Opportunistic satellite communication with alignment prediction

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a wireless communication device detects a trigger to send a message via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, where each alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of an antenna of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one satellite of the one or more satellites, and transitioning to a dormant state until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities, and sending the message to at least one of the one or more satellites during the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 375,767, filed on September 15, 2022, entitled “OPPORTUNISTIC SATELLITE COMMUNICATION WITH ALIGNMENT PREDICTION,” which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003]

[0013] Generally speaking, aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over different generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0005] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS procedures and technologies, and high-density deployments of 5G, enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning. Summary of the invention

[0006] A simplified overview of one or more aspects disclosed herein is given below. Therefore, the following overview should not be considered as a broad overview of all intended aspects, nor should it be considered as identifying key or important elements related to all intended aspects or delineating the scope associated with any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following overview is to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description given below.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device includes detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoiding communication with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites during the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0008] In one aspect, a wireless communication device includes: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: detect a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determine one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoid communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicate with at least one of the one or more satellites via the one or more transceivers during the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0009] In one aspect, a wireless communication device includes: a component for detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; a component for determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; a component for avoiding communication with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and a component for communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites during the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0010] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to detect a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determine one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoid communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicate with at least one of the one or more satellites during the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0011] Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration of these aspects and not limitation thereof.

[0013] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0014] Figure 2A and Figure 2B Example wireless network structures in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are shown.

[0015] Figure 3 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0016] Figure 4is a diagram illustrating an emergency message via satellite scenario in which a user is pointing a mobile device toward a satellite in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario on a non-terrestrial network (NTN) according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6 Two exemplary sky diagrams showing the paths of Iridium NEXT satellites as viewed from San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 7 An exemplary sky map showing the paths of Iridium NEXT satellites as viewed through a device in San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 8 An example of maximum alignment error for an Iridium NEXT satellite viewed from an observation point on the equator is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig. 9 An exemplary sky map showing the paths of Iridium NEXT satellites as viewed through a device in San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig.10 is an example method of aligning a main antenna lobe of a device with a line of sight (LOS) direction to a satellite in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig.11

[0013] Example methods of wireless communications in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Aspects of the present invention are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid blurring the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0025] Various aspects generally relate to satellite communications. Some aspects more specifically relate to opportunistic satellite communications using alignment prediction. In some examples, for a wireless communication device that lacks an antenna with sufficient directivity, the wireless communication device determines the relative position of the wireless communication device to one or more satellites, and determines the next transmission (or reception) opportunity based on the relative position and the path of the satellite. A user interface (UI) element requests the user to place the wireless communication device on a surface in a certain manner within a given time period, and the wireless communication device transmits (or receives) a message at a future time when alignment with at least one satellite is achieved.

[0026] Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by determining the next transmit (or receive) opportunity and waiting until that opportunity to transmit (or receive), the described techniques can be used to reduce power consumption, reduce the bill of materials (BOM) of the wireless communication device, and increase the likelihood of successful communication with a satellite, especially when the wireless communication device cannot be moved or the user cannot follow an interactive pointing process.

[0027] As used herein, the words "exemplary" and / or "example" mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0028] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0029] In addition, many aspects are described in the form of a sequence of actions performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein can be performed by a dedicated circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. In addition, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which stores a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, will cause or instruct the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in several different forms, all of which have been conceived to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0030] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate on a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber equipment", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks (such as the Internet) and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), and so on.

[0031] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access by a UE, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may send a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may send a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0032] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission reception point (TRP) or may refer to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of a base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Since the TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmissions from, or receptions at, a base station should be understood as references to the specific TRP of that base station.

[0033] In some implementations supporting UE positioning, the base station may not support wireless access for the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE to the UE, and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning tower (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0034] "RF signals" include electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transmit information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of each RF signal through a multipath channel, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, RF signals may also be referred to as "wireless signals" or simply "signals", where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to either wireless signals or RF signals.

[0035] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 is shown in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, and the like.

[0036] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and go to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. UE 104 may also communicate with location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, communication between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128) with intervening nodes (if any), which are omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0037] The base stations 102 may also perform, among other functions, functions related to one or more of the delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134 (which may be wired or wireless).

[0038] Base stations 102 may communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and a base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. Additionally, because a TRP is typically a physical transmission point for a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station in the sense that a carrier frequency may be detected and used for communications within a portion of geographic coverage area 110.

[0039] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handoff region), some geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "Small Cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide service to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0040] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (also known as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also known as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0041] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure to determine whether a channel is available before communicating.

[0042] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as that used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum may boost coverage and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0043] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to 3 GHz frequencies with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) on ​​the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it will be appreciated that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples, and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0044] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Conventionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, the network node broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitter network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an antenna array (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that generates a beam of RF waves, and the beam of the RF wave can be "guided" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together in the expected direction to increase the radiation, while canceling out in the unintended direction to suppress the radiation.

[0045] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, which means that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network node themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0046] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction for all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) for the RF signal received from that direction.

[0047] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam based on the parameters of the receive beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station.

[0048] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam for receiving downlink reference signals. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0049] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz band" in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in various documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0050] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands of these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz–24.25 GHz). The frequency bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus can effectively extend the characteristics of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. Additionally, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to above 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz–71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz–114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz–300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0051] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "sub-6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "millimeter wave" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0052] In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier that operates on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels as well as UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and that can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, signaling information and signals that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, because both the primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. For example, this is done to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier that a base station is using to communicate, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0053] For example, still referring to Figure 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0054] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 over the communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 over the mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0055] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communications. A sidelink-capable UE (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 over communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or just "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication going through a base station. Sidelink communications may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102, or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0056] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communications between other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared between various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, particularly those employing small cell access points, have recently expanded operations into unlicensed bands, such as the unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technology (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology generally referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0057] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are shown as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the UEs shown may be SL-UEs. In addition, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the UEs shown (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. In the case where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cells 102', access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 may utilize beamforming on sidelink 160.

[0058] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , any one of the UEs is shown (for simplicity in FIG. 1 ). Figure 1104) can receive signals 124 from one or more earth orbiting spacecraft (SV) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, SV 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. Satellite positioning systems typically include a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine the receiver's position on or above the earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from these transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although the transmitter is typically located in SV 112, it can sometimes be located in a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UE 104. UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers that are specifically designed to receive signals 124 from SV 112 to derive geographic location information.

[0059] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 can be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), which may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geo-Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo-Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0060] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In NTNs, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element in turn will provide access to other elements in the 5G network, and ultimately provide access to entities external to the 5G network (such as Internet web servers and other user devices). In this way, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112 as an alternative or supplement to receiving communication signals from a ground base station 102.

[0061] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs (such as UE 190) that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity therefrom), and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity therefrom). In an example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can use any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth ® etc.) to support.

[0062] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is shown. For example, the 5GC 210 (also known as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in coordination to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, in particular to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more ng-eNBs 224 and one or more gNBs 222. The gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein).

[0063] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules extended across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). In addition, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0064] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is shown. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally viewed as a control plane function (provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264) and a user plane function (provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262), which operate in coordination to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, session management (SM) message transmission between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, short message service (SMS) message transmission between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and a security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF264 retrieves security material from AUSF. The functions of AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF, which are used by SCM to derive keys that vary from access network to access network. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes: location service management for regulatory services, location service message transmission between UE 204 and location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), location service message transmission between NG-RAN 220 and LMF270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interworking with Evolved Packet System (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, AMF 264 also supports the functionality of non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0065] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0066] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0067] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functionality as the LMF 270, but while the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages but not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP) on the user plane. Figure 2B (not shown) communications.

[0068] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

[0069] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260 (specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively) to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via the backhaul connection 223 (referred to as the "Xn-C" interface). One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface (referred to as the "Uu" interface).

[0070] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functionality such as transmission of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., except for those functions specifically assigned to (multiple) gNB-DUs 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 may support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functions of the gNB 222 are typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0071] Figure 3Several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) that can be incorporated into UE 302 (which can correspond to any UE described herein) are shown. It should be understood that in different implementations, these components can be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The components shown can also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the components described to provide similar functions. In addition, a given device may include one or more components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components, which enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0072] The UE 302 includes one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 that provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for avoiding transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) (such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc.). The one or more WWAN transceivers 310 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 for communicating with other network nodes (e.g., other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a certain set of time / frequency resources in a specific spectrum). The one or more WWAN transceivers 310 can be configured differently for transmitting and encoding signals 318 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the designated RAT, and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the one or more WWAN transceivers 310 include one or more transmitters 314 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and one or more receivers 312 for receiving and decoding signals 318 .

[0073] At least in some cases, the UE 302 also includes one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320. The one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for avoiding transmitting, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc. over a wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave® PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.). The one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 can be configured differently for transmitting and encoding signals 328 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and conversely for receiving and decoding signals 328 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) according to the designated RAT. Specifically, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 include one or more transmitters 324 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and one or more receivers 322 for receiving and decoding signals 328. As specific examples, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 may be a Wi-Fi transceiver, a Bluetooth® transceiver, a Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceiver, an NFC transceiver, a UWB transceiver, or a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0074] At least in some cases, the UE 302 also includes a satellite signal interface 330, which includes one or more satellite signal receivers 332 and may optionally include one or more satellite signal transmitters 334. The one or more satellite signal receivers 332 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and may provide a means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338. In the case where the one or more satellite signal receivers 332 include a satellite positioning system of the receiver, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian regional navigation satellite system (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. In the case where the one or more satellite signal receivers 332 include a non-terrestrial network (NTN) receiver, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. The one or more satellite signal receivers 332 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338. The one or more satellite signal receivers 332 may request information and operations from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine the location of the UE 302 using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

[0075] The optional satellite signal transmitter 334 (when present) can be connected to the one or more antennas 336 and can provide a means for transmitting satellite positioning / communication signals 338. In the case where the one or more satellite signal transmitters 334 include an NTN transmitter, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 can be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from the 5G network. The one or more satellite signal transmitters 334 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for transmitting satellite positioning / communication signals 338. The one or more satellite signal transmitters 334 can request appropriate information and operations from other systems.

[0076] The transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. The transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes a transmitter circuit (e.g., transmitter 314, 324) and a receiver circuit (e.g., receiver 312, 322). The transceiver can be an integrated device in some embodiments (e.g., embodying the transmitter circuit and the device circuit in a single receiver), can include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits in some embodiments, or can be embodied in other ways in other embodiments. The transmitter circuit and receiver circuit of the wired transceiver can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuit (e.g., transmitter 314, 324) can include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326), such as antenna arrays, that allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302) to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuits (e.g., receivers 312, 322) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326), such as antenna arrays, which allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302) to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, transmitter circuits and receiver circuits may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326) so that a corresponding device can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than simultaneously. A wireless transceiver (e.g., one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320) may also include a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements, etc.

[0077] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320) and wired transceivers may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers will generally involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station will generally involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0078] UE 302 also includes other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302 includes one or more processors 342 for providing functions related to, for example, wireless communication and for providing other processing functions. Thus, one or more processors 342 can provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for sending, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, one or more processors 342 can include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0079] UE 302 includes memory circuits (e.g., each memory circuit includes a memory device) implementing memory 340 for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memory 340 can provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302 can include an alignment component 348. Alignment component 348 can be a hardware circuit that is part of or coupled to one or more processors 342, which when executed causes UE 302 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, alignment component 348 can be external to processor 342 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, alignment component 348 can be a memory module stored in memory 340 that, when executed by one or more processors 342 (or modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), causes UE 302 to perform the functions described herein. Figure 3 Possible locations for alignment component 348 are shown, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 342, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0080] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 342 to provide a component for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or a satellite signal interface 330. For example, the sensor 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, the sensor 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0081] The various components of UE 302 may be communicatively coupled to one another via a data bus 308. In one aspect, data bus 308 may form or be part of a communication interface of UE 302.

[0082] Additionally, UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing indications to a user (eg, audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (eg, upon user actuation of a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.).

[0083] For convenience, UE 302 Figure 3 1 is shown as including various components that can be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the components shown can have different functions in different designs. In particular, Figure 3 Various components in the UE 302 are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth® capabilities but no cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal interface 330, or may omit the sensor 344, etc. For the sake of brevity, a description of various alternative configurations is not provided herein, but will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

[0084] Figure 3 The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3The components may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 308 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE". However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of UE 302 (such as one or more processors 342, one or more transceivers 310 and 320, memory 340, alignment component 348, etc.).

[0085] In satellite communication scenarios, due to the typically low transmit power capabilities and large path losses of wireless user equipment, it is important to align the main antenna lobe (or main beam) of the wireless user equipment with the line of sight (LOS) direction to the satellite. For example, some wireless user equipment provide an emergency satellite connection feature that gives the user the ability to send an emergency (SOS) message via a satellite. Because user equipment typically has a low transmit power capability, sending an SOS message via a satellite typically requires an unobstructed path to the satellite. Therefore, adjusting the device orientation so that the main antenna lobe is aligned with the LOS direction to the satellite is very important to meet the link budget (i.e., the transmit power required to receive the emergency signal at an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the satellite).

[0086] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating an emergency message via satellite scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure, wherein the user is pointing the mobile device toward the satellite. As shown, by pointing the device toward the satellite, the main antenna lobe is aligned with the LOS direction to the satellite. It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly, robust, and intelligent method to help users align their mobile devices with satellites.

[0087] As another example, NTN connectivity is a feature of 5G NR and is important for service continuity. In this case, link budget and UE power consumption issues as well as the frequency band used for NTN services make beamforming at the UE challenging. Therefore, it is highly desirable to adjust the UE heading so that its antenna lobe is aligned with the direction of the satellite. For example, doing so can save power and reduce the bill of materials (BOM) (thus saving the cost of amplifiers, antennas, etc.).

[0088] Figure 5 FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an IoT scenario on an NTN according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 5As shown, various IoT devices are deployed in remote areas where cellular coverage may not be available. Furthermore, in many IoT applications, the UE is attached to an object (e.g., a package) that is immovable or cannot be moved for a specific duration. Therefore, in order to provide improved NTN connectivity and reduced power consumption, it would be beneficial to be able to improve antenna alignment without physically reorienting the UE.

[0089] Existing solutions for improving antenna alignment focus on interactive processes that require the user to physically reorient the device to achieve antenna-to-satellite alignment. However, in emergency situations, for example, the user may be in distress and therefore may be unable to follow interactive user interface (UI) prompts. For example, the user may be disabled, visually impaired, injured, ill, exhausted, have limited movement, experience hand tremors, experience extreme weather, etc. In these scenarios, being able to send an SOS message may be a matter of life and death for the user.

[0090] Over time, satellites can have good coverage of the entire sky. For example, the orbital plane of an Iridium NEXT satellite (a communications satellite) sweeps across the entire sky in about two hours. These satellites operate in six north-south orbital planes. As the Earth rotates eastward, an orbital plane that is in the east relative to a given user location will gradually move westward. The orbital planes are spaced approximately 31.6 degrees apart. Since the Earth rotates at about 15 degrees per hour, a satellite will cross the entire sky in about 2.1 hours.

[0091] Figure 6 Two exemplary sky plots of the tracks of the Iridium NEXT satellite as viewed from San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are shown. The sky plots represent the position and movement of celestial objects relative to an observation point on Earth (e.g., San Diego). More specifically, the center of the circle corresponds to the observation point (e.g., a user, a device, a city center, etc.). The azimuth angle relative to the observation point is represented as lines radiating outward from the center. For example, north of the observation point is 0 degrees, south is 180 degrees, and so on. The elevation angle relative to the observation point is represented as concentric circles around the center. The outer circle represents the horizon at 0 degrees, and the elevation angle increases to 90 degrees at the center (i.e., straight up from the observation point).

[0092] Return to reference Figure 6 In the example of FIG. 6A , sky map 600 shows the paths of the Iridium NEXT satellites over a two-hour period, while sky map 650 shows their paths over a four-hour period. It can be seen that in sky map 650 , the position of the satellite's north-south orbital plane over the Earth has shifted by approximately 31.6 degrees from the previous orbit.

[0093] The present disclosure provides techniques for aligning the main antenna lobe of a device with the LOS direction to a satellite when a user is unable to follow an interactive pointing procedure. The present disclosure assumes that users who are unable to follow the interactive UI prompts can typically wait (at least several hours) before help arrives. Thus, when a user indicates that they are unable to follow the interactive pointing procedure, the device prompts the user to place the device on a stable surface (e.g., the ground) with few surrounding obstacles so that the main antenna lobe will point in a certain fixed direction in the sky, such as Figure 7 shown.

[0094] Note that the radiation pattern of most antennas is a pattern of "lobes" at various angles (i.e., directions where the radiated signal strength is a maximum) separated by "nulls" (i.e., angles where the radiation drops to zero). In pointing / beamforming antennas, where the goal is to send radio waves in a specific direction, the lobe in that direction is designed to have a higher field strength than the other lobes, and is called the "main lobe" (or "main antenna lobe", etc.). The other lobes are called "side lobes" and generally represent unwanted radiation in unwanted directions. The main lobe of a handheld smartphone generally radiates from the back of the device, but in some cases may radiate from the front of the device or in some other direction. This way, the device can prompt the user to place the device face down on the ground (or face up or tilted, depending on the antenna design / layout) so that the main antenna lobe will point toward the sky.

[0095] Figure 7 An example sky map 700 is shown of the tracks of Iridium NEXT satellites as viewed by a device in San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 7 In the example of , the user has placed the device face down, and the main antenna lobe is pointing in a direction with an azimuth of approximately 340 degrees and an elevation of approximately 40 degrees. Note that in some cases the main lobe may be significantly asymmetric, e.g. flattened in one dimension. Then, for example, the antenna will point to an arc in the sky map rather than a point. This information should be taken into account when identifying alignment opportunities.

[0096] The device predicts the trajectory of any satellite to which it can send an emergency message to determine when in the near future the primary antenna lobe of at least one antenna and at least one such satellite will be sufficiently aligned that the device can send the emergency message with a reasonable chance of success within its link budget and power consumption capabilities (e.g., amplifier capabilities, antenna configuration, remaining battery, etc.). For example, for an Iridium NEXT satellite, the maximum time to obtain a close enough alignment is about two hours. Thus, a typical (median) time should be close to one hour. Figure 7 In the example of , satellite 502 may be a good candidate.

[0097] At the predicted time, the main antenna lobe is assumed to be aligned with the LOS direction to the satellite (as determined from the known or estimated trajectory of the satellite and the current position of the device). Therefore, the device sends the emergency message at that time. The device may retry the transmission as needed (e.g., if there is no acknowledgement, for increased robustness, etc.). The device may provide some indication to the user that the message was sent, such as a chime, voice notification, etc.

[0098] The accuracy with which the main antenna lobe is aligned with the satellite may depend on the location of the device. Figure 8 An example of maximum alignment error for an Iridium NEXT satellite as viewed from an observation point at the equator is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. For the Iridium NEXT satellite, for a user at the equator, the maximum gap between tracks (indicated by the horizontal double arrows on sky map 800) is 20.8 degrees, indicating that a maximum alignment error of + / - 10.4 degrees can be achieved in 2.1 hours. This maximum gap decreases with increasing latitude (approximately cos(latitude)), as shown in graph 850. Overall, this provides an error of + / - 5 to 10 degrees, depending on latitude. The width of the antenna lobe can tolerate this error well (e.g., in one embodiment, the 1 dB lobe width is approximately 20 degrees).

[0099] Angular alignment errors are largest near the apex, where the link budget is also easiest to meet. Therefore, there is a natural mitigation effect. In fact, a 4 to 5 dB advantage has been observed for satellites at the top of the sky, even though the satellite beam powers have been adjusted based on the coverage direction they serve. For context, in an interactive pointing scenario, the user's hand will not be perfectly steady, so there is also a systematic pointing error in this scheme.

[0100] Note that "alignment" may not be an absolute alignment, but rather a "soft" or potential alignment that occurs when the device estimates that a satellite is somewhere within the estimated width of the main antenna lobe, or at least at the edge of it. This "potential" alignment is due to the presence of noise and uncertainty in the available information, and the recognition that even non-ideal alignment may still support successful communications. Thus, as used herein, an alignment is a potential alignment because, at least for the aforementioned reasons, there is no guarantee that the alignment between the antenna main lobe and the satellite will be an absolute alignment, or even sufficient for successful communications. A potential alignment opportunity is a time period (or window) during which the main antenna lobe of at least one antenna is expected to be aligned with at least one satellite. Particular embodiments may balance the time of communication with the wake-up duty cycle (power consumption) when determining potential alignment opportunities.

[0101] As will be appreciated, the more satellites that are visible, the lower the alignment error and latency will be. Furthermore, any alignment error is further reduced over a longer time scale. Additionally, antenna steering / switching / beamforming can help further reduce alignment error and / or latency.

[0102] In one aspect, the above process can be in addition to the interactive user pointing process. For example, the user can be given two options, or the device can prompt the user to indicate whether they can follow the pointing instructions. If the device determines that the user cannot follow the pointing process (e.g., based on one or more failed attempts), the device can provide or automatically trigger the above process.

[0103] In the case where the device is on a moving platform (e.g., a ship at sea), or in the case where the device is placed on a suspended and / or curved surface, the device may not be "stable" after being put down. In these cases, the device can remind the user not to touch the device. Once it is confirmed that the user is not touching the device (via, for example, prompts or onboard sensors), the device can evaluate the movement pattern of the platform. If the movement is too violent and unpredictable, the device may have to abort the process and the user can be notified. Otherwise, the movement will cause the antenna lobe direction to jitter and shift / oscillate (slowly) over time. The disclosed process can still be performed, but the device should allow for a larger error tolerance. For example, the device can try more close alignment opportunities. In addition, some predictions may also be helpful.

[0104] In one aspect, the device may inform the user when the next communication attempt will be made. This may be after the device has been placed on the ground, has estimated the satellite trajectory and determined when the main antenna lobe should be aligned with the satellite.

[0105] In one aspect, the device may prompt the user to reposition the device after the user places the device on the ground. This may be beneficial in situations where the antenna lobe is pointing at an elevation angle that is negative or close to 0. Alternatively or additionally, this may be beneficial in situations where latency is expected to be long and repositioning may reduce that latency.

[0106] In one aspect, the assessment of alignment can be additionally based on received signal strength from one or more satellites. For example, multiple near-alignment communication opportunities can be attempted. Specifically, the device can wake up when a satellite is closer to alignment and actively monitor the received signal strength from the satellite. If the received signal strength is high enough (e.g., above a certain threshold), the device can consider the satellite to be sufficiently aligned to send an emergency message.

[0107] Note, regarding power consumption, once the device has determined a future time for alignment, the device (or just the emergency features) can go to sleep and only wake up to transmit at the predicted time. During this sleep mode, the device should not be moved. A very low power sensor can be used to detect any motion and trigger a wakeup if motion is detected.

[0108] Although the foregoing has generally described an emergency message via satellite scenario, as will be appreciated, these techniques are also applicable to IoT scenarios over NTNs. With regard to latency, IoT use cases are generally less sensitive to communication delays, which is a good fit for the proposed techniques. With regard to power savings, the present techniques save transmission power via an improved link budget when transmitting. Power is also saved on search and measurement by estimating when to turn on the transmitter / receiver (and sleep at other times).

[0109] Regarding possible sensors to use, Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), in particular accelerometers, are commonly available in mobile and IoT wireless devices. If a device is equipped with an IMU and a magnetometer, the device will be able to estimate its full orientation relative to the Earth. Methods and APIs exist for estimating such an orientation, for example by using the rotation vector sensor or the geomagnetic rotation vector sensor defined in Android. If a device is only equipped with an IMU or even only with an accelerometer, the elevation angle of the device antenna with respect to the horizontal plane can be estimated based on the estimated direction of gravity, e.g. Fig. 9 In this case, the device can still duty cycle its communication attempts based on predictions of available satellite elevation angles.

[0110] Fig. 9 An example sky map 900 showing the tracks of Iridium NEXT satellites as viewed through a device in San Diego, California, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 9 In the example of , the device is only able to determine the elevation of its main antenna lobe, as shown by the thick circle at approximately 30 degrees elevation. Specifically, gravity is one vector in the device body frame, and the main lobe is another vector in the device body frame. The horizontal plane can be determined from the gravity vector, and then based on the main lobe vector, the elevation of the main lobe can be determined. The device can select a communication attempt based on predicting when the satellite is aligned with the elevation of the main antenna lobe.

[0111] Continuing with the IoT use case, in some scenarios, the IoT device may be on a mobile platform. In this case, if the platform is relatively stable and traveling in a straight line or on a horizontal surface (e.g., a ship or train at sea), the techniques of this disclosure may still be applied. In this case, an elevation-based approach (as described above with reference to Fig. 9 The full solution can be applied if the platform is traveling in a straight line. Note that a typical ship moves slowly enough that the change in its position on the Earth's surface over a few hours is negligibly small (e.g., tens of kilometers) relative to its distance to the satellite (on the order of 1000 kilometers or more).

[0112] Fig.101 is an example method 1000 of aligning the main antenna lobe of a device with the LOS direction to a satellite in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Method 1000 may be performed by any UE described herein (e.g., UE 302) and is generally referred to as a "device". Method 1000 may be triggered in response to different events. For example, method 1000 may be triggered when the device has no cellular connection and a user attempts to make an emergency call. Alternatively, a user may trigger such an SOS via a satellite emergency call even if a cellular connection exists. As another example, method 1000 may be automatically triggered by a V-UE, for example, when the V-UE detects that an airbag has been deployed, an engine failure, a fire is detected, etc. For IoT scenarios, method 1000 may be triggered based on the device detecting a critical situation (such as a water or gas leak). Note that method 1000 need not be triggered by an emergency situation; instead, the device may be configured to report information, such as tracking data.

[0113] At operation 1010, the device optionally prompts the user to put the device down (e.g., face down on a stable surface with few surrounding obstacles). Operation 1010 is optional because operation 1010 will not be performed if method 1000 does not involve user interaction (such as an IoT use case).

[0114] At operation 1020, the device determines whether the orientation of the device is stable (i.e., does not change, or at least does not exceed a small threshold). The "orientation" can be a three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) orientation relative to the earth's frame (e.g., a rotation vector in Android), a single-degree-of-freedom (1DOF) orientation (e.g., only the tilt angle or only the azimuth angle), or other variations of orientation-related information. Sensors for determining 3DOF, 1DOF, etc. may include one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and / or others. If the orientation is stable, method 1000 proceeds to operation 1030. If the orientation is not stable, method 1000 returns to operation 1010 (if applicable), or waits until the orientation is stable or predictable (e.g., as in an IoT scenario).

[0115] At operation 1030, the device initiates an orientation change detector. Orientation change detection may be implemented directly (eg, via the same sensor that determines whether the orientation of the device is stable), or via a (low power) alternative such as some type of motion detector (eg, an accelerometer).

[0116] At operation 1040, the device predicts (potential) future alignment opportunities. Fig.10As shown, there are various inputs to this determination. A first input includes possible antenna patterns (e.g., the orientation / direction and shape / beamwidth of transmit and / or receive beams that antenna 1025 is capable of generating), which are determined based on online and / or offline characterization 1015 of the device's antenna 1025. Note that some devices may have multiple antennas or antenna arrays, and the pattern of the main lobe of one antenna (e.g., the orientation / direction and shape / beamwidth) may be different from the pattern of the main lobe of a different antenna. Thus, these different antenna patterns may allow different alignment opportunities with the same satellite at different times, different alignment opportunities with different satellites at the same time, etc.

[0117] The second input includes the orientation of the device (and optionally the corresponding orientation uncertainty) determined based on the orientation estimate 1035. The orientation estimate 1035 may be based on inputs from one or more sensors 1045 (e.g., one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and / or other orientation sensors). The third input includes estimates of satellite trajectories, signal strength measurements of any detectable satellites, and / or any satellite preferences of the user or device (e.g., NTN, network operator, subscription information, etc.). These estimates may be based on satellite-related information 1055. The satellite-related information 1055 may be based on a satellite database (DB) 1065 of known satellite trajectories (e.g., an ephemeris database of Iridium NEXT satellites) and the current time and location 1075 of the device. The satellite DB 1065 may have been pre-configured on the device or downloaded to the device when the device has a cellular or other connection. The current time and location 1075 of the device may be determined based on a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) 1085 (such as GPS).

[0118] In one aspect, if the expected wait time to an alignment opportunity is greater than a certain threshold, the device can optionally return to operation 1010 and prompt the user to reposition the device. The device can indicate how the user should reposition the device (e.g., tilt it instead of laying it flat on its face).

[0119] At operation 1050, the device goes to sleep (ie, enters sleep mode) until the next alignment opportunity. Although this operation is not strictly necessary, it is beneficial to save power consumption. The device should at least avoid sending any emergency (SOS) messages until the next alignment opportunity.

[0120] At operation 1060, once "sleep", the device monitors for any changes in orientation until the device is scheduled to wake up and send an emergency message. If any changes in orientation are detected, method 1000 returns to operation 1010 (if applicable) or operation 1020 (if operation 1010 is not applicable).

[0121] The device wakes up and sends the emergency message at operation 1070. The device may receive an acknowledgment from the satellite that the message was received, a negative acknowledgment indicating that the message was not properly received, or no acknowledgment.

[0122] At operation 1080, the device determines whether the message was successfully sent. If yes (e.g., the device receives an acknowledgment from the satellite), the method 1000 proceeds to operation 1090. If no, the method 1000 returns to operation 1050 and goes back to sleep until the next alignment opportunity. In this case, the method 1000 may also proceed to operation 1090.

[0123] At operation 1090, the device optionally notifies the user that the emergency situation was (or was not) successfully transmitted. The method 1000 then ends.

[0124] Note that while the foregoing has generally described wireless communication devices that send messages to satellites (i.e., uplink transmissions), it should be understood that the above techniques are equally applicable to wireless communication devices that receive transmissions from satellites (i.e., downlink transmissions). For example, a device may determine an alignment opportunity during which it will wake up to attempt to receive a message from a satellite (e.g., a paging message, a weather alert, etc.).

[0125] Fig.11 An example method 1100 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown. In an aspect, the method 1100 may be performed by a wireless communication device (eg, any of the UEs described herein).

[0126] At 1110, the wireless communication device detects a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection. In one aspect, operation 1110 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, satellite interface 330, one or more processors 342, memory 340, and / or alignment component 348, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0127] At 1120, the wireless device determines one or more alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites, as at operation 1040, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites. In one aspect, operation 1120 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, satellite interface 330, one or more processors 342, memory 340, and / or alignment component 348, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operations.

[0128] At 1130, the wireless communication device transitions to a dormant state until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities, as at operation 1050. In one aspect, operation 1130 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, satellite interface 330, one or more processors 342, memory 340, and / or alignment component 348, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0129] At 1140, the wireless communication device communicates with at least one of the one or more satellites during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities, as at operation 1070. In one aspect, operation 1140 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, satellite interface 330, one or more processors 342, memory 340, and / or alignment component 348, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0130] As will be appreciated, technical advantages of method 1100 are reduced power consumption, reduced BOM, and increased likelihood of successfully communicating with a satellite, especially when the wireless communication device cannot be moved or the user cannot follow an interactive pointing procedure.

[0131] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in the examples. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the various example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the specification, where each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to the specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the dependent clause aspects with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. Various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or it can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also intended that various aspects of the clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause does not directly depend on the independent clause.

[0132] Examples of implementations are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0133] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device, comprising: detecting a trigger for communication via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoiding communication with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0134] Clause 2. A method according to clause 1, wherein the one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth, an estimate of the uncertainty of the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, a signal strength measurement of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or any combination thereof.

[0135] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth includes only the direction of gravity.

[0136] Clause 4. The method according to any one of clauses 1-3 further includes: determining whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

[0137] Clause 5. The method according to Clause 4 further includes: starting an orientation change detector based on the stability of the orientation of the wireless communication device; or prompting a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface based on the instability of the orientation of the wireless communication device.

[0138] Clause 6. A method according to clause 5, wherein, based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0139] Clause 7. The method according to any one of clauses 1-6 further includes: determining that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of the current time; and prompting a user of the wireless communication device to reposition the wireless communication device.

[0140] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1-7, wherein avoiding communication with the one or more satellites comprises transitioning to a sleep state until the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0141] Clause 9. A method according to any one of clauses 1-8, wherein determining the one or more alignment opportunities comprises: determining one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; detecting movement of the wireless communication device before the one or more first alignment opportunities; and determining one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites based on the movement of the wireless communication device.

[0142] Clause 10. The method of any one of clauses 1-9, further comprising: determining whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0143] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending a message to the at least one satellite, and the message is determined to have been successfully sent based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite.

[0144] Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 10-11, further comprising: notifying a user of the wireless communication device whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0145] Clause 13. The method of any one of clauses 10-12, further comprising: retrying communication with the at least one satellite based on unsuccessful communication with the at least one satellite.

[0146] Clause 14. The method according to any one of clauses 1-13 further comprises: prompting a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface so that a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

[0147] Clause 15. The method according to any one of clauses 1-14 further includes: determining that the wireless communication device is not stationary; determining a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; and increasing an error tolerance of the one or more alignment opportunities based on the pattern of movement.

[0148] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 1-15, further comprising: notifying a user of the wireless communication device of a time for a next alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0149] Clause 17. The method according to any one of clauses 1-16 further includes: monitoring the signal strength of the at least one satellite before communicating with the at least one satellite, wherein the communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being higher than a threshold.

[0150] Clause 18. A method according to any one of clauses 1-17, wherein detecting the trigger comprises: receiving a request to communicate via a satellite connection from a user of the wireless communication device; detecting an emergency event at the wireless communication device; determining that the user is unable to perform an interactive pointing process using the wireless communication device; or any combination thereof.

[0151] Clause 19. The method according to Clause 18 further includes: displaying a prompt to the user to select to execute the interactive pointing process or the method of wireless communication, wherein, based on receiving user input to execute the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to execute the interactive pointing process.

[0152] Clause 20. The method according to any one of clauses 18-19 further includes: detecting multiple failed attempts to perform the interactive pointing process, wherein based on detecting the multiple failed attempts, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

[0153] Clause 21. A method according to any one of clauses 1-20, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite includes sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, communicating with the at least one satellite includes receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or any combination thereof.

[0154] Clause 22. The method of any one of clauses 1-21, wherein the wireless communication device is: an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a wireless communication device.

[0155] Clause 23. The method of clause 1, wherein the triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

[0156] Clause 24. A wireless communication device comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: detect a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determine one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoid communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicate with at least one of the one or more satellites via the one or more transceivers during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0157] Clause 25. A wireless communication device according to clause 24, wherein the one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth, an estimate of the uncertainty of the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, a signal strength measurement of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or any combination thereof.

[0158] Clause 26. The wireless communication device of clause 25, wherein the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth comprises only a direction of gravity.

[0159] Clause 27. The wireless communication device of any of Clauses 24-26, wherein the one or more processors, alone or in combination, are further configured to: determine whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

[0160] Clause 28. A wireless communication device according to Clause 27, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: activate an orientation change detector based on the stability of the orientation of the wireless communication device; or prompt a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface based on the instability of the orientation of the wireless communication device.

[0161] Clause 29. A wireless communication device according to clause 28, wherein, based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0162] Clause 30. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-29, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: determine that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of the current time; and prompt a user of the wireless communication device to reposition the wireless communication device.

[0163] Clause 31. A wireless communication device according to any of clauses 24-30, wherein the one or more processors are configured individually or in combination to avoid communicating with the one or more satellites, including the one or more processors are configured individually or in combination to: transition to a sleep state until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0164] Clause 32. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-31, wherein the one or more processors are configured, individually or in combination, to determine the one or more alignment opportunities, including the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: determine one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; detect movement of the wireless communication device before the one or more first alignment opportunities; and determine one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites based on the movement of the wireless communication device.

[0165] Clause 33. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 24-32, wherein the one or more processors, alone or in combination, are further configured to: determine whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0166] Clause 34. A wireless communication device according to clause 33, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite includes sending a message to the at least one satellite, and based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite, the message is determined to have been successfully sent.

[0167] Clause 35. A wireless communication device as described in any of clauses 33-34, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: notify a user of the wireless communication device whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0168] Clause 36. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 33-35, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: retry communication with the at least one satellite based on unsuccessful communication with the at least one satellite.

[0169] Clause 37. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-36, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: prompt a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface so that the main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

[0170] Clause 38. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-37, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: determine that the wireless communication device is not stationary; determine a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; and increase the error tolerance of the one or more alignment opportunities based on the pattern of movement.

[0171] Clause 39. A wireless communication device as described in any of clauses 24-38, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: notify a user of the wireless communication device of a time for a next alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0172] Clause 40. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-39, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: monitor the signal strength of the at least one satellite before communicating with the at least one satellite, wherein the communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being higher than a threshold.

[0173] Clause 41. A wireless communication device according to any of clauses 24-40, wherein the one or more processors are configured, individually or in combination, to detect the trigger, including the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: receive a request to communicate via a satellite connection from a user of the wireless communication device via the one or more transceivers; detect an emergency event at the wireless communication device; determine that the user cannot perform an interactive pointing process using the wireless communication device; or any combination thereof.

[0174] Clause 42. A wireless communication device according to clause 41, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: display a prompt to the user to select to execute the interactive pointing process or the method of wireless communication, wherein, based on receiving user input to execute the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to execute the interactive pointing process.

[0175] Clause 43. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 41-42, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in combination, to: detect multiple failed attempts to perform the interactive pointing process, wherein, based on detecting the multiple failed attempts, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

[0176] Clause 44. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 24-43, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite via the one or more transceivers includes sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, communicating with the at least one satellite via the one or more transceivers includes receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or any combination thereof.

[0177] Clause 45. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 24-44, wherein the wireless communication device is: an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a wireless communication device.

[0178] Clause 46. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 24-45, wherein the triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

[0179] Clause 47. A wireless communication device comprising: a component for detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; a component for determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; a component for avoiding communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and a component for communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0180] Clause 48. A wireless communication device according to clause 47, wherein the one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth, an estimate of the uncertainty of the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, a signal strength measurement of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or any combination thereof.

[0181] Clause 49. The wireless communication device of clause 48, wherein the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth comprises only the direction of gravity.

[0182] Clause 50. The wireless communication device of any one of clauses 47-49, further comprising: determining whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

[0183] Clause 51. The wireless communication device according to Clause 50 further includes: a component for starting an orientation change detector based on the stability of the orientation of the wireless communication device; or a component for prompting a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface based on the instability of the orientation of the wireless communication device.

[0184] Clause 52. A wireless communication device according to clause 51, wherein, based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0185] Clause 53. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-52, further comprising: a component for determining that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of the current time; and a component for prompting a user of the wireless communication device to reposition the wireless communication device.

[0186] Clause 54. A wireless communication device as described in any of clauses 47-53, wherein the means for avoiding communication with the one or more satellites includes: means for transitioning to a dormant state until the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0187] Clause 55. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-54, wherein the component for determining the one or more alignment opportunities includes: a component for determining one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; a component for detecting the movement of the wireless communication device before the one or more first alignment opportunities; and a component for determining one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites based on the movement of the wireless communication device.

[0188] Clause 56. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 47-55, further comprising: means for determining whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0189] Clause 57. A wireless communication device according to clause 56, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite includes sending a message to the at least one satellite, and based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite, the message is determined to have been successfully sent.

[0190] Clause 58. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 56-57, further comprising: means for notifying a user of the wireless communication device whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0191] Clause 59. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 56-58, further comprising: means for reattempting communication with the at least one satellite based on unsuccessful communication with the at least one satellite.

[0192] Clause 60. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-59, further comprising: a component for prompting a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface so that a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

[0193] Clause 61. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-60, further comprising: a component for determining that the wireless communication device is not stationary; a component for determining a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; and a component for increasing the error tolerance of the one or more alignment opportunities based on the pattern of movement.

[0194] Clause 62. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 47-61, further comprising means for notifying a user of the wireless communication device of a time for a next alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0195] Clause 63. The wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-62 further includes: a component for monitoring the signal strength of at least one satellite before communicating with the at least one satellite, wherein the communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being higher than a threshold.

[0196] Clause 64. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-63, wherein the component for detecting the trigger includes: a component for receiving a request to communicate via a satellite connection from a user of the wireless communication device; a component for detecting an emergency event at the wireless communication device; a component for determining that the user is unable to perform an interactive pointing process using the wireless communication device; or any combination thereof.

[0197] Clause 65. The wireless communication device according to Clause 64 further includes: a component for displaying a prompt to the user to select to execute the interactive pointing process or the method of wireless communication, wherein, based on receiving user input to execute the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to execute the interactive pointing process.

[0198] Clause 66. The wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 64-65 further includes: a component for detecting multiple failed attempts to perform the interactive pointing process, wherein based on detecting the multiple failed attempts, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

[0199] Clause 67. A wireless communication device according to any one of clauses 47-66, wherein: the component for communicating with the at least one satellite includes sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, the component for communicating with the at least one satellite includes receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or any combination thereof.

[0200] Clause 68. A wireless communication device as described in any of clauses 47-67, wherein the wireless communication device is: an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a wireless communication device.

[0201] Clause 69. The wireless communication device of any of clauses 47-68, wherein the triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

[0202] Clause 70. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: detect a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determine one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; avoid communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; and communicate with at least one of the one or more satellites during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0203] Clause 71. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 70, wherein the one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth, an estimate of the uncertainty of the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, signal strength measurements of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or any combination thereof.

[0204] Clause 72. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 71, wherein the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth includes only the direction of gravity.

[0205] Clause 73. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 70-72, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

[0206] Clause 74. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to Clause 73 further includes computer executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: activate an orientation change detector based on the stability of the orientation of the wireless communication device; or prompt a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface based on the instability of the orientation of the wireless communication device.

[0207] Clause 75. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 74, wherein, based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0208] Clause 76. The non-transitory computer-readable medium described in any one of clauses 70-75 further includes computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of the current time; and prompt a user of the wireless communication device to reposition the wireless communication device.

[0209] Clause 77. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 70-76, wherein computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to avoid communicating with the one or more satellites, include computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: transition to a sleep state until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities occurs.

[0210] Clause 78. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 70-77, wherein the computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to determine the one or more alignment opportunities include: computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; detect movement of the wireless communication device before the one or more first alignment opportunities; and determine one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites based on the movement of the wireless communication device.

[0211] Clause 79. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 70-78, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0212] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 79, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending a message to the at least one satellite, and the message is determined to have been successfully sent based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite.

[0213] Clause 81. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79-80, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: notify a user of the wireless communication device whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

[0214] Clause 82. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79-81 further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: retry communication with the at least one satellite based on unsuccessful communication with the at least one satellite.

[0215] Clause 83. The non-transitory computer-readable medium described in any one of clauses 70-82 further comprises computer executable instructions which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: prompt a user of the wireless communication device to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface so that a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

[0216] Clause 84. The non-temporary computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 70-83 further includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine that the wireless communication device is not stationary; determine a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; and increase the error tolerance of the one or more alignment opportunities based on the pattern of movement.

[0217] Clause 85. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 70-84 further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: notify a user of the wireless communication device of the time of the next alignment opportunity among the one or more alignment opportunities.

[0218] Clause 86. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 70-85 further includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: monitor the signal strength of the at least one satellite before communicating with the at least one satellite, wherein the communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being higher than a threshold.

[0219] Clause 87. According to the non-transitory computer-readable medium described in any of Clauses 70-86, the computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to detect the trigger include: computer executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: receive a request to communicate via a satellite connection from a user of the wireless communication device via the one or more transceivers; detect an emergency event at the wireless communication device; determine that the user cannot perform an interactive pointing process using the wireless communication device; or any combination thereof.

[0220] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to Clause 87 further includes computer executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: display a prompt to the user to select to execute the interactive pointing process or the method of wireless communication, wherein, based on receiving user input to execute the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to execute the interactive pointing process.

[0221] Clause 89. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 87-88 further includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: detect multiple failed attempts to perform the interactive pointing process, wherein, based on detecting the multiple failed attempts, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

[0222] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 70-89, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, communicating with the at least one satellite comprises receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or any combination thereof.

[0223] Clause 91. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 70-90, wherein the wireless communication device is: an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a wireless communication device.

[0224] Clause 92. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 70-91, wherein the triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

[0225] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques may be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0226] In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

[0227] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0228] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0229] In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted by computer-readable media as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that facilitates sending a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave), coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) are included in the definition of the medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0230] Although the foregoing disclosure shows the illustrative aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, the functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, unless explicitly described as such, the components, functions, actions or instructions described or claimed herein should not be interpreted as critical or necessary. In addition, as used herein, the terms "set", "group", etc. are intended to include one or more of the elements. In addition, as used herein, the terms "has", "have", "having", "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including", etc. do not exclude the presence of one or more additional elements (for example, an element "having" A may also have B). In addition, unless otherwise explicitly stated, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based at least in part on". In addition, as used herein, the term "or" is intended to be inclusive when used in series and can be used interchangeably with "and / or" unless otherwise expressly stated (e.g., if used in combination with "either" or "only one of") or the alternatives are mutually exclusive (e.g., "one or more" should not be interpreted as "one and more"). In addition, although components, functions, actions, and instructions may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural form is contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular. Therefore, as used herein, the articles "a", "an", "the", and "said" are intended to include one or more of the elements. In addition, as used herein, the terms "at least one" and "one or more" encompass "one" component, function, action, or instruction that performs or is capable of performing the described or claimed function, and in combination also encompass "two or more" components, functions, actions, or instructions that perform or are capable of performing the described or claimed function.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device, comprising: detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; refraining from communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; as well as Communicating with at least one satellite of the one or more satellites during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the Earth, an estimate of uncertainty in the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, the signal strength measurements a of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or Any combination thereof.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth includes only the direction of gravity.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: It is determined whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: Based on the orientation of the wireless communication device being stable, starting an orientation change detector; or Based on the unstable orientation of the wireless communication device, a user of the wireless communication device is prompted to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of a current time; as well as A user of the wireless communication device is prompted to reposition the wireless communication device.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Avoiding communication with the one or more satellites includes: Transitioning to a dormant state until the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Determining the one or more alignment opportunities includes: determining one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; detecting movement of the wireless communication device prior to the one or more first alignment opportunities; and Based on the movement of the wireless communication device, one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites are determined.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A determination is made as to whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending a message to the at least one satellite, and The message is determined to have been successfully transmitted based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: A user of the wireless communication device is notified whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: Based on the communication with the at least one satellite being unsuccessful, communication with the at least one satellite is reattempted.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A user of the wireless communication device is prompted to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface such that a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that the wireless communication device is not stationary; determining a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; as well as An error margin for the one or more alignment opportunities is increased based on the pattern of the movement.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A user of the wireless communication device is notified of a time of a next one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: prior to communicating with the at least one satellite, monitoring a signal strength of the at least one satellite, The communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being higher than a threshold.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Detecting the trigger comprises: receiving a request from a user of the wireless communication device to communicate via a satellite connection; detecting an emergency event at the wireless communication device; determining that the user is incapable of performing an interactive pointing procedure using the wireless communication device; or Any combination thereof.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: displaying a prompt to the user to select a method for performing the interactive pointing process or the wireless communication, Wherein, based on receiving a user input for executing the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: detecting a plurality of failed attempts to perform said interactive pointing process, Wherein, based on detecting the plurality of failed attempts, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, communicating with the at least one satellite comprises receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or Any combination thereof.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The wireless communication device is: Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or Wireless communication equipment.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

24. A wireless communication device, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; as well as One or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors individually or in combination configured to: detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; refraining from communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; as well as During the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities, communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites via the one or more transceivers.

25. The wireless communication device according to claim 24, wherein: The one or more alignment opportunities are determined based on: a characterization of the orientation and shape of each main lobe of each of the one or more antennas relative to the wireless communication device, an estimate of the orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the Earth, an estimate of uncertainty in the orientation of the wireless communication device, an estimate of the trajectory of the one or more satellites, signal strength measurements of the one or more satellites, one or more preferences associated with selecting the one or more satellites, or Any combination thereof.

26. The wireless communication device according to claim 25, wherein: The orientation of the wireless communication device relative to the earth includes only the direction of gravity.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: It is determined whether the orientation of the wireless communication device is stable.

28. The wireless communication device of claim 27, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: Based on the orientation of the wireless communication device being stable, starting an orientation change detector; or Based on the unstable orientation of the wireless communication device, a user of the wireless communication device is prompted to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface.

29. The wireless communication device according to claim 28, wherein: Based on the orientation change detector not detecting a change in the orientation of the wireless communication device, the wireless communication device communicates with the at least one satellite during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

30. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: determining that the one or more alignment opportunities will not occur within a threshold time period of the current time; and A user of the wireless communication device is prompted to reposition the wireless communication device.

31. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors are configured, individually or in combination, to avoid communicating with the one or more satellites, comprising the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: Transitioning to a dormant state until the at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

32. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors are configured, individually or in combination, to determine the one or more alignment opportunities, comprising the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: determining one or more first alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites; detecting movement of the wireless communication device prior to the one or more first alignment opportunities; and Based on the movement of the wireless communication device, one or more second alignment opportunities associated with the one or more satellites are determined.

33. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: A determination is made as to whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

34. The wireless communication device of claim 33, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite comprises sending a message to the at least one satellite, and The message is determined to have been successfully transmitted based on receiving an acknowledgement from the at least one satellite.

35. The wireless communication device of claim 33, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: A user of the wireless communication device is notified whether communication with the at least one satellite is successful.

36. The wireless communication device of claim 33, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: Based on the communication with the at least one satellite being unsuccessful, communication with the at least one satellite is reattempted.

37. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: A user of the wireless communication device is prompted to place the wireless communication device on a stable surface such that a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas faces upward.

38. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: determining that the wireless communication device is not stationary; determining a pattern of movement of the wireless communication device; and An error margin for the one or more alignment opportunities is increased based on the pattern of the movement.

39. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: A user of the wireless communication device is notified of a time of a next one of the one or more alignment opportunities.

40. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: prior to communicating with the at least one satellite, monitoring a signal strength of the at least one satellite, in, The communication with the at least one satellite is based on the signal strength of the at least one satellite being above a threshold.

41. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors are configured, individually or in combination, to detect the trigger, comprising the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: receiving, via the one or more transceivers, a request from a user of the wireless communication device to communicate via a satellite connection; detecting an emergency event at the wireless communication device; determining that the user is incapable of performing an interactive pointing procedure using the wireless communication device; or Any combination thereof.

42. The wireless communication device of claim 41 , wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: displaying a prompt to the user to select a method for performing the interactive pointing process or the wireless communication, in, Based on receiving a user input to perform the method of wireless communication, the user is determined to be unable to perform the interactive pointing process.

43. The wireless communication device of claim 41 , wherein the one or more processors, individually or in combination, are further configured to: detecting a plurality of failed attempts to perform said interactive pointing process, in, Based on detecting the plurality of failed attempts, the user is determined to be incapable of performing the interactive pointing process.

44. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein: communicating with the at least one satellite via the one or more transceivers comprises sending at least one first message to the at least one satellite, communicating with the at least one satellite via the one or more transceivers comprises receiving at least one second message from the at least one satellite, or Any combination thereof.

45. The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein: The wireless communication device is: Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or Wireless communication equipment.

46. ​​The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein: The triggering of communicating via a satellite connection is based on the wireless communication device not having a cellular connection.

47. A wireless communication device comprising: means for detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; means for determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; means for avoiding communication with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; as well as Means for communicating with at least one of the one or more satellites during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

48. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: detecting a trigger to communicate via a satellite connection; determining one or more alignment opportunities associated with one or more satellites, wherein each of the one or more alignment opportunities is a time period during which a main lobe of at least one of the one or more antennas of the wireless communication device is predicted to be aligned with a line of sight (LOS) direction to at least one of the one or more satellites; refraining from communicating with the one or more satellites until at least one of the one or more alignment opportunities; as well as Communicating with at least one satellite of the one or more satellites during the at least one alignment opportunity of the one or more alignment opportunities.

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