Satellite tracking apparatus and control method for vehicle-mounted receive antenna system

A method of a vehicle-mounted receive antenna system, comprising steps of:

• (a) initializing hardware and starting a satellite tracking algorithm if a switch of a beam steering control section is ON and selecting a channel of a satellite tracking signal;
• (b) checking a system initialization signal and performing an initial tracking until a satellite signal exceeds a threshold value and a rotation absolute angular rate of the antenna becomes stable;
• (c) performing an automatic tracking mode after said initial tracking is completed;
• and
• (d) generating a response flag to change mode into the automatic tracking mode based upon a first signal and a second signal after said initial tracking is completed, and controlling automatically setting the system initialization signal and the response signal, the first signal containing an elevation angle, an intensity of a received signal at the elevation angle, and a first serial communication interrupt signal that are provided in said step (b), the second signal containing a beam tilt angle in an azimuth direction, an intensity of a received signal at the beam tilt angle, and a second serial communication interrupt signal that are provided in said step (c),
• wherein said step (d) is performed as an interrupt independent from said steps (a, b, c), and
• wherein said method is a hybrid tracking method where a tracking in the elevation direction is carried out using an electronic beam and a tracking in the azimuth direction is carried out mechanically.

A satellite tracking control method for vehicle-mounted receive antenna system, comprising steps of:

• (a) initializing hardware input/output, RS232 serial communicating with a beam steering controller, and a motor controllers for motor control;
• (b) rotating a motor at 90° absolute angular rate in an azimuth direction for searching a satellite location in the azimuth direction after step (a);
• (c) rotating the motor while performing step (b) until the beam steering controller senses a satellite signal, and stopping the motor when the beam steering controller senses the satellite signal;
• (d) receiving an output signal of an angular rate sensor through the beam steering controller, and controlling the motor to maintain a motor rotating rate in said steps (b and c) at the angular rate;
• (e) recognizing stop of the motor and the satellite signal received, executing an automatic satellite algorithm, determining a deviation angle (kdeg) of the azimuth direction by using an automatic tracking status signal, and executing an automatic tracking algorithm using the deviation angle (kdeg) for motor control;
• (f) moving an azimuth location left and right slightly for receiving the satellite signal while maintaining the azimuth location by output data of said angular rate sensor when loosing the satellite signal because of blocking in said step (e), and repeating said step (e);
• and
• (g) executing an error processing routine for initialize said all algorithms when an error suddenly occurs in said steps (a, b, c, d, e, and f), repeating said step (b) until the satellite signal is received.