Thermal load balancing for electronically steerable antennas

An antenna system for a commercial passenger vehicle, the antenna system comprising:

• an electronically steerable antenna (ESA) that includes antenna tiles operable in coordination with one another to emit and/or receive communication signals;
• and
• an antenna controller device comprising a processor that executes instructions to cause the antenna controller device to:
• determine a reduced number of antenna tiles of the ESA;
• select a sequence of patterns of the reduced number of antenna tiles that minimizes a count of common tiles between consecutive patterns in the sequence, thereby allowing for an optimal ambient cooling of the antenna tiles of the ESA;
• determine a dwelling time for each pattern of the sequence, the dwelling time defining a duration in which the ESA is operated according to a respective pattern;
• and
• operate the reduced number of antenna tiles of the ESA according to the sequence of patterns and the dwelling time for each pattern to emit or receive a given communication signal.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions for operation of an antenna array that includes a number of antenna elements arranged adjacently, the executable instructions when executed by a processor causing the processor to:

• determine a reduced number of antenna elements that satisfies a signal quality requirement with respect to a target system;
• select a sequence of element arrangements each identifying a different permutation of the reduced number of antenna elements within the antenna array, wherein the sequence minimizes a count of common antenna elements between consecutive arrangements in order to maximize a non-operational time for a given antenna element;
• and
• coordinate operation of the antenna elements of the antenna array based on the element arrangements in accordance with the sequence.