Satellite communication subscriber device with a smart antenna and associated method

A satellite communication subscriber device comprising:

• a phased array antenna comprising a plurality of active antenna elements for generating a plurality of directional antenna beams in an azimuth direction and in an elevation direction, the plurality of directional antenna beams for receiving signals from at least one of a satellite and a terrestrial repeater, and at least a portion of the plurality of antenna beams having different polarizations;
• a transceiver comprising a quality metric module for calculating a quality metric on the signals received by each directional antenna beam;
• a beam selector coupled to said phased array antenna for selecting the plurality of directional antenna beams in the azimuth and elevation directions based on selectively adjusting a phase associated with each active antenna element;
• an antenna steering algorithm module for running an antenna steering algorithm for
• operating said beam selector for scanning a portion of the plurality of antenna beams based upon a known direction of the at least one satellite,
• receiving the calculated quality metrics from said transceiver for each scanned antenna beam,
• comparing the calculated quality metrics to a low quality metric threshold, and ignoring antenna beams having calculated quality metrics below the low quality metric threshold;
• comparing the remaining calculated quality metrics to one another for the corresponding antenna beams having quality metrics above the low quality metric threshold;
• and
• selecting one of the scanned directional antenna beams in the elevation or azimuth direction based upon the comparing of the remaining calculated quality metrics for continuing to receive signals from the satellite or terrestrial repeater;
• and
• said antenna steering algorithm module also determines if a rescan is to be performed, and if the rescan is to be performed, then repeats the operating, receiving, comparing and selecting associated with running the antenna steering algorithm.

A method for operating a satellite communication subscriber device comprising a switched beam antenna comprising an active antenna element and a plurality of passive antenna elements for generating a plurality of antenna beams for receiving signals from at least one satellite, and at least a portion of the plurality of antenna beams having different polarizations, a receiver comprising a quality metric module for calculating a quality metric on the signals received by each antenna beam, a beam selector coupled to the switched beam antenna, and an antenna steering algorithm module for running an antenna steering algorithm, the method comprising:

• operating the beam selector for scanning a portion of the plurality of antenna beams based upon a known direction of the at least one satellite, the scanning being based on selectively changing termination impedances of the plurality of passive antenna elements;
• receiving the calculated quality metrics from the receiver for each scanned antenna beam;
• comparing the calculated quality metrics to a low quality metric threshold, and ignoring antenna beams having calculated quality metrics below the low quality metric threshold;
• comparing the remaining calculated quality metrics to one another for the corresponding antenna beams having quality metrics above the low quality metric threshold;
• selecting one of the scanned antenna beams based upon the comparing of the remaining calculated quality metrics for continuing to receive signals from the at least one satellite;
• and
• determining if a rescan is to be performed, and if the rescan is to be performed, then repeating the operating, receiving, comparing and selecting.