Method of, and apparatus for, improved satellite communications
AssigneeMethera Global Communications Limited
InventorDavid Robson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is provided a satellite network for data communication, the network comprising a plurality of satellites arranged in medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial user terminal and comprising at least one communications antenna operable to generate a spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial region to enable said one or more terrestrial user terminals to receive and/or send data via the spot beam. The plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover the same terrestrial region at any one time.
Claims17
A satellite network for data communication, the network comprising:
- a plurality of satellites arranged in medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with one or more terrestrial user terminals and comprising at least one communications antenna operable to generate a spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial region to enable said one or more terrestrial user terminals to receive and/or send data via the spot beam, and each satellite being further operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial gateway terminal and further comprising at least one gateway antenna operable to generate a gateway spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial gateway region to enable said one or more terrestrial gateway terminals within said gateway region to receive and/or send data via the gateway spot beam, wherein the plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover substantially the same terrestrial region at any one time, and wherein a plurality of gateway antennas within the network and a plurality of communications antennas within the network are arranged to operate on a same frequency or band of frequencies.
A method for satellite communication, comprising:
- a) providing a plurality of communication satellites arranged in a medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial user terminal:
- b) generating, using at least at least one communications antenna on at least one satellite, a spot beam on a selected terrestrial region to enable a user terminal in said selected terrestrial region to receive and/or send data via said spot beam, and
- c) generating, using at least at least one gateway antenna on at least one satellite, a gateway spot beam on a selected terrestrial gateway region to enable one or more terrestrial gateway terminals within said gateway region to receive and/or send data via the gateway spot beam, wherein the plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover the same terrestrial region at any one time, and wherein a plurality of gateway antennas within the network and a plurality of communications antennas within the network are arranged to operate on a same frequency or band of frequencies.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.