Terrestrial multi-antenna system for airborne wireless service
AssigneeT-Mobile Innovations LLC
InventorsBhagwan Singh Khanka, Brandon James Braunlich
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for delivering telecommunications coverage to airborne user equipment (UE). More particularly, in aspects set forth herein, systems and methods utilize a multi-antenna system at a terrestrial base station in order to separately communicate signals to UEs at (or near) ground level and to UEs that are airborne.
Claims17
A multi-antenna system comprising:
- a controller;
- a first antenna panel having a first tilt that is configured to communicate a first set of wireless signals to a first coverage area configured to serve a plurality of terrestrial user equipment (UEs);
- and
- a second antenna panel having a second tilt that is configured to communicate a second set of wireless signals to a second coverage area configured to serve a plurality of airborne UEs,
- wherein the controller is configured to:
- in response to a determination that a UE is terrestrial, serve the UE using the first antenna panel;
- in response to a determination that the UE is airborne, serve the UE using the second antenna panel;
- utilize one or more interference mitigation measures to prevent the first set of wireless signals from interfering with the second set of wireless signals;
- wherein the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel are separated by a vertical distance;
- and
- wherein determining whether the UE is airborne or terrestrial comprises comparing the UE's speed to a threshold.
A method for providing airborne wireless service, the method comprising:
- communicating a first set of wireless signals from a first antenna panel having a first tilt to a first coverage area configured to serve a plurality of terrestrial user equipment (UEs);
- communicating a second set of wireless signals from a second antenna panel having a second tilt to a second coverage area configured to serve a plurality of airborne UEs;
- determining that a UE is airborne based on the UE's speed exceeding a threshold, and in response to determining that the UE is airborne, serving the UE using the second antenna panel;
- utilizing, by a controller, one or more interference mitigation measures to prevent the first set of wireless signals from interfering with the second set of wireless signals;
- and
- wherein the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel are separated by a vertical distance.
A non-transitory computer readable media having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more computer processing components, cause the one or more computer processing components to perform a method of providing airborne wireless service to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
- communicating a first set of wireless signals from a first antenna system to a terrestrial cell of a terrestrial base station, wherein the first set of wireless signals using a first frequency and comprising a synchronization signal having a first public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier;
- communicating a second set of wireless signals from a second antenna system to an airborne cell of the terrestrial base station, the second set of wireless signals using a second frequency, and comprising a synchronization signal having a second PLMN identifier, the first frequency being different from the second frequency, the first PLMN identifier being different from the second PLMN identifier, and the airborne cell and the terrestrial cell having main lobes with a non-zero, positive angular separation in a vertical plane;
- determining that the UE is airborne based on the UE's speed exceeding a threshold;
- in response to determining that the UE is airborne, serving the UE using the second antenna system;
- and
- wherein the first antenna system and the second antenna system are separated by a vertical distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.