公开(公告)号：US12003350B1

公开(公告)日：2024-06-04

申请号：US17186657

申请日：2021-02-26

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Martin S. McCormick ,  Torbjorn Larsson ,  Alazar Tamrat ,  Jeffrey C. Strait ,  Chen Chen ,  Philip J. Treigherman ,  Stephan O. Roche ,  Ronald Gottula

IPC: H04L25/02 ,  H04B7/185 ,  H04L5/00 ,  H04W72/044

CPC classification number: H04L25/0202 ,  H04B7/1851 ,  H04L5/0048 ,  H04W72/044

Abstract: A modem is configurable on a satellite, user terminal or gateway generates a radio frequency (RF) signal using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) protocol including a radio frame including one or more bursts. A burst of the one or more bursts includes a first portion including burst detection data, a second portion including channel characteristic estimation data, a third portion including payload data, and fourth and fifth portions including pilot data. The first portion in a time domain is included in the burst prior to the second, third, fourth, and fifth portions. The first portion can include a pseudo-random noise sequence inserted in the time domain. The same physical modem can be configured to transmit signals on an uplink or downlink between a user terminal and a satellite or on the uplink or downlink between the satellite and the gateway.

公开(公告)号：US20240154652A1

公开(公告)日：2024-05-09

申请号：US18537420

申请日：2023-12-12

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Martin S. McCormick

IPC: H04B7/0426 ,  H04B7/06 ,  H04B7/185 ,  H04B17/318 ,  H04W16/28

CPC classification number: H04B7/043 ,  H04B7/0617 ,  H04B7/18513 ,  H04B17/318 ,  H04W16/28

Abstract: In an embodiment, a method includes determining a first beam pointing vector associated with an antenna assembly by searching for a satellite from a plurality of satellites. The method includes maintaining a communication link with the satellite by determining a plurality of beam pointing vectors that converge to a signal quality value. The method includes obtaining, from the satellite, satellite ephemeris information of the satellite and one or more of remaining satellites of the plurality of satellites. The method includes determining an estimated orientation of the antenna assembly based on one or more of the satellite ephemeris information and the plurality of beam pointing vector. The method includes determining a second beam pointing vector based on the estimated orientation, the satellite ephemeris information, and an approximate position information of the antenna assembly.

公开(公告)号：US11943042B2

公开(公告)日：2024-03-26

申请号：US17499421

申请日：2021-10-12

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Thomas Laurance Robinson ,  Calder Christiansen Foster Coalson ,  Jared Michael Greene ,  Steven Douglas Gregory ,  Elliott Macdonald Schwartz ,  Aidan Bauer

IPC: H04B7/185

CPC classification number: H04B7/18513 ,  H04B7/18517 ,  H04B7/18558

Abstract: In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a device for detecting a zone of communication between a user terminal and a satellite constellation including a plurality of satellites in non-geosynchronous (non-GEO) orbit includes one or more processors and memory. The memory stores instructions that, as a result of being executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to: determine a location of the device, wherein the location corresponds to a field of regard for detecting the zone of communication, and wherein the field of regard corresponds to an antenna aperture of the phased array antenna; evaluate a level of communication between the phased array antenna and the satellite constellation associated with the field of regard; and output, to a user of the device, an indication of the level of communication between the phased array antenna and the satellite constellation associated with the field of regard.

公开(公告)号：US20240064795A1

公开(公告)日：2024-02-22

申请号：US18240913

申请日：2023-08-31

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Jayasuryan V. Iyer ,  Khasim Shaheed Shaik Mahammad ,  Yashodhan Dandekar ,  Ramakrishna Akella ,  Chen Chen ,  Phillip E. Barber ,  Peter J. Worters

IPC: H04W72/543 ,  H04W72/1268 ,  H04W72/23

CPC classification number: H04W72/543 ,  H04W72/1268 ,  H04W72/23 ,  H04L1/0009

Abstract: A method of operating an uplink scheduler as part of a medium access control scheduler on a satellite includes selecting, from a plurality of user terminals, a first number of zero-bandwidth request user terminals from the plurality of user terminals, selecting, from the plurality of user terminals, a second number of non-zero-bandwidth request user terminals from the plurality of user terminals, binning the second number of non-zero-bandwidth request user terminals into a plurality of bins based on a respective bandwidth requirement for each non-zero-bandwidth request user terminal and based on a minimum user terminal grant and allocating, according to a grant allocation algorithm, a respective grant of radio resources in an uplink frame to each user terminal of the plurality of user terminals into a respective bin of the plurality of bins in an order associated with increasing bandwidth needs. A downlink scheduler is also disclosed.

公开(公告)号：US20240039568A1

公开(公告)日：2024-02-01

申请号：US18483988

申请日：2023-10-10

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Alireza Mehrnia ,  Masoud Kahrizi ,  Alex Ahmad Mirzaei ,  Bagher Afshar ,  Ali Sajjadi ,  Bernd Pregardier ,  Ka Shun Carson Pun ,  Omid Nasiby ,  Igor Elgorriaga

IPC: H04B1/16 ,  H04L7/00 ,  H04B7/08

CPC classification number: H04B1/16 ,  H04L7/0033 ,  H04B7/08

Abstract: In an embodiment, a receiver included in a communications system is configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a phased array antenna, the RF signal comprising at least a portion of a plurality of data beams included in a single channel, generate a plurality of channel signals based on the RF signal. Generating the plurality of channel signals includes separating the RF signal into a plurality of channels in which each channel of the plurality of channels includes at least a portion of a respective subset of the plurality of data beams. The receiver is further configured to decode each data beam of the plurality of channel signals with a respective phase and a respective time delay. The receiver is further configured to output the plurality of data beams of the plurality of channels.

公开(公告)号：US20240030601A1

公开(公告)日：2024-01-25

申请号：US18223464

申请日：2023-07-18

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Joshua S. Salazar ,  Ignacy Chorazewicz ,  Brandon Toy

IPC: H01Q3/36 ,  H01Q25/04

CPC classification number: H01Q3/36 ,  H01Q25/04

Abstract: Disclosed are various systems and methods for addressing the efficiency issues discussed in the application. An example system includes a control system, a vertical array antenna having a plurality of antennas that generates a planar zone beam, an omni-directional antenna, a switch for switching, as managed by the control system, between the vertical array antenna and the omni-directional antenna; and a beamforming component that provides, as managed by the control system, beamforming of the planar zone beam. The vertical array antenna can include multiple high gain antennas that produce an antenna gain for the planar zone beam of between 12 and 22 dBi.

公开(公告)号：US20240030597A1

公开(公告)日：2024-01-25

申请号：US18223941

申请日：2023-07-19

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Kim W. Schulze ,  Amir Agah ,  Eric Pepin ,  Mehrdad Nosrati

IPC: H01Q3/26 ,  H01Q3/28 ,  H01Q3/36 ,  H04B7/08 ,  H04B7/06

CPC classification number: H01Q3/2658 ,  H01Q3/28 ,  H01Q3/36 ,  H04B7/086 ,  H04B7/0617

Abstract: A serially fed front end (FE) network is provided. The serially fed FE network includes a first FE comprising a first FE input/output (IO), a second FE IO, and a first antenna IO coupled to a first antenna element of a plurality of antenna elements. The first FE IO of the first FE is electrically coupled to a particular beamformer (BF) IO of a BF. The serially fed FE network includes a second FE comprising a first FE IO coupled to the second FE IO of the first FE, a second FE IO of the second FE, and a second antenna IO coupled to a second antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements. The BF is communicatively coupled by the serially fed FE network to transmit to and/or receive signals from the first and second antenna elements of the plurality of antenna elements.

公开(公告)号：US20240029921A1

公开(公告)日：2024-01-25

申请号：US18223489

申请日：2023-07-18

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Anno van den Akker ,  Wilson Ives ,  David Elliott ,  Joshua S. Salazar

IPC: H01B11/06 ,  H01B7/02 ,  H01B7/29 ,  H01B7/282

CPC classification number: H01B11/06 ,  H01B7/02 ,  H01B7/29 ,  H01B7/282

Abstract: Systems and methods for using the shield of a cable for communication are disclosed. An example system includes a first electronic device, a second electronic device and a cable coupled to the first electronic device and to the second electronic device and having a conductive material independent of at least one communication line. The first electronic device and the second electronic device can be configured to communicate using a first communication protocol via the at least one communication line and using a second communication protocol via the conductive material. Communications using the second communication protocol can include a feedback signal to indicate a status of at least one of the first electronic device or the second electronic device. The first electronic device can be a user terminal configured to communicate wirelessly with a satellite, and the second electronic device can be a router configured to communicate with at least one user device.

公开(公告)号：US11843168B2

公开(公告)日：2023-12-12

申请号：US17974064

申请日：2022-10-26

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： David Milroy ,  Duncan E. Adams ,  Ersin Yetisir

IPC: H01Q1/42 ,  H01Q9/04 ,  H01Q1/02 ,  H01Q1/12 ,  H01Q1/22 ,  H01Q1/38 ,  H01Q23/00 ,  H01Q15/14 ,  H01Q21/06 ,  H01Q21/10 ,  H01Q21/00

CPC classification number: H01Q1/428 ,  H01Q1/02 ,  H01Q1/1207 ,  H01Q1/1228 ,  H01Q1/2283 ,  H01Q1/38 ,  H01Q1/42 ,  H01Q1/422 ,  H01Q9/0407 ,  H01Q9/0414 ,  H01Q15/144 ,  H01Q21/00 ,  H01Q21/065 ,  H01Q21/10 ,  H01Q23/00 ,  H01Q1/2291

Abstract: In one embodiment of the present disclosure, an antenna assembly includes a patch antenna array including an upper patch antenna layer, a lower patch antenna layer, and a spacer therebetween, wherein the spacer includes a plurality of apertures defined by cell walls, wherein the each aperture aligns with an upper patch antenna element and a lower patent antenna element from the patch antenna array.

公开(公告)号：US20230396324A1

公开(公告)日：2023-12-07

申请号：US18230493

申请日：2023-08-04

Applicant: Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Inventor： Chen Chen ,  Darshan Purohit ,  Yashodhan Dandekar ,  Pavel Chikulaev ,  David Sacks ,  Peter J. Worters ,  Phillip E. Barber

IPC: H04B7/185 ,  H04W74/08 ,  H04W74/00 ,  H04W72/21

CPC classification number: H04B7/18513 ,  H04W74/0833 ,  H04W74/004 ,  H04W72/21 ,  H04L5/0007

Abstract: In an embodiment, a user terminal includes a communication module (CM) configured to generate an initial network entry request; an antenna assembly configured to find, in response to the initial network entry request, a satellite based on a search of a sky. The search of the sky includes sequentially changing a beam pointing direction of the antenna assembly. The satellite is assigned to downlink to a geographic cell associated with the user terminal. The user terminal includes a media access control (MAC) layer component configured to generate an uplink radio frame including a random access channel (RACH) request associated with the initial network entry request at a particular portion of the uplink radio frame for the satellite.