Unmanned aerial vehicle antenna configurations
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsFeng Xue, Jingwen Bai, Jose Camacho Perez, Debabani Choudhury, Timo Huusari, Bradley Alan Jackson, Yeonsoo KO, Seong-Youp Suh, Daniel Tong, Shu-Ping Yeh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A unmanned aerial vehicle can include a modem comprising a first antenna port and a second antenna port, an omnidirectional antenna connected to the first antenna port, and antennas configured to generate a directional transmission pattern connected to the second antenna port, the antennas including (a) an array of omni-directional antennas and (b) multiple directional antennas
Claims25
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
- a modem comprising a first antenna port and a second antenna port;
- an omnidirectional antenna connected to the first antenna port;
- and
- antennas configured to generate a directional transmission pattern connected to the second antenna port, the antennas including (a) an array of omni-directional antennas and (b) multiple directional antennas.
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
A method for communication between a base station of a communications network and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
- receiving, at a first antenna port of the UAV to which an omnidirectional antenna is coupled, signals from the base station;
- generating, by circuitry of the UAV, a report indicating a link quality of transmissions between the base station and the UAV;
- transmitting, by the omnidirectional antenna, the report to the base station;
- and
- transmitting, using a directional transmission pattern generated by one or more antennas coupled to a second antenna port of the UAV, encoded signals to the base station.
(canceled)
(canceled)
A non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), cause the UAV to:
- receive, at a first antenna port of the UAV to which an omnidirectional antenna is coupled, signals from a base station;
- generate, by circuitry of the UAV, a report indicating a link quality of transmissions between the base station and the UAV;
- transmit, by the omnidirectional antenna, the report to the base station;
- and
- transmit, using a directional transmission pattern generated by one or more antennas coupled to a second antenna port of the UAV, encoded signals to the base station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.