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US 12,615,587 B2Granted
Distance-based serving cell selection for communications between an aerial vehicle and a cellular radio access network
AssigneeT-Mobile USA, Inc.
InventorKyle Lashbrook
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of communicating between an aerial vehicle and a cellular radio access network is described. In some cases, the method includes determining a current location of the aerial vehicle; determining, in response to the current location, a location of a nearest cell of the cellular radio access network; and processing communications between the aerial vehicle and the cellular radio access network, using the nearest cell as a serving cell. When the method is performed on-board an aerial vehicle, the method further includes orienting a directional antenna of the aerial vehicle toward the location of the nearest cell.
Claims18
An aerial vehicle, comprising:
- a frame;
- a directional antenna attached to the frame;
- a modem configured to communicate with a cellular radio access network using the directional antenna;
- a motor attached to the directional antenna and the frame;
- and
- a processor coupled to the modem and the directional antenna, the processor configured to:
- determine whether a first conditions is met, the first condition including a cellular radio access network connection of the aerial vehicle ping-ponging between first serving cells of the cellular radio access network, the first serving cells selected by a signal strength-based serving cell selection process associated with the aerial vehicle;
- in response to determining that the cellular radio access network connection is ping-ponging between the first serving cells, switch from using the signal strength-based serving cell selection process to using a distance-based serving cell selection process to select second serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the first serving cells;
- determine whether a second condition is met after switching to using the distance-based serving cell selection process, the second condition including at least one of:
- the aerial vehicle taking off,
- the aerial vehicle landing, or
- ping-ponging between the second serving cells associated;
- and
- in response to determining that the second condition is met, switch from using the distance-based serving cell selection process to using the signal strength-based serving cell selection process to select third serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the second serving cells.
11 more elements
An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:
- an antenna;
- a modem configured to communicate with a cellular radio access network using the antenna;
- and
- a processor coupled to the modem and the antenna, the processor configured to:
- determine whether a first conditions is met, the first condition including a cellular radio access network connection of the unmanned aerial vehicle ping-ponging between first serving cells of the cellular radio access network, the first serving cells selected by a signal strength-based serving cell selection process associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
- switch from using the signal-based serving cell selection process to using a distance-based serving cell selection process to select second serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the first serving cells, at least partly in response to determining that the cellular radio access network connection of the unmanned aerial vehicle is ping-ponging between the first serving cells;
- determine whether a second condition is met after switching to using the distance-based serving cell selection process, the second condition including at least one of:
- the aerial vehicle taking off,
- the aerial vehicle landing, or
- ping-ponging between the second serving cells associated;
- and
- switch from using the distance-based serving cell selection process to using the signal strength-based serving cell selection process to select third serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the second serving cells in response to determining that the second condition is met.
9 more elements
A method of communicating between an aerial vehicle and a cellular radio access network, comprising:
- determining whether a first conditions is met, the first condition including a cellular radio access network connection of the aerial vehicle ping-ponging between first serving cells of the cellular radio access network, the serving cells selected by a signal strength-based serving cell selection process associated with the aerial vehicle;
- in response to determining that the cellular radio access network connection of the aerial vehicle is ping-ponging between the first serving cells, switching from using the signal strength-based serving cell selection process to using a distance-based serving cell selection process to select second serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the first serving cells;
- processing communications between the aerial vehicle and the cellular radio access network using a nearest cell of the second serving cells to the aerial vehicle;
- determining whether a second condition is met after switching to using the distance-based serving cell selection process, the second condition including at least one of:
- the aerial vehicle taking off
- the aerial vehicle landing, or
- ping-ponging between the second serving cells associated;
- and
- in response to determining that the second condition is met, switching from using the distance-based serving cell selection process to using the signal strength-based serving cell selection process to select third serving cells of the cellular radio access network different from the second serving cells.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.