Dynamic Beam Steering for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

A method for dynamic beam steering at a ground station, comprising:

• obtaining a position of one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs);
• calculating a vector between the position of each of the one or more UAVs and a location of the ground station;
• determining, for at least one of the one or more UAVs, a direction to steer a beam based on the vector between the ground station and the respective UAV;
• and
• steering the beam to the determined direction for at least one of the one or more UAVs.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having an antenna, comprising:

• a processor coupled to the antenna and configured with processor-executable instructions to:
• orient the antenna towards a serving ground station based on a current position of the UAV;
• orient the antenna towards a neighboring ground station when it is time to conduct signal measurements of the neighboring ground station;
• conduct the signal measurements of the neighboring ground station while orienting the antenna towards the neighboring ground station;
• and
• reorient the antenna on the UAV towards the serving ground station.

A ground station, comprising:

• a plurality of antennas;
• and
• a processor coupled to the plurality of antennas and configured with processor-executable instructions to:
• obtain a position of one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), wherein the position of each of the one or more UAVs comprises a three-dimensional coordinate;
• calculate a vector between the position of each of the one or more UAVs and a location of the ground station;
• determine, for each of the one or more UAVs, a direction to steer a beam based on the vector between the ground station and the respective UAV;
• and
• steer the beam to the determined direction for each of the one or more UAVs.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to perform operations comprising:

• orienting an antenna on the UAV towards a serving ground station based on a current position of the UAV;
• orienting the antenna towards a neighboring ground station when it is time to conduct signal measurements of the neighboring ground station;
• conducting the signal measurements of the neighboring ground station while orienting the antenna towards the neighboring ground station;
• and
• reorienting the antenna on the UAV towards the serving ground station.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:

• means for orienting an antenna on the UAV towards a serving ground station based on a current position of the UAV;
• means for orienting the antenna towards a neighboring ground station when it is time to conduct signal measurements of the neighboring ground station;
• means for conducting the signal measurements of the neighboring ground station while orienting the antenna towards the neighboring ground station;
• and
• means for reorienting the antenna on the UAV towards the serving ground station.