# US 10,770,788 B2 · Ground-based satellite antenna pointing system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,770,788 B2 - Document ID: US10770788B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/853,441 - Filed: 2017-12-22 - Published: 2018-07-19 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2013-09-26 - Assignees: Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, Inc. - Applicants: Orbital Sciences Corporation - Inventors: Huiwen Yao; George Case - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10770788B2 ## CPC - H01Q 3/08: for varying two co-ordinates of the orientation - G01S 19/13: Receivers - H01Q 1/1257: {using the received signal strength} - H01Q 1/288: {Satellite antennas} - H04B 7/18519: {Operations control, administration or maintenance} - H04B 7/2041: {Spot beam multiple access} - H01Q: ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS (radiators or antennas for microwave heating H05B6/72) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract The present application includes systems and methods for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna. In one aspect a method for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna includes receiving, at a receiving station, a pointing error signal formed by the antenna and transmitted from a satellite, wherein the pointing error signal includes a first beacon (reference) signal and a modulated second beacon (error) signal. The receiving station may demodulate the received pointing error signal to recover the second beacon signal with respect to the first beacon signal, and based at least in part on the demodulated beacon signal, the receiving station may determine the pointing error of the satellite antenna. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna, the method comprising: receiving, at a receiving station, a pointing error signal transmitted from a satellite, wherein the pointing error signal includes a first beacon signal and a modulated second beacon signal both transmitted from the satellite simultaneously at a first frequency and from a single feed horn of an antenna; demodulating, using a control circuitry, the modulated second beacon signal of the received pointing error signal to recover the first beacon signal and a second beacon signal; and determining, using the control circuitry, a pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, using the control circuitry, a control signal based on the pointing error; and transmitting the control signal to the satellite, wherein the control signal includes commands to modify an orientation of the satellite antenna. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal comprises comparing a magnitude of the second beacon signal with a magnitude of the first beacon signal wherein comparing the magnitude of the second beacon signal with the magnitude of the first beacon signal comprises taking a difference in magnitude of the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining the pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal further comprises: determining a direction of the pointing error based on the determined phase; and determining a magnitude of the pointing error based on the comparison of the magnitude of the second beacon signal with the magnitude of the first beacon signal. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal is configured to have substantially zero magnitude along a boresight axis of the feed horn and a substantially non-zero magnitude off of the boresight axis of the feed horn. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated second beacon signal is modulated using one of: phase modulation, frequency modulation, or amplitude modulation. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated second beacon signal is modulated using a first phase angle and a second phase angle, and wherein the first phase angle is 0 degrees, and wherein the second phase angle is 180 degrees. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the pointing error signal is generated by combining the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal in a spatial domain. ### Claim 9 A system for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna, the system comprising: a receiver in communication with a satellite configured to receive a pointing error signal transmitted from the satellite, wherein the pointing error signal includes a first beacon signal and a modulated second beacon signal both transmitted from the satellite simultaneously at a first frequency and from a single feed horn of an antenna; control circuitry configured to: demodulate the modulated second beacon signal of the received pointing error signal to recover the first beacon signal and a second beacon signal; and determine a pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine a control signal based on the pointing error; and transmit the control signal to the satellite, wherein the control signal includes commands to modify an orientation of the satellite antenna. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein determining the pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal comprises comparing a magnitude of the second beacon signal with a magnitude of the first beacon signal wherein the control circuitry is configured to compare the magnitude of the second beacon signal with the magnitude of the first beacon signal by taking a difference in magnitude of the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein determining the pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal comprises determining a phase of at least one of the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal, determining a direction of the pointing error based on the determined phase and determining a magnitude of the pointing error based on the comparison of a magnitude of the second beacon signal with the magnitude of the first beacon signal. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal is configured to have substantially zero magnitude along a boresight axis of the feed horn and a substantially non-zero magnitude off of the boresight axis of the feed horn. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the modulated second beacon signal is modulated using one of: phase modulation, frequency modulation, or amplitude modulation. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the modulated second beacon signal is modulated using a first phase angle and a second phase angle wherein the first phase angle is 0 degrees, and wherein the second phase angle is 180 degrees. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the pointing error signal is generated by combining the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal in a spatial domain. ### Claim 17 A system for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna, the system comprising: a satellite including control circuitry and an antenna, the control circuitry including: a tracking beacon configured to generate an initial beacon signal at a first frequency; a processer communicatively coupled to the tracking beacon to receive the generated tracking signal, the processor including a splitter configured to split the initial beacon signal into a first beacon signal and a second beacon signal; and a phase modulator communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to receive the second beacon signal and to generate a modulated second beacon signal using a first phase angle and a second phase angle; wherein the antenna is configured to transmit the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal simultaneously using a single feed horn and at the first frequency as a pointing error signal for a ground based receiver, and the antenna is only transmitting device on the satellite to transmit both the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, further comprising: a receiver in communication with the satellite configured to receive the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal, the receiver including control circuitry configured to: demodulate the modulated second beacon signal; and determine a pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the pointing error signal is defined as a sum of the first beacon signal and the second beacon signal and is represented by the algorithm: Σ(t)+Δ(t)·exp(jθ+iπ) where Σ(t) is the first beacon signal, Δ(t) the second beacon signal, and exp( ) is the base of the natural logarithm, j is an imaginary unit, θ is an angle about the origin and i is a 0 or a 1 to define the phase shift.