Antenna systems and methods for tracking non-geosynchronous satellites

A ground station antenna system comprising:

• an antenna configured to at least receive signals from a non-geosynchronous (non-Geo) satellite;
• a receiver including a demodulator to demodulate the signals received by the antenna, and signal strength estimation circuitry configured to measure signal strength of signals received by the antenna;
• a pointing mechanism configured to control a beam pointing direction of the antenna;
• and
• an antenna controller configured to track the non-Geo satellite and cause the pointing mechanism to control the beam pointing direction of the antenna in accordance with the tracking, the tracking of the non-Geo satellite including:
• estimating a signal quality metric associated with a signal received by the antenna;
• when the estimated signal quality metric is below a threshold, obtaining demodulated signal quality metric (DSQM) estimates based on a demodulated signal generated by the demodulator, then performing a first tracking operation based on the DSQM estimates;
• and
• when the estimated signal quality is above the threshold, obtaining signal strength estimates of the signal via the signal strength estimation circuitry, then performing a second tracking operation based at least in part on the signal strength estimates.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a ground station antenna system to implement a method for tracking a non-geosynchronous earth orbit (non-Geo) satellite, wherein the method comprises:

• receiving a signal from the non-Geo satellite;
• estimating a signal quality metric associated with the signal;
• selecting and implementing a first tracking mode when the estimated signal quality metric is below a threshold;
• in the first tracking mode, demodulating the signal and obtaining demodulated signal quality metric (DSQM) estimates, then performing a first tracking operation to point an antenna beam at the satellite based on the DSQM estimates;
• selecting and implementing a second tracking mode when the estimated signal quality metric is above the threshold;
• and
• in the second tracking mode, obtaining signal strength estimates of the signal via measurement circuitry, then performing a second tracking operation to point the antenna beam at the satellite based at least in part on the signal strength estimates.