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US 11,309,957 B2Granted
Method and system for non-terrestrial cellular wireless communication networks
AssigneeOQ Technology S.á.r.l.
InventorsOmar Qais Talib Qaise, Prasanna Balasubramanian Nagarajan, Cyril Marc Dufoing
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Abstract
The invention provides a method and an architecture for deploying non-terrestrial cellular network base stations, so as to enable cellular network coverage in remote areas, where no fixed infrastructure is available. The proposed methods allow for efficient power management at the terminal devices that need to synchronize to the airborne or spaceborne cellular base stations. This is particularly important for IoT devices, which have inherently limited power are computing resources.
Claims17
A control method for a terminal device in a non-terrestrial cellular data communication network, the network comprising an airborne or spaceborne base station moving along a flight trajectory, for connecting the terminal device to said network, the method comprising the following steps:
- providing flight trajectory data for said base station in a memory element of said terminal device;
- providing terminal location data in the memory element of said terminal device;
- using a data processing unit, computing, based on said flight trajectory data and said terminal location data, estimate values for said base station, comprising any of a future position, elevation, velocity, or any combination thereof;
- storing these estimate values in the memory element;
- using the data processing unit, determining a time slot during which a wireless communication channel between said terminal device and said base station is estimated to be available, based on said estimate values;
- and
- using the data processing unit, scheduling a data reception or transmission between said terminal device and said base station during the determined time slot,
- wherein the terminal device receives, during said scheduled time slot, a synchronization signal from said base station, the synchronization signal carrying data indicating a transmission frequency and timing information, which are required for the terminal device to synchronize future data transmission or data reception to/from said base station,
- wherein the terminal device computes, using the data processing unit, an observed Doppler shift based on the receiving frequency for said synchronization signal and on the transmission frequency indicated therein, and wherein the terminal device pre-emptively compensates said transmission frequency by a frequency compensation value during a subsequent data transmission to said base station, said frequency compensation value taking into account said observed Doppler shift.
6 more elements
A control method for a terminal device in a non-terrestrial cellular data communication network, the network comprising an airborne or spaceborne base station moving along a flight trajectory, for connecting the terminal device to said network, the method comprising the following steps:
- providing flight trajectory data for said base station in a memory element of said terminal device;
- providing terminal location data in the memory element of said terminal device;
- using a data processing unit, computing, based on said flight trajectory data and said terminal location data, estimate values for said base station, comprising any of a future position, elevation, velocity, Doppler shift, Doppler drift, propagation delay, derivatives of said Doppler shift or propagation delay, or any combination thereof;
- storing these estimate values in the memory element;
- using the data processing unit, determining a time slot during which a wireless communication channel between said terminal device and said base station is estimated to be available, based on said estimate values;
- and
- using the data processing unit, scheduling a data reception or transmission between said terminal device and said base station during the determined time slot,
- wherein the terminal device receives, during said scheduled time slot, a synchronization signal from said base station, the synchronization signal carrying data indicating a transmission frequency and timing information, which are required for the terminal device to synchronize future data transmission or data reception to/from said base station, wherein the terminal device computes, using the data processing unit, an observed time shift based on a reception time of said synchronization signal and on the timing information indicated therein, and wherein the terminal device pre-emptively compensates the scheduled time of transmission by a time compensation value during a subsequent data transmission to said base station, said time compensation value taking into account said observed time shift or any derivative thereof.
5 more elements
A terminal device for a non-terrestrial cellular data communication network, the terminal device comprising:
- a data transmission unit,
- a data reception unit,
- a first memory element for storing flight trajectory data of an airborne or spaceborne base station of said network,
- a second memory element for storing terminal location data, and
- a processing unit,
- wherein the terminal device is configured to, during said scheduled time slot, receive a synchronization signal from said base station, the synchronization signal carrying data indicating a transmission frequency and timing information, which are required for the terminal device to synchronize future data transmission or data reception to/from said base station,
- wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- compute, based on said flight trajectory data and said terminal location data, estimate values for said base station, comprising any of a future position, elevation, velocity, or any combination thereof,
- store these estimate values in a third memory element,
- determine a time slot during which a wireless communication channel between said terminal device and said base station is estimated to be available, based on said estimate values,
- schedule a data reception or transmission between said terminal device and said base station during the determined time slot,
- compute an observed Doppler shift based on the receiving frequency for said synchronization signal and on the transmission frequency indicated therein, and
- pre-emptively compensate said transmission frequency by a frequency compensation value during a subsequent data transmission to said base station, said frequency compensation value taking into account said observed Doppler shift.
10 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable recording medium program comprising code portions which when run on a computer, causes the computer to:
- compute, based on flight trajectory data of an airborne or spaceborne base station and terminal location data of a terminal device, estimate values for said base station, comprising any of a future position, elevation, velocity, or any combination thereof;
- store these estimate values in a memory element;
- determine at least one time slot during which a wireless communication channel between said terminal device and said airborne or spaceborne base station is estimated to be available, based on said estimate values;
- and
- schedule a data reception or transmission between said terminal device and said airborne or spaceborne base station during the determined time slot,
- wherein the terminal device receives, during said scheduled time slot, a synchronization signal from said base station, the synchronization signal carrying data indicating a transmission frequency and timing information, which are required for the terminal device to synchronize future data transmission or data reception to/from said base station, wherein the terminal device computes, using the data processing unit, an observed time shift based on a reception time of said synchronization signal and on the timing information indicated therein, and wherein the terminal device pre-emptively compensates the scheduled time of transmission by a time compensation value during a subsequent data transmission to said base station, said time compensation value taking into account said observed time shift or any derivative thereof.
3 more elements
A terminal device for a non-terrestrial cellular data communication network, the terminal device comprising:
- a data transmission unit,
- a data reception unit,
- a first memory element for storing flight trajectory data of an airborne or spaceborne base station of said network,
- a second memory element for storing terminal location data, and
- a processing unit, wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- compute, based on said flight trajectory data and said terminal location data, estimate values for said base station, comprising any of a future position, elevation, velocity, or any combination thereof,
- store these estimate values in a third memory element,
- determine a time slot during which a wireless communication channel between said terminal device and said base station is estimated to be available, based on said estimate values, and
- schedule a data reception or transmission between said terminal device and said base station during the determined time slot,
- wherein the terminal device is configured to, during said scheduled time slot, receive a synchronization signal from said base station, the synchronization signal carrying data indicating a transmission frequency and timing information, which are required for the terminal device to synchronize future data transmission or data reception to/from said base station,
- wherein the processing unit is configured to:
- compute an observed time shift based on the reception time of said synchronization signal and on the timing information indicated therein, and
- pre-emptively compensate the scheduled time of transmission by a time compensation value during a subsequent data transmission to said base station, said time compensation value taking into account said observed time shift or any derivative thereof.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.