Determination of spatial orientation

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon, which in response to execution by one or more processors cause an end terminal to perform operations comprising:

• finding and establishing a communication link with a satellite from among a plurality of satellites absent information about one or more of satellite ephemerides, satellite operating frequency, or end terminal orientation;
• after establishment of the communication link with the satellite from among the plurality of satellites, obtaining satellite ephemeris information for the satellite and a plurality of beam pointing directions to the satellite that converge to increasing signal quality measurements;
• and
• determining the end terminal orientation based on the satellite ephemeris information and the plurality of beam pointing directions, wherein the end terminal orientation is an orientation in three-dimensional space of a radiating side of a phased array antenna included in the end terminal, wherein the radiating side of the phased array antenna comprises a radiating side plane of the phased array antenna.

A method comprising:

• finding and establishing, by an end terminal, a communication link with a satellite from among a plurality of satellites absent information about one or more of satellite ephemerides, satellite operating frequency, or end terminal orientation;
• obtaining satellite ephemeris information for the satellite from among the plurality of satellites and a plurality of beam pointing directions to the satellite that converge to increasing signal quality measurements after establishment of the communication link with the satellite;
• and
• determining the end terminal orientation based on one or more of the satellite ephemeris information and the plurality of beam pointing directions, wherein the end terminal orientation is an orientation in three-dimensional space of a radiating side of a phased array antenna included in the end terminal, wherein the radiating side of the phased array antenna comprises a radiating side plane of the phased array antenna.