Transparent mesh overlay in hub-spoke satellite networks
AssigneeGilat Satellite Networks Ltd.
InventorsSnir Brener, Eran Haccoon, Haim Halfon, Guy Levitas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a satellite-based communication network comprised of a central hub and plurality of remote terminals configured to transmit data to and receive data from the central hub in accordance with EN 301 790 (DVB-RCS), and where one or more of these remote terminals may be configured to include an additional receiver module configured to receive MF-TDMA transmission of other remote terminals, a mesh receiver and methods for coupling the mesh receiver with the host remote terminal. In addition, described herein are methods for synchronizing the mesh receiver on the network's timing and frequency and for utilizing the available link power for achieving efficient connectivity.
Claims19
A terminal in a satellite communication system comprised of a central hub and a plurality of terminals, the terminal comprising:
- at least one Ethernet interface;
- a mesh receiver configured to receive multi-frequency time division multiple access (MF-TDMA) transmissions from other terminals in the satellite communication system;
- a time division multiplexing (TDM) receiver configured to receive transmissions from the central hub, said TDM receiver comprising a tuner, a demodulator and a demultiplexer;
- at least one processor coupled to volatile or non-volatile memory devices;
- and
- synchronization circuits,
- wherein the terminal is configured to:
- couple a reference clock input of the mesh receiver with a reconstructed reference clock (PCR) generated by the synchronization circuits;
- couple a frame synchronization input of the mesh receiver with a frame synchronization signal generated by the synchronization circuits;
- couple a transport stream input of the mesh receiver with a transport stream output of the TDM receiver's demodulator;
- couple an external reference signal input of the mesh receiver with a reference signal of the TDM receiver's tuner;
- and
- couple an Ethernet interface of the mesh receiver with an Ethernet interface of the terminal.
A method of synchronizing a mesh receiver in a remote terminal in a satellite communication system comprised of a central hub and plurality of remote terminals, comprising:
- receiving, at the remote terminal, a transport stream containing clock timestamps;
- reconstructing a reference clock (PCR) at the remote terminal using the clock timestamps in the received transport stream;
- coupling the reconstructed reference clock to a first input of the mesh receiver;
- generating, at the remote terminal, a frame synchronization signal distinct from the reconstructed reference clock, the frame synchronization signal having a series of significant edges;
- coupling the frame synchronization signal to a second input of the mesh receiver;
- calculating, at the remote terminal, a local reference clock (PCR) value corresponding to the timing of a next significant edge of the frame synchronization signal;
- and
- sending a packet from the remote terminal over an Ethernet interface to the mesh receiver, wherein the packet includes a calculated reference clock value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.