first internet page, the method further comprising:
demodulating, error correcting, and decoding the first internet page prior to delivering the first internet page to the user computer; and
receiving a second internet page from the GEO satellite simultaneous with the first internet page according to a pre-fetch or forward cache process, wherein the second internet page is associated with the first internet page.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein abbreviating or replacing the URL includes at least one of: abbreviating a URL associated with the requested internet page, using a URL associated with the request to generate a shortened numerical code for the requested internet page, and compressing the URL associated with the requested internet page.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft, the method further comprising:
selectively engaging a receive function of the transceiver system to receive data from the low earth orbit satellite 1) when the data comprises at least one of indexing information, aircraft information, Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) information, low-bandwidth responses to internet requests, and voice communications, or 2) depending on a location of the aircraft, an availability of a GEO satellite network, cost, bandwidth, or a connection speed required for a respective communication.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft, the transceiver system comprises a first transceiver system, and the receiver system comprises a second transceiver system or a third transceiver system, the method further comprising:
selectively engaging the receiver system for transmitting data when the first transceiver system connected to the aircraft fails or is unavailable for transmitting.

19. The me

Assignees

• Rockwell Collins Inc

Inventors

• Mitchell James P

Classifications

• H04B7/1851

  Systems using a satellite or space-based relay (H04B7/18508, H04B7/18521 take precedence; providing specific services H04B7/18523 - H04B7/18576) · CPC title

• H04B7/195

  Non-synchronous stations · CPC title

• H04B7/18508 Primary

  with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service · CPC title

• H04W84/06 Primary

  Airborne or Satellite Networks (space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185) · CPC title

• H04B7/185 Primary

  Space-based or airborne stations; {Stations for satellite systems}(H04B7/204 takes precedence) · CPC title