Optical downlink system
AssigneeRUAG Schweiz AG
InventorsFelix Andreas Arnold, Thomas Dreischer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Optical downlink system (10) and method of optical data transmission between a remote terminal (20) having a number of n optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn), and a ground terminal (30) comprising a cluster of n optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) connected by n optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) respectively n optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn) characterised by a spatial separation of the optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) and a temporal separation of the optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn).
Claims15
Optical downlink system (10) comprising:
- a remote terminal (20) comprising a number of n optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn), where n is greater than or equal to two;
- a ground terminal (30) comprising a cluster of n optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn);
- each optical communication terminal (OT1-OTn) being connected with a corresponding optical ground station (OGS1-OGSn) with one of n optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn);
- and
- each optical ground station (OGS1-OGSn) being connected with a corresponding optical communication terminal (OT1-OTn) with one of n optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn);
- wherein the optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) are spatially separated from each other by means of the optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) being located a certain distance apart from each other;
- and
- wherein the ground terminal (30) is configured such as to synchronise the n optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) such that a precise temporal separation is ensured between the n optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn) by a time division multiple access scheme thereby avoiding overlap between the optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn).
Method of optical data transmission between a remote terminal (20) having a number of n optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn), where n is greater than or equal to two, and a ground terminal (30) comprising a cluster of n specially separated optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) comprising the steps:
- establishing n optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) connecting each optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn) with a corresponding optical ground station (OGS1-OGSn);
- establishing n optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn) connecting each optical ground station (OGS1-OGSn) with a corresponding optical communication terminal (OT1-OTn);
- transmitting payload data from the remote terminal (20) by the n optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn) to the corresponding optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) of the ground terminal (30);
- sequentially transmitting control data from the n individual optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) via the corresponding optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn) to the corresponding optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn) by means of a precise temporal separation by a time division multiple access scheme thereby avoiding overlap between the optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.