A method for supporting on-demand access and entry of a broadband satellite communication earth station

Abstract

The application provides a method for supporting random access and network entry of a wideband satellite communication earth station, and belongs to the technical field of satellite communication. A wide beam is configured on a satellite, and the earth station can receive a wide beam downlink broadcast signal after being turned on, performs satellite-ground link synchronization, accesses and applies for a spot beam service through a wide beam low-speed signaling channel, and completes network entry signaling interaction with a gateway station, a network management and control unit based on allocated spot beam wideband channel resources; after the earth station enters the network, the spot beam resources are released, and the earth station is on duty on the low-speed signaling channel of the wide beam. The application fully utilizes the wide coverage of the wide beam and the near real-time high-speed transmission of the electrically controlled adjustable spot beam, improves the access quantity and access resource efficiency of the earth station under single-satellite coverage on the premise of meeting the random access coverage requirement.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of satellite communication technology, and in particular to a method for supporting ubiquitous access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations. Background Technology

[0002] From the perspective of satellite beam configuration, broadband satellite communication is evolving from traditional single-beam systems to multi-beam systems. Frequency spatial reuse and spot beam power enhancement can effectively improve system communication capacity. Current GEO high-throughput satellites (HTS) generally employ fixed multi-spot beams and spatial frequency reuse technology, which effectively solves the problem of regional coverage continuity. However, this results in significant resource waste, especially when providing global service, as many spot beam coverage areas lack users, leading to underutilization of resources. Electrically adjustable spot beam technology can effectively resolve the contradiction between user coverage and efficient utilization of satellite resources.

[0003] Electronically controlled adjustable spot beams possess the capability for agile pointing across a wide spatial span, providing near real-time service to multiple users in different areas via time-division multiplexing. Different dwell time slots can be allocated based on the service volume requirements of different areas, eliminating the need for coverage in areas without users. This improves the utilization rate of satellite resources while solving the problem of wide-area user coverage and service. However, before the earth station is activated and connected to the network, when the system does not have the earth station's geographical location information, relying solely on satellite electronically controlled adjustable spot beams is insufficient to solve the problem of on-demand access and network connection for earth stations. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a method for supporting ubiquitous access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations. By combining wide beams and electronically adjustable point beams, the utilization rate of satellite resources is improved, and efficient access of earth stations is achieved.

[0005] The technical solution adopted in this invention is as follows:

[0006] A method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations, applied in a broadband satellite communication system, the broadband satellite communication system including an earth station, a satellite, a gateway station, and a network management and control unit, the method comprising the following steps:

[0007] (1) The satellite is equipped with an electronically controlled adjustable spot beam and a wide beam. The wide beam is equipped with uplink and downlink low-speed signaling channels, and the electronically controlled adjustable spot beam supports on-demand switching to cover different location areas and is equipped with a high-speed signaling channel.

[0008] (2) The earth station is powered on, tracks the satellite, receives the wide-beam downlink broadcast signal, and completes satellite-to-ground time and frequency synchronization;

[0009] (3) The earth station accesses the network through the wide-beam signaling channel and sends network access application information to the network management and control unit. The application information includes the network access request and location identifier.

[0010] (4) The network management and control unit allocates power control adjustable point beam resources to the earth station through the wide beam signaling channel;

[0011] (5) The earth station receives electronically adjustable point beam resource allocation information from the wide beam signaling channel, configures the uplink and downlink parameters of the local beam, and sends a resource allocation reception response to the network management and control unit through the wide beam signaling channel;

[0012] (6) The earth station and network management and control unit complete the network access signaling interaction based on the allocated electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources;

[0013] (7) After the earth station is connected to the network, release the electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources and guard the signaling channel of the satellite wide beam.

[0014] Furthermore, the satellite is a GSO satellite, MEO satellite, or LEO satellite, and each satellite is equipped with one or more wide beams. The projected area of ​​the wide beam nadir point is more than 30 times that of the electronically controlled adjustable point wave.

[0015] Furthermore, the wide beam configured on the satellite provides either fixed ground coverage or scanning coverage.

[0016] Furthermore, the electronically controlled adjustable point beam configured on the satellite can switch between any location area, and the beam switching time from one location area to another is no more than 100ns.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0018] 1. This invention improves the number of randomly accessible earth stations and the network access timeliness of the system by combining wide beam and electronically adjustable point beam.

[0019] 2. Based on the advantages of wide beam and wide area coverage, this invention supports any deployed earth station to establish real-time synchronization with satellites after power-on. The earth station only reports location information and network access application information through the wide beam and low speed signaling channel, reducing the signaling interaction capacity of a single earth station and increasing the number of earth station users that can access the system at any time.

[0020] 3. Based on the advantages of high transmission rate and agile directional coverage across a large spatial span, this invention allows the system to allocate electronically controlled adjustable point beam time slots as needed according to the location information and network access application information reported by the earth station. This supports the earth station in completing subsequent network access processes involving large amounts of information and numerous interactions. Furthermore, the electronically controlled adjustable point beam can switch on demand, eliminating the need for coverage in areas without earth station network access requirements, thus improving the resource utilization efficiency of the electronically controlled adjustable point beam. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a scenario illustrating a method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of a broadband satellite communication earth station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations in an embodiment of the present invention. Implementation

[0023] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0024] A method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations, applied in broadband satellite communication systems, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the broadband satellite communication system includes an earth station, a satellite, a gateway station, and a network management and control unit.

[0025] like Figure 2 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0026] (1) The satellite is equipped with an electronically adjustable spot beam and a wide beam. The wide beam is equipped with uplink and downlink low-speed signaling channels. The electronically adjustable spot beam supports on-demand switching to cover different location areas and is equipped with a high-speed signaling channel.

[0027] (2) The earth station is powered on, tracks the satellite, receives the wide-beam downlink broadcast signal, and completes satellite-to-ground time and frequency synchronization; it also obtains downlink synchronization from the monitoring network.

[0028] This step considers the different procedures for two scenarios: the satellite is configured with one wide beam or multiple wide beams.

[0029] Scenario 1: Satellite configured with 1 wide beam:

[0030] (2.1) The Earth station performs blind detection of the synchronization broadcast block at a specific wide-beam downlink broadcast frequency, determines the system frame start position based on the synchronization signal in the synchronization broadcast block, and obtains the cell identifier;

[0031] (2.2) Determine the demodulation reference signal location based on the cell identifier, and determine the time and frequency resource location of the wide beam broadcast channel based on this location;

[0032] (2.3) Decode the broadcast channel, perform frequency offset estimation, phase compensation, channel estimation, equalization, decoding and other operations to parse out the downlink system information of the broadcast channel;

[0033] (2.4) The earth station obtains downlink bandwidth parameters, configuration parameters, time domain information, system frame number and other information from the system message, completes downlink synchronization, camps in the cell, enters idle state and receives system information.

[0034] Scenario 2: The satellite is equipped with multiple wide beams:

[0035] (2.1) Multiple wide beams broadcast to the ground via scanning. The earth station polls the blind detection synchronization broadcast block at a specific wide beam downlink broadcast frequency, receives synchronization, completes downlink synchronization, camps in the cell, enters the idle state, and receives system information.

[0036] (3) Based on the system information received downlink, the earth station sends a random access request. The network management and control unit allocates uplink and downlink signaling channel resources for the earth station's random access and sends a random access response to the earth station. The earth station completes the random access process and completes uplink synchronization of the signaling beam; specifically as follows:

[0037] (3.1) The physical layer of the earth station reports the cell reference signal received power. The upper layer of the earth station determines the transmission carrier of the physical random access information based on the received power measurement value. This step can configure a supplementary uplink carrier. When the measured value is lower than a certain threshold and a supplementary uplink carrier is configured, the random access channel is selected to be transmitted on the supplementary uplink carrier. The random access preamble is transmitted to the satellite base station in the random access channel.

[0038] (3.2) Upon receiving the preamble, the satellite-based base station requests uplink scheduling resources. Then, the satellite-based base station sends a random access response via the physical shared channel. The response includes the preamble identifier, time adjustment information, and initial uplink scheduling.

[0039] (3.3) If the preamble identifier in the response received by the earth station is the same as the preamble identifier sent, the response is successful. The earth station synchronizes uplink on the broadcast channel and can then send service point beam scheduling information;

[0040] (3.4) If the earth station does not receive a response within the response window or fails to verify the response, the response fails. In this case, if the number of random access attempts is less than the upper limit (10), the earth station retryes random access; otherwise, random access fails.

[0041] (4) The earth station accesses the network through a wide-beam signaling channel established by the random access procedure and sends network access application information to the network management and control unit. The application information includes network access request, location identifier and other information.

[0042] (5) The network management and control unit obtains the unique identifier of the earth station and allocates power-controlled adjustable point beam resources to the earth station through the wide beam signaling channel; specifically as follows:

[0043] (5.1) After receiving the application for network access from the earth station, the network management and control unit obtains the unique identifier of the earth station and confirms whether the terminal is allowed to access the network through the unique identifier. If the terminal is allowed to access the network, the network management and control unit coordinates resource scheduling and allocates beam resources for the earth station. The allocated beam resources are sent to the earth station through the wide beam signaling channel.

[0044] (5.2) If network access is not permitted, a network access prohibition signaling message shall be sent to the earth station through the wide beam signaling channel;

[0045] (6) The earth station receives satellite electronically adjustable point beam resource allocation information from the wide beam signaling channel, configures the uplink and downlink parameters of the local beam, and sends a resource allocation reception response to the network management and control unit through the wide beam signaling channel;

[0046] (7) Based on the allocated satellite electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources, the earth station and the network management and control unit complete network access signaling interactions such as authentication and authorization; specifically as follows:

[0047] (7.1) After receiving the resource allocation response, the network management and control unit calls the authentication server based on the unique identifier of the earth station;

[0048] (7.2) The earth station interacts with the network management and control unit through the electronically adjustable spot beam broadband channel to complete authentication and authorization;

[0049] (8) After the earth station is connected to the network, the satellite electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources are released and the satellite is guarded on the signaling channel of the satellite wide beam.

[0050] At this point, the entire process of enabling unrestricted access and network integration for the Earth station is complete.

[0051] In summary, this invention enables satellites to be configured with wide beams that provide a large field of view and low link rate in satellite communication systems that are primarily based on electronically adjustable spot beams. Upon power-up, the satellite earth station can receive downlink broadcast signals from the wide beams, perform satellite-to-ground link synchronization, access and request spot beam services through the wide beam low-speed signaling channel, and complete authentication, authorization, and other network access signaling interaction processes with the gateway station and network management and control unit based on the allocated spot beam broadband channel resources. After network access, the earth station releases the spot beam resources and remains on the wide beam low-speed signaling channel.

[0052] This method makes full use of wide beamwidth and high-speed transmission with near real-time reach of electronically adjustable point beams, thereby increasing the number of earth stations that can access the network and the efficiency of access resources under single-satellite coverage while meeting the requirements for coverage under any circumstances.

Claims

1. A method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of a broadband satellite communication earth station, applied in a broadband satellite communication system, wherein the broadband satellite communication system includes an earth station, a satellite, a gateway station, and a network management and control unit, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: (1) The satellite is equipped with an electronically controlled adjustable spot beam and a wide beam. The wide beam is equipped with uplink and downlink low-speed signaling channels, and the electronically controlled adjustable spot beam supports on-demand switching to cover different location areas and is equipped with a high-speed signaling channel. (2) The earth station is powered on, tracks the satellite, receives the wide-beam downlink broadcast signal, and completes satellite-to-ground time and frequency synchronization; (3) The earth station accesses the network through the wide-beam signaling channel and sends network access application information to the network management and control unit. The application information includes the network access request and location identifier. (4) The network management and control unit allocates power control adjustable point beam resources to the earth station through the wide beam signaling channel; (5) The earth station receives electronically adjustable point beam resource allocation information from the wide beam signaling channel, configures the uplink and downlink parameters of the local beam, and sends a resource allocation reception response to the network management and control unit through the wide beam signaling channel; (6) The earth station and network management and control unit complete the network access signaling interaction based on the allocated electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources; (7) After the earth station is connected to the network, release the electronically adjustable point beam broadband channel resources and guard the signaling channel of the satellite wide beam.

2. The method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations according to claim 1, characterized in that, The satellite is a GSO satellite, MEO satellite, or LEO satellite, with one or more wide beams configured on a single satellite. The projected area of ​​the wide beam nadir point is more than 30 times that of the electronically controlled adjustable point wave.

3. The method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations according to claim 1, characterized in that, The satellite is configured with a wide beam for either fixed ground coverage or scanning coverage.

4. The method for supporting on-demand access and network entry of broadband satellite communication earth stations according to claim 1, characterized in that, The satellite is equipped with an electronically controlled adjustable spot beam that can switch between any location area, and the beam switching time from one location area to another is no more than 100ns.

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