Telecommunications – Carrier wave repeater or relay system – Portable or mobile repeater
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-03-20
Eisenzopf, Reinhard J. (Department: 2745)
Telecommunications
Carrier wave repeater or relay system
Portable or mobile repeater
C455S427000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205320
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the transfer and/or relay of data at high rates, and in particular, the transfer and/or relay of data at high rates between satellites, airships, and Gateway/Customer Premise Equipment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Satellites are used for the collection and transfer of data in connection with communications, navigation and/or surveillance. Such data usually originates from a transmitting device on the surface of the earth, however, satellites can also collect data from the atmosphere and space via sensors installed aboard the satellite. The data received by a satellite is normally transmitted to a receiving unit on the surface of the earth, or it is relayed to another satellite or satellites before it is transmitted to a receiving unit on the earth's surface.
Satellites normally transfer data to stations on the earth's surface through microwaves. While satellites are capable of transmitting data at optical frequencies (i.e. lasers), satellite transmissions to earth stations at optical or laser frequencies would not be practical because the transmission would suffer an unacceptable attenuation during passage through the earth's atmosphere.
Unmanned or manned air vehicles (U/MAVs), such as airships, also have been used in the past to receive and relay communications, power, and other transmissions from stations located on the surface of the earth to other earth-based receiving stations or U/MAVs (See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,742,358 and 5,348,254).
While satellites, airships or U/MAVs, and earth stations have been used to relay or transfer data, such systems have relied either on satellites or airships, and have not combined into one system satellites, U/MAVs and earth-based stations.
It is consequently an object of the present invention to construct a system to transfer and/or relay data at very high rates from a satellite or satellites to an unmanned or manned air vehicle or vehicles (U/MAVs), and then from the U/MAV(s) to a Gateway/Customer Premise Equipment (Gateway/CPE).
It is another object of the present invention to construct a system to transfer and/or relay data at very high rates from one or more Gateway/CPEs on the surface of the earth to one or more U/MAVs, and then from the U/MAV(s) to one or more satellites.
It is another object of the present invention to increase overall data throughput between satellites and Gateway/CPEs.
It is still another object of the present invention to enhance the capabilities of satellites to transmit data at optical frequencies.
It is yet another object of the present invention to construct a system to transfer and/or relay data at very high rates from one U/MAV to other U/MAVs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a novel system which transfers communications, data and other information at high rates of speed. The system consists of one or more transceiving satellites (i.e. capable of both receiving and transmitting information), one or more unmanned or manned air vehicles (U/MAVs) featuring a transceiver frequency converter system, and one or more transceiving units of Gateway/Customer Premise Equipment (Gateway/CPEs). The satellites may be low earth orbit satellites, medium earth orbit satellites, high altitude elliptical satellites, and/or geosynchronous earth orbit satellites. The satellite is capable of transmitting and receiving information at optical and higher microwave frequencies, the U/MAV is capable of transmitting and receiving information at optical, higher microwave, and lower microwave frequencies, and the Gateway/CPE is capable of transmitting and receiving information at lower microwave frequencies. The U/MAV may be powered by an onboard fuel supply, a transmission of microwave energy from a microwave transmitting unit, solar cells, a combination of the foregoing, or other power systems.
Data transmission can originate in any one of four ways. First, Gateway/CPEs can transmit data to satellites. Second, satellites can transmit data to U/MAVs. Third, Gateway/CPEs can transmit data to U/MAVs. Lastly, U/MAVs can initiate transmissions to either satellites or Gateway/CPEs. Such transmitted data includes, but is not limited to, video and voice data, remotely sensed data, television signals, and telescopic data.
The underlying principal of the system is that the U/MAV's payload up-converts (changes to a higher frequency) signals which are being transmitted away from the earth's atmosphere, and conversely down-converts (changes to a lower frequency) signals which are being transmitted towards the earth's atmosphere. Thus, optical or higher microwave signals going to the U/MAV from satellites (whether the signal originated directly from the satellites or Gateway/CPEs) would be down-converted by the U/MAV's high speed, onboard data switch, router, frequency converter or other similar device before being relayed to Gateway/CPEs. On the other hand, lower microwave signals going to the U/MAV from Gateway/CPEs would be up-converted by the U/MAV's payload, and then relayed to one or more satellites. Typically, data is simultaneously transmitted both from a Gateway/CPE through a U/MAV to a satellite, and from a satellite through a U/MAV to a Gateway/CPE, with both up and down-converting occurring simultaneously.
The U/MAV may also be used for up/down-converting in a configuration where data is sent from Gateway/CPEs to a U/MAV, the data is up-converted, crosslinked to another U/MAV (either the first or a subsequent U/MAV could do the up-conversion), and sent to one or more satellites. The data transmission can also travel from satellites to crosslinked U/MAVs and then to Gateway/CPEs. As disclosed in the previous paragraph, such transmissions can occur simultaneously, and such a system may involve two or more U/MAVs.
Additionally, the invention allows communications to go from a first Gateway/CPE to a first U/MAV, and then to a first satellite. The transmission can then be relayed from the first satellite to a second satellite, then to a second U/MAV and finally to a second Gateway/CPE. More generally, any multiple combinations of Gateway/CPEs, U/MAVs and satellites can be combined to transmit data.
The primary advantage of the aforementioned system is that overall data throughput is increased by allowing satellites to transmit at the more efficient optical frequencies. The U/MAV receives these optical transmissions before they are attenuated by the earth's atmosphere, converts the transmission to a lower microwave frequency which is not as adversely affected by the earth's atmosphere as higher frequencies, and then transmits the converted data to Gateway/CPEs.
The U/MAV payload up-converts and down-converts signals on a relative basis, i.e. what might be considered a higher frequency requiring down-conversion in one instance may be considered a lower frequency requiring up-conversion in another instance. Typically, for example, the U/MAV payload would up-convert signals transmitted from Gateway/CPEs in the 1-51 gigahertz (GHz) range to higher optical frequencies, and would down-convert signals transmitted from satellites at optical frequencies to the 1-51 GHz range. However, the U/MAV could receive signals from Gateway/CPEs at 1 GHz, and up-convert to 47 GHz (microwave frequency) before transmission to satellites. Conversely, the U/MAV could receive signals from satellites at 47 GHz, and down-convert it to 1 GHz before transmission to Gateway/CPEs.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5555444 (1996-09-01), Diekelman et al.
patent: 5615407 (1997-03-01), Barkats
Banks-Harold Marsha D.
Eisenzopf Reinhard J.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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