A low-orbit satellite beam control method, electronic equipment and computer readable medium

Abstract

The application discloses a low-orbit satellite beam control method, an electronic device and a computer readable medium. According to ephemeris information and position information of a low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of a high-orbit satellite, channel parameters are calculated. According to the channel parameters, a service data scheduling strategy and a semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite are determined. Based on the semi-static transceiving window, downlink control information DCI including the service data scheduling strategy and a downlink medium access control MAC control element CE including the semi-static transceiving window are forwarded to the low-orbit satellite through a current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite. Uplink data returned by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE is received, and the type of the uplink data includes service data and / or uplink MAC CE. The point beam coverage range of the high-orbit relay satellite is effectively improved, so that the communication delay between the low-orbit satellite and a relay ground station is reduced.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of satellite beam control, in particular to a low-orbit satellite beam control method, an electronic device and a computer readable medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] Satellite missions are becoming increasingly important. As an important tool for human exploration of the universe and the Earth, satellites have a wide range of applications, such as space surveying, meteorology, ocean observation, electromagnetic detection, electronic countermeasures, etc. Satellites can be divided into low-orbit satellites (LEO) (<5000 km), medium-orbit satellites (5000-20000 km) and high-orbit satellites (GEO) (>20000 km) according to their distance from the Earth. Among them, low-orbit satellites, due to their relatively close distance to the ground and relatively large number, are not affected by natural disasters, and can provide higher-precision earth surface monitoring data and low-latency real-time data backhaul services to help ground stations quickly respond to important data. At the same time, it is also necessary for the ground station to track and remotely control the low-orbit satellite, so as to real-time master the state of the low-orbit satellite, control the low-orbit satellite to perform corresponding tasks, and if the low-orbit satellite has a condition, the ground station can intervene in time.

[0003] Currently, low-orbit satellites cannot be connected to ground stations that meet global coverage. Low-orbit satellites can only communicate with ground stations for a limited time (e.g., 10 minutes) per orbit around the Earth, and ground stations cannot track and remotely control low-orbit satellites in real time. If a low-orbit satellite fails, the ground station cannot intervene in time. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a method that can effectively reduce the communication latency between ground stations and low-orbit satellites. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application aims to solve one of the technical problems in the related art to some extent. To this end, the present application provides a low-orbit satellite beam control method, an electronic device and a computer readable medium.

[0005] As a first aspect of the present application, a low-orbit satellite beam control method is provided for relaying a ground station, wherein the method comprises:

[0006] calculating channel parameters according to ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite;

[0007] determining a service data scheduling strategy and a semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite according to the channel parameters;

[0008] transmitting, by a current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, downlink control information (DCI) including the service data scheduling strategy and downlink media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including the semi-static transmission window to the low-orbit satellite based on the semi-static transmission window;

[0009] receiving uplink data transmitted by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE, the uplink data including service data and / or uplink MAC CE.

[0010] Optionally, the uplink MAC CE is used to report changes in the limitation conditions of the low-orbit satellite antenna, the limitation conditions including at least any of the following: scanning angle limitation condition, working time limitation condition, temperature limitation condition, scanning return time limitation condition, and power supply limitation condition.

[0011] Optionally, after receiving the uplink MAC CE transmitted by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE, the method further includes:

[0012] determining an updated service data scheduling strategy and an updated semi-static transmission window of the low-orbit satellite according to the uplink MAC CE;

[0013] transmitting, by a current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, DCI including the updated service data scheduling strategy and downlink MAC CE including the updated semi-static transmission window to the low-orbit satellite based on the updated semi-static transmission window.

[0014] Optionally, the channel parameters include signal-to-noise ratio information between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, point beam coverage location information of the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, and uplink synchronization information of the low-orbit satellite.

[0015] Optionally, determining the service data scheduling strategy according to the channel parameters includes:

[0016] determining the service data scheduling strategy according to the signal-to-noise ratio information between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, the service data scheduling strategy including allocation of the location and quantity of physical resource blocks (PRBs) and selection of the level of modulation and coding strategy (MCS).

[0017] Optionally, determining the semi-static transmission window of the low-orbit satellite according to the channel parameters includes:

[0018] determining the semi-static transmission window of the low-orbit satellite according to the point beam coverage location information of the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite and the uplink synchronization information of the low-orbit satellite.

[0019] Optionally, the type of the service data comprises telemetry data and periodic task data.

[0020] As a second aspect of the present application, a low-orbit satellite beam control method is provided for a low-orbit satellite, wherein the method comprises:

[0021] receiving, by the device, downlink control information (DCI) including a service data scheduling policy and a downlink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) including a semi-static transmission window, wherein the DCI and the downlink MAC CE are transmitted by a relay ground station to the high-orbit satellite based on the semi-static transmission window, the service data scheduling policy and the semi-static transmission window are determined by the relay ground station according to channel parameters, and the channel parameters are calculated by the relay ground station based on ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transmission parameters of the high-orbit satellite;

[0022] transmitting, by the device, uplink data to the relay ground station according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE, wherein the uplink data includes service data and / or uplink MAC CE.

[0023] As a third aspect of the present application, an electronic device is provided, wherein the electronic device comprises:

[0024] one or more processors;

[0025] a memory having one or more computer programs stored thereon, wherein when the one or more computer programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect of the present application.

[0026] As a fourth aspect of the present application, a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon is provided, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect of the present application is implemented.

[0027] Considering that it costs a large amount of money to build ground stations globally and is limited by many factors, the present application instead uses a high-orbit satellite as a relay between a low-orbit satellite and a ground station to achieve global coverage all day long, avoiding the situation that a low-orbit satellite can only communicate with a ground station for a limited time every time it orbits the earth, thereby supporting real-time data backhaul of the low-orbit satellite, and without the need to build a large number of ground stations, effectively reducing the cost of communication infrastructure.

[0028] Considering that the high-orbit satellite has a small number of large-capacity point beams, the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated is very limited, and the channel information cannot be measured and obtained through the SSB and channel state information (CSI) of the traditional 5G, the present application calculates and obtains the channel parameters according to the ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, avoids the channel measurement failure caused by the insufficient coverage of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, and ensures that the low-orbit satellite can obtain accurate channel state even when it is located in the coverage blind area of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, thereby providing data support for subsequent scheduling.

[0029] Considering that the high-orbit satellite has a small number of large-capacity point beams, the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated is very limited, and the channel information cannot be measured and obtained through the SSB and channel state information (CSI) of the traditional 5G, the present application calculates and obtains the channel parameters according to the ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, avoids the channel measurement failure caused by the insufficient coverage of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, and ensures that the low-orbit satellite can obtain accurate channel state even when it is located in the coverage blind area of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, thereby providing data support for subsequent scheduling.

[0030] Considering that the number and time delay of the radio resource control (RRC) signaling interaction of the traditional 5G are large, the present application transmits the downlink control information (DCI) including the service data scheduling strategy and the downlink MAC CE including the semi-static transceiving window to the low-orbit satellite through the high-orbit relay satellite, transmits the service data scheduling strategy by using the existing DCI information of the 5G without changing the physical layer hardware design of the 5G terminal chip, and defines the semi-static transceiving window in combination with the customized MAC CE, thereby avoiding frequent RRC reconfiguration, saving the modification cost, and effectively reducing the communication time delay.

[0031] Considering that if the low-orbit satellite is limited to cause beam switching or uplink / downlink scheduling information change, the relay ground station cannot be aware of the calculation based on the ephemeris information / position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna / transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, the present application reports the beam switching strategy or handles the exception in real time by the low-orbit satellite through the customized uplink MAC CE, thereby avoiding the transmission failure caused by the hardware constraint and improving the system anti-interference capability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0032] The present application will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0033] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a design schematic diagram of a traditional low-orbit satellite communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 2 FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method executed by a relay ground station side according to the present application;

[0035] Figure 3 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method performed on a low-orbit satellite side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 4 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method performed on a low-orbit satellite side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 5 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method performed on a low-orbit satellite side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 6 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method performed on a low-orbit satellite side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 7 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method performed on a low-orbit satellite side according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 8 is a signaling diagram of an embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 9 is a signaling diagram of another embodiment of a low-orbit satellite beam control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 10 is a module diagram of an embodiment of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a computer readable medium according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0045] 101: processor 102: memory

[0046] 103: I / O interface 104: bus DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings, which are presented for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to limit the application, which is defined by the claims. Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings, which are presented for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to limit the application, which is defined by the claims.

[0048] The terms "an embodiment," "example," or "example" used in this specification refer to a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment itself that may be included in at least one embodiment disclosed in this application. The phrase "in an embodiment" appearing in various places throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment.

[0049] The importance of satellite missions is growing daily. As crucial tools for human exploration of the universe and Earth, satellites have a wide range of applications, such as space mapping, meteorology and hydrology, ocean observation, electromagnetic detection, and electronic warfare. Satellites can be categorized by their altitude into low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (<5000km), medium-Earth orbit (MEO) satellites (5000-20000km), and high-Earth orbit (HEO) satellites (>20000km). LEO satellites, due to their closer proximity to the Earth and their relatively larger numbers, are unaffected by natural disasters and can provide higher-precision Earth surface monitoring data and low-latency real-time data transmission services, enabling ground stations to respond quickly to critical data emergencies. Simultaneously, ground stations are required to track and remotely control LEO satellites to monitor their status in real time, control them for appropriate tasks, and intervene promptly if any issues arise.

[0050] like Figure 1 As shown, traditional low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems require the establishment of ground gateway stations globally. LEO satellites in the space segment connect to the ground segment's core network, data center, and control center through these ground gateway stations, enabling the ground segment to send remote control commands to the space segment and the space segment to return operational data. However, building ground stations globally is costly and is often not permitted due to various factors. Crucially, the construction of inter-satellite laser links for LEO satellites still faces many technical challenges. Therefore, LEO satellites currently cannot connect to ground stations with global coverage. Each orbit of an LEO satellite allows for limited communication with ground stations (e.g., 10 minutes), and ground stations cannot track or remotely control LEO satellites in real time. Furthermore, if an LEO satellite malfunctions, ground stations cannot intervene promptly. Therefore, a method to effectively reduce communication latency between ground stations and LEO satellites is urgently needed.

[0051] In response, the applicant of this application proposed that the advantage of high-orbit satellites being approximately 36,000 kilometers above the ground, which means that three high-orbit satellites can cover the entire globe, can be utilized to relay low-orbit satellite data back to Earth around the clock in real time, as well as to relay ground stations for tracking and remote control of low-orbit satellites.

[0052] However, after careful research, the applicant of the present application found that the three high-orbit satellite relay schemes have serious drawbacks: the high-orbit satellite point beam resources are limited, and it is difficult to actually realize efficient relay and real-time control of low-orbit satellite data. The satellite itself is a power-limited system. When the equivalent receiving antenna aperture sizes of different terminals are the same, in order to solve the problems of low capacity, low peak rate and high interference of the traditional high-orbit satellite, high-orbit satellites generally use high-power, flexible coverage and frequency reuse point beams to improve the peak rate and capacity. Due to the limited number of point beams provided by high-orbit satellites at the same time, especially the number of point beams provided by phased array antennas (compared to the number of point beams provided by traditional single mechanical antennas, which will be different by about one order of magnitude). A typical high-orbit satellite design has about 10,000 point beams for a single phased array antenna, but only 8 point beams can be simultaneously served, and the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated by the 8 point beams is very limited, less than 0.1%.

[0053] The applicant of the present application further proposes that the multi-beam management scheme of the fifth / sixth generation mobile communication technology (5th / 6th Generation Mobile Communication Technology, 5G / 6G) in the ground network can bring very obvious actual performance gain, so it can be considered to combine the three high-orbit satellite relay schemes with the multi-beam management scheme of the 5G / 6G in the ground network, so that the point beams of the high-orbit satellite can also bring actual performance gain to the low-orbit satellite. For example, the 5G system information block 1 (System Information Block 1, SSB) channel contains very important signals and channels such as the primary synchronization signal (Primary Synchronization Signal, PSS), the secondary synchronization signal (Secondary Synchronization Signal, SSS) and the physical broadcast channel (Physical Broadcast Channel, PBCH), and is the most important channel for mobility management of users. Many studies have shown that using multiple beams (i.e. multiple narrow beams) can better accurately cover the target area and improve coverage compared to using a single wide beam (i.e. a single wide beam). For example, as shown in Table 1 below, using multiple narrow beams for coverage, the SSB signal to interference plus noise ratio (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR) is improved by 4-6db compared to using a single wide beam for coverage, and the downlink rate is improved by nearly 60Mbps:

[0054] Table 1

[0055]

[0056] However, after careful study, the applicant of the present application has found that there are serious challenges in the fusion of the three high-orbit satellite relay schemes and the multi-beam management scheme of the ground network 5G / 6G: the ground network 5G / 6G introduces the concept of beamforming (Beam), and multiple Beam beams are continuously covered. If the coverage of multiple Beam beams cannot simultaneously light up all the coverage of the cell, the mobile terminal will lose the 5G / 6G network signal and enter the network state, but the high-orbit satellite point beam coverage range is small, and the high-capacity point beam exists the problem of frequent beam jumping. That is, the point beam coverage characteristics of the high-orbit satellite are essentially different from the ground network 5G / 6G, and the point beam cannot naturally realize the "continuous coverage" of the ground network.

[0057] In this regard, the applicant of the present application has conducted more in-depth and detailed research and found that when the 5G SSB adopts a multi-beam configuration, not all terminals can obtain better coverage effect. At this time, the 5G SSB multi-beam management scheme is through scanning, selecting and switching SSB beams, and ultimately achieves the effect of enhancing downlink coverage and reducing interference.

[0058] The applicant of the present application further proposes that the coverage range of the point beam can be dynamically adjusted through beam scanning, selection and switching and other beam management means, but the multi-beam management scheme of the ground network 5G / 6G has hidden adaptability defects in the high-orbit satellite scenario, that is, compared with the ground network, the high-orbit satellite scenario has satellite motion characteristics, long-distance link loss, multi-hop relay delay and many other differences. It is necessary to make targeted improvements to the beam scanning, selection and switching and other beam management means, such as transmitting downlink control information (DCI) and customized downlink media access control (MAC) control elements (CE) to low-orbit satellites, so as to realize high-reliability, low-latency and low-power beam control.

[0059] As a first aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a low-orbit satellite beam control method is provided for relaying a ground station, such as Figure 2 As shown, the method comprises:

[0060] Step S110, calculating channel parameters according to ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite;

[0061] Step S120, determining a service data scheduling strategy and a semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite according to the channel parameters;

[0062] Step S130, based on the semi-static transceiving window, forwarding, by the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, downlink control information DCI including the service data scheduling policy and downlink medium access control MAC control element CE including the semi-static transceiving window to the low-orbit satellite;

[0063] Step S140, receiving uplink data returned by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and downlink MAC CE, the type of the uplink data including service data and / or uplink MAC CE.

[0064] Wherein, the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the embodiments of the present application is applied to a system including a high-orbit satellite, a low-orbit satellite and a relay ground station, wherein the high-orbit satellite serves as a relay for the low-orbit satellite and can forward data between the low-orbit satellite and the relay ground station.

[0065] Wherein, the ephemeris information of the low-orbit satellite records the orbital elements of the low-orbit satellite at a specific time, including the semi-major axis of the satellite orbit, the eccentricity, the orbital inclination, the right ascension of the ascending node, the argument of perigee and the time when the satellite passes the perigee, etc., and the position information of the low-orbit satellite records the specific coordinate position of the low-orbit satellite in space. The antenna parameters of the high-orbit satellite include the gain, beam width and polarization mode of the antenna, and the transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite mainly involve the transmission power, receiving sensitivity and working frequency of the signal. The channel parameters are used to describe the characteristics of the communication channel between the low-orbit satellite and the high-orbit satellite.

[0066] Wherein, the embodiments of the present application do not make special limitations on how to calculate the channel parameters according to the ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, for example, they can be obtained through orbit dynamics modeling and electromagnetic propagation theory. The applicant of the present application proposes that the ephemeris / position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna / transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite respectively contain information such as "where and how the low-orbit satellite moves" and "how strong a signal the high-orbit satellite can send and how weak a signal the high-orbit satellite can receive", and combining these information can construct a propagation model of the inter-satellite link and deduce the channel characteristics such as signal strength, delay and frequency offset, so as to bypass the limitation of insufficient coverage of the high-orbit satellite point beam and realize real-time evaluation of the channel parameters.

[0067] The service data scheduling strategy refers to a rule and a manner for reasonably arranging service data transmission of the low-orbit satellite according to channel parameters. The semi-static transmission and reception window refers to a specific time interval, in which the low-orbit satellite can stably communicate with the high-orbit satellite. The embodiment of the application is called "semi-static" because it is not completely fixed and unchangeable. The embodiment of the application can be adjusted in a certain period, but remains stable in a relatively short period of time. That is, the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the embodiment of the application can be executed multiple times or periodically.

[0068] It can be understood that the downlink MAC CE transmitted to the low-orbit satellite includes the semi-static transmission and reception window, and therefore the MAC CE is a "customized" downlink MAC CE according to the embodiment of the application. The conventional 5G schedules terminal backhaul service data according to a terminal reported buffer status report (BSR), but the embodiment of the application actively issues DCI and downlink MAC CE to the low-orbit satellite by the relay ground station to schedule the low-orbit satellite to backhaul service data.

[0069] It can be understood that the low-orbit satellite also backhauls uplink data through its current high-orbit relay satellite, that is, in step S140, the relay ground station receives the uplink data backhauled by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE from the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite.

[0070] The type of uplink data includes service data and / or uplink MAC CE. The embodiment of the application does not make special limitations on how the low-orbit satellite backhauls service data and uplink MAC CE. The uplink MAC CE can be backhauled in sequence or carried in certain specific service data (for example, periodic telemetry data) and backhauled together.

[0071] Considering that it costs a lot to build ground stations globally and is limited by many factors, the embodiment of the application instead uses the high-orbit satellite as a relay between the low-orbit satellite and the ground station to achieve global coverage all day long, avoiding the low-orbit satellite from being able to communicate with the ground station only in a limited time every time it orbits the earth, thereby supporting real-time low-orbit satellite data backhaul. In addition, there is no need to build a large number of ground stations, effectively reducing the cost of communication infrastructure.

[0072] In view of the fact that the high-orbit satellite has a small number of large-capacity point beams, the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated is very limited, and the channel information cannot be measured and obtained through the SSB and channel state information (CSI) of the traditional 5G, the embodiments of the present application calculate and obtain the channel parameters according to the ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, avoid the channel measurement failure caused by the insufficient coverage of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, and ensure that the low-orbit satellite can obtain accurate channel state even when it is located in the coverage blind area of the point beam of the high-orbit satellite, thereby providing data support for subsequent scheduling.

[0073] In view of the fact that the high-orbit satellite has a small number of large-capacity point beams, the dynamic scheduling cannot be performed in time, and the scheduling period of the large-capacity point beam of the high-orbit satellite is very long, the embodiments of the present application determine the service data scheduling strategy and the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite according to the channel parameters, optimize the time resources through the semi-static transceiving window, avoid the link interruption caused by the high-speed movement of the low-orbit satellite, and improve the effective communication time length.

[0074] In view of the fact that the number and time delay of the radio resource control (RRC) signaling interaction of the traditional 5G are large, the embodiments of the present application forward the downlink control information (DCI) including the service data scheduling strategy and the downlink MAC CE including the semi-static transceiving window to the low-orbit satellite through the high-orbit relay satellite, use the existing DCI information of the 5G to transmit the service data scheduling strategy without changing the physical layer hardware design of the 5G terminal chip, and combine the customized MAC CE to define the semi-static transceiving window, thereby avoiding the frequent RRC reconfiguration, saving the modification cost, and effectively reducing the communication time delay.

[0075] In view of the fact that if the low-orbit satellite is limited to cause the beam switching or the uplink / downlink scheduling information to be changed, the relay ground station cannot be aware of the change through the ephemeris information / position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna / transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, the embodiments of the present application report the change of the limitation condition of the antenna of the low-orbit satellite through the customized uplink MAC CE, facilitate the relay ground station to adjust the beam switching strategy or handle the exception in real time, avoid the transmission failure caused by the hardware constraint, and improve the system anti-interference capability.

[0076] The applicant of the present application further proposes that, due to the various antenna models of the phased array antenna and the mechanical antenna of the low-orbit satellite and the limitations from the scanning angle, the working time, the high / low temperature, the scanning return time, the power supply capability of the satellite platform and many other aspects, the beam switching or the uplink / downlink scheduling information may be changed, and the low-orbit satellite can report the change of the limitation condition of the antenna through the uplink MAC CE.

[0077] Correspondingly, in some embodiments, the uplink MAC CE is used to report the change of the restriction condition of the low-orbit satellite antenna, and the restriction condition at least includes any one of the following: a scanning angle restriction condition, an operating time restriction condition, a temperature restriction condition, a scanning return time restriction condition, and a power supply restriction condition.

[0078] The applicant of the present application further proposes that after receiving the uplink MAC CE of the low-orbit satellite backhaul, the relay ground station can change the service data scheduling strategy or change the semi-static transmission and reception window. Correspondingly, in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 3 After receiving the uplink MAC CE backhauled by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE (i.e., involved in step S140), the method further includes:

[0079] Step S150, determining an updated service data scheduling strategy and an updated semi-static transmission and reception window of the low-orbit satellite according to the uplink MAC CE;

[0080] Step S160, based on the updated semi-static transmission and reception window, forwarding, through the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, a downlink control information DCI including the updated service data scheduling strategy and a downlink MAC CE including the updated semi-static transmission and reception window to the low-orbit satellite.

[0081] The applicant of the present application further proposes that in some embodiments, the channel parameter includes signal-to-noise ratio information SNR between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, point beam coverage location information of the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, and uplink timing advance information of the low-orbit satellite.

[0082] The applicant of the present application further proposes that in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 4 According to the channel parameter, determining a service data scheduling strategy (i.e., involved in step S120) includes:

[0083] Step S121, determining the service data scheduling strategy according to the signal-to-noise ratio information between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, the service data scheduling strategy including the position and quantity of allocated physical resource blocks (Physical Resource Block, PRB) and the level of selected modulation and coding scheme (Modulation and Coding Scheme, MCS).

[0084] The position and quantity of the allocated PRBs are used to define the transmission resource of the service data, and the selected MCS level determines the modulation mode of the signal, such as Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16QAM), etc., and determines the channel coding rate, which directly affects the transmission rate and reliability.

[0085] The applicant of the present application further proposes that, in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 5 According to the channel parameters, determining the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite (i.e., involved in step S120) includes:

[0086] In step S122, the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite is determined according to the current point beam coverage position information of the high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite and the uplink synchronization information of the low-orbit satellite.

[0087] The applicant of the present application further proposes that, in some embodiments, the type of the service data includes telemetry data and periodic task data.

[0088] The order of the telemetry data and the periodic task data transmitted back to the relay ground station by the low-orbit satellite is not specially limited in the embodiments of the present application, which is determined by the actual situation. The period and the data volume of the telemetry data and the periodic task data transmitted back to the relay ground station by the low-orbit satellite are not specially limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0089] The telemetry data refers to the self-state monitoring data transmitted back to the relay ground station by the low-orbit satellite, which is used for the relay ground station to monitor the health condition and the running state of the low-orbit satellite in real time. The periodic task data refers to the service data collected by the low-orbit satellite according to a preset task period, which is usually related to the scientific load or the application function carried by the low-orbit satellite (such as earth observation, weather monitoring, electromagnetic detection data, etc.).

[0090] In addition, the applicant of the present application further proposes that, in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 6 After step S130 and before step S140, the method further includes:

[0091] In step S131, the low-orbit satellite LEO remote control data is forwarded to the low-orbit satellite by the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite.

[0092] The period and the data volume of the LEO remote control data are not specially limited in the embodiments of the present application, and whether the period and the data volume of the LEO remote control data are fixed is also not specially limited.

[0093] As a second aspect of the embodiments of the present application, a low-orbit satellite beam control method is provided for a low-orbit satellite, such as Figure 7 As shown in the figure, the method comprises:

[0094] Step S210, receiving downlink control information DCI currently forwarded by a high-orbit relay satellite and including service data scheduling policy and downlink media access control MAC control element CE including semi-static transceiving window;

[0095] Wherein, the DCI and downlink MAC CE are sent by a relay ground station to the high-orbit relay satellite based on the semi-static transceiving window, the service data scheduling policy and the semi-static transceiving window are determined by the relay ground station according to channel parameters, and the channel parameters are calculated by the relay ground station according to ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite;

[0096] Step S220, according to the DCI and downlink MAC CE, transmitting uplink data to the relay ground station, the type of the uplink data including service data and / or uplink MAC CE.

[0097] Wherein, the low-orbit satellite beam control method performed by the low-orbit satellite side is also described when the low-orbit satellite beam control method performed by the relay ground station is described, and thus it is not repeated here.

[0098] Considering that it costs a lot to build ground stations globally and is limited by many factors, the embodiments of the present application instead use a high-orbit satellite as a relay between a low-orbit satellite and a ground station to achieve all-weather global coverage, avoiding the situation that a low-orbit satellite can only communicate with a ground station for a limited time every time it orbits the earth, thereby supporting real-time low-orbit satellite data transmission, and without the need to build a large number of ground stations, effectively reducing the cost of communication infrastructure.

[0099] Considering that the number of high-orbit satellite large-capacity spot beams is small, and the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated is very limited, it is impossible to measure and obtain channel information through traditional SSB and CSI of 5G, the embodiments of the present application instead calculate and obtain channel parameters according to ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, avoiding channel measurement failure caused by insufficient coverage of high-orbit satellite spot beams, and ensuring that the low-orbit satellite can still obtain accurate channel state even when it is located in the coverage blind area of the high-orbit satellite spot beams, providing data support for subsequent scheduling.

[0100] Considering that the high-orbit satellite has a small number of large-capacity point beams and cannot perform dynamic scheduling in time, the scheduling period of the large-capacity point beams of the high-orbit satellite is long, and the embodiments of the present application determine a service data scheduling strategy and a semi-static transmission-reception window of the low-orbit satellite according to channel parameters, optimize time resources through the semi-static transmission-reception window, avoid link interruption caused by high-speed movement of the low-orbit satellite, and improve the effective communication time.

[0101] Considering that the number and latency of RRC signaling interaction of the traditional 5G are large, the embodiments of the present application instead forward, through the high-orbit relay satellite, downlink control information DCI including the service data scheduling strategy and a custom downlink MAC CE including the semi-static transmission-reception window to the low-orbit satellite, utilize the existing DCI information of the 5G to transmit the service data scheduling strategy without changing the physical layer hardware design of the 5G terminal chip, and define the semi-static transmission-reception window in combination with the custom MAC CE, thereby avoiding frequent RRC reconfiguration, saving the modification cost, and effectively reducing the communication latency.

[0102] Considering that if the low-orbit satellite is limited to cause beam switching or uplink and downlink scheduling information to be changed, the relay ground station will not be able to calculate the awareness through the ephemeris information / position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna / transmission-reception parameters of the high-orbit satellite, the embodiments of the present application instead report, by the low-orbit satellite through a custom uplink MAC CE, to facilitate the relay ground station to adjust the beam switching strategy or handle the exception in real time, avoid transmission failure caused by hardware constraints, and improve the system anti-interference capability.

[0103] The low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the present application is described in detail below with reference to Figure 8 and in combination with one most specific embodiment: first, the relay ground station calculates the point beam coverage position information (for example, in beam 1), SNR, and uplink synchronization information of the GEO in which the LEO is located according to the ephemeris / position information of the LEO and the antenna / transmission-reception parameters of the GEO, and determines a service data scheduling strategy and a semi-static transmission-reception window of the LEO; then, the relay ground station forwards, through the high-orbit relay satellite, DCI including the service data scheduling strategy and a custom downlink MAC CE including the semi-static transmission-reception window to the low-orbit satellite; then, the relay ground station forwards, through the high-orbit relay satellite, LEO remote control data to the low-orbit satellite, and the period and data volume are not fixed; then, the low-orbit satellite transmits, through the high-orbit relay satellite, 2Kbit telemetry data and periodic task data, for example, every 500ms, to the relay ground station according to the DCI and the custom downlink MAC CE. After a period of time, the relay ground station again performs the low-orbit satellite beam control method according to the current data, except that this time the point beam coverage position information of the GEO in which the LEO is located is in beam 2.

[0104] The low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the present application is described in detail below with reference to Figure 9The low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the present application is described in detail in combination with another most specific embodiment: first, the relay ground station calculates the point beam coverage position information (for example, in beam 1), SNR, and uplink synchronization information of the GEO where the LEO is located according to the ephemeris / position information of the LEO and the antenna / transmitting and receiving parameters of the GEO, and determines the service data scheduling strategy and the semi-static transmitting and receiving window of the LEO; then, the relay ground station transmits the DCI including the service data scheduling strategy and the customized downlink MAC CE including the semi-static transmitting and receiving window to the low-orbit satellite through the high-orbit relay satellite; then, the relay ground station transmits the LEO remote control data to the low-orbit satellite through the high-orbit relay satellite, and the period and data volume are not fixed; then, the low-orbit satellite transmits, for example, 2Kbit telemetry data and periodic task data every 500ms to the relay ground station through the high-orbit relay satellite according to the DCI and the customized downlink MAC CE. After a period of time, the relay ground station again performs the low-orbit satellite beam control method according to the current data, and this time, the point beam coverage position information of the GEO where the LEO is located is in beam 2, and because the restriction conditions of the low-orbit satellite antenna have changed, in addition to transmitting, for example, 2Kbit telemetry data and periodic task data every 500ms, the low-orbit satellite also transmits uplink MAC CE. At this time, the relay ground station does not switch the point beam, but changes the allocated PRB and the selected MCS level, or changes the semi-static transmitting and receiving window, and transmits the updated DCI and the customized downlink MAC CE to the low-orbit satellite through the high-orbit relay satellite.

[0105] As described above, the applicant of the present application found that the 5G SSB multi-beam management scheme is to finally achieve the effect of enhancing downlink coverage and reducing interference by performing beam management such as scanning, selecting and switching SSB beams, and for this reason, the applicant of the present application made the following detailed analysis on the 5G SSB multi-beam management scheme:

[0106] A 5G SSB cell can support up to 7 sub-beams, in order to achieve better coverage gain, various manufacturers can configure the horizontal width, vertical width, azimuth angle, downtilt angle and other parameters of each sub-beam, select the optimal beam as the service beam, and thus better play the coverage ability of multi-beam and realize a more flexible SSB signal coverage scheme. In the process of antenna signal combination in multi-antenna technology, different weights can be given to different antennas, and different beams can be combined, and this weight is the antenna weight, and the change of the antenna weight will affect the azimuth angle and the tilt angle of the beam, thereby changing the coverage radius and the coverage shape of the cell.

[0107] Multi-beam management mainly involves beam scanning, selection and switching, coordination, etc. Beam scanning refers to that the base station simultaneously transmits multiple SSB or Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) beams, and the terminal measures which beam signal is the strongest. Beam selection refers to that the terminal informs the base station of the strongest beam measured by the terminal, and the base station uses the antenna weight of the strongest beam when transmitting terminal data, thereby improving the strength of the signal. When the terminal switches between two adjacent base stations, the terminal measures which beam signal of the target base station is the strongest, and reports the information of the beam to the source base station, and the source base station informs the target base station to use the beam informed by the source base station to transmit data of the switching terminal, so that the terminal can receive the best signal after switching to the target base station. This process is beam coordination.

[0108] Through multi-beam management, the base station selects the optimal beam from multiple beams with different azimuth angles for different positions of the terminal, so as to enhance the downlink coverage and reduce interference. The base station simultaneously transmits SSB and CSI-RS, and adopts SSB beam rotation during terminal access to detect the optimal beam of the terminal. After the terminal accesses the cell and obtains the configuration information of the CSI-RS, if the normal feedback of the CSI can be performed, the base station uses the optimal beam fed back by the CSI-RS to transmit data to the terminal.

[0109] The implementation of beam scanning and selection can be summarized as follows: the base station performs SSB beam rotation and CSI-RS beam rotation according to the UME configuration, the base station side receives the optimal SSB beam reported by the terminal, the base station uses the antenna weight of the optimal SSB beam to transmit downlink data to the terminal, the base station configures the CSI-RS for the terminal, and judges whether the optimal CSI-RS beam reported by the terminal is received. If the optimal CSI-RS beam is received, the antenna weight of the optimal CSI-RS beam is used to transmit downlink data to the terminal, and if the optimal CSI-RS beam is not received, the antenna weight of the optimal SSB beam is used to transmit downlink data to the terminal.

[0110] Beam switching can be divided into three implementation modes of terminal autonomous switching, MAC CE and RRC. Generally, SSB beam switching depends on the terminal, and the terminal autonomously selects the SSB beam. Different terminals can have different specific implementation modes.

[0111] The MAC CE-based beam switching implementation can be summarized as follows: in the SSB multi-beam scenario, when the terminal performs service beam switching, the base station needs to indicate the SSB service beam of the terminal through the link established by the MAC CE through the tracking configuration indicator state (TCI-State). In the multi-beam scenario, if the number of SSB resources is n, n sets of tracking reference signals (TRS) need to be configured, each set of TRS contains 4 resources, the TRS is one-to-one corresponding to the SSB, n SSBs and TRSs are configured with quasi-co-located (QCL) relationship (TCI-State), n TRSs and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are configured with QCL relationship (TCI-State), and the terminal finds the corresponding TRS by indicating the activated TCI-State through the MAC CE, so as to find the corresponding SSB.

[0112] When the network device does not support the auxiliary completion of the SSB sub-beam switching through the MAC CE, the switching of the sub-beam can also be assisted through the RRC signaling. The RRC-based beam switching implementation can be summarized as follows: the terminal currently resides in SSB0, the network side learns the optimal beam as SSB1 according to the terminal report, the network side activates the TCI state0, the network side issues the RRC reconfiguration, configures the QCL source of the TRS as SSB1, and the beam of the terminal is refreshed as SSB1.

[0113] After the above analysis, the applicant of the present application proposes that the number of large-capacity point beams of the high-orbit satellite is small, the coverage area that can be simultaneously illuminated is very limited, and the channel information cannot be measured and obtained through the traditional SSB and CSI of 5G. The number of large-capacity point beams of the high-orbit satellite is small, and dynamic scheduling cannot be performed in time. The scheduling period of the large-capacity point beams of the high-orbit satellite is very long, the number and latency of the traditional RRC signaling interaction are very large, if the low-orbit satellite is limited to cause beam switching or uplink and downlink scheduling information to be changed, the relay ground station cannot calculate and perceive through the ephemeris information / position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna / transmitting and receiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite. Therefore, based on the high-orbit satellite scenario, there are many differences in satellite motion characteristics, long-distance link loss, multi-hop relay delay, and other aspects, the beam scanning, selection and switching and other beam management methods are improved, and finally the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the present application is obtained, and the high-reliability, low-latency and low-power beam control in the high-orbit satellite relay is realized.

[0114] As a third aspect of the embodiments of the present application, an electronic device is provided, wherein, as shown in Figure 10 the electronic device comprises:

[0115] one or more processors 101;

[0116] a memory 102, having one or more computer programs stored thereon, when the one or more computer programs are executed by the one or more processors 101, the one or more processors 101 implement the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiments of the present application.

[0117] The electronic device can further comprise one or more I / O interfaces 103 connected between the processor 101 and the memory 102, configured to realize the information interaction between the processor 101 and the memory 102.

[0118] Among them, the processor 101 is a device with data processing capability, including but not limited to central processing unit (CPU) and the like; the memory 102 is a device with data storage capability, including but not limited to random access memory (RAM, more specifically SDRAM, DDR, etc.), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory (FLASH); the I / O interface (read-write interface) is connected between the processor and the memory, and can realize the information interaction between the processor and the memory, including but not limited to data bus (Bus) and the like.

[0119] In some embodiments, the processor 101, the memory 102 and the I / O interface 103 are connected with each other through the bus 104, and further connected with other components of the computing device.

[0120] As a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 11 a computer readable medium is provided, having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program is executed by the processor to implement the low-orbit satellite beam control method provided by the first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiments of the present application.

[0121] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be completed by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program. Accordingly, the computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed, the method of any one of the above embodiments can be implemented. In the embodiments provided by the present application, any reference to memory, storage, database or other medium can include non-volatile and / or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. As an illustration but not limitation, RAM is available in various forms, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), memory bus (Rambus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM) and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM), etc.

[0122] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present application includes but is not limited to the contents described in the above specific implementation and the accompanying drawings. Any modification that does not deviate from the functional and structural principles of the present application will be included in the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A low-Earth orbit satellite beam control method for a relay ground station, characterized in that, The method comprises: According to the ephemeris information and position information of the low-orbit satellite and the antenna parameters and transceiving parameters of the high-orbit satellite, the channel parameters are calculated; According to the channel parameters, the service data scheduling strategy and the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite are determined; Based on the semi-static transceiving window, the downlink control information DCI including the service data scheduling strategy and the downlink media access control MAC control element CE including the semi-static transceiving window are forwarded to the low-orbit satellite through the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite; The uplink data returned by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE is received, and the type of the uplink data includes service data and / or uplink MAC CE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The uplink MAC CE is used to report the change of the restriction condition of the low-orbit satellite antenna, and the restriction condition at least includes any one of the following: scanning angle restriction condition, working time restriction condition, temperature restriction condition, scanning return time restriction condition, and power supply restriction condition.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, After receiving the uplink MAC CE returned by the low-orbit satellite according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE, the method further comprises: According to the uplink MAC CE, the updated service data scheduling strategy and the updated semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite are determined; Based on the updated semi-static transceiving window, the downlink control information DCI including the updated service data scheduling strategy and the downlink MAC CE including the updated semi-static transceiving window are forwarded to the low-orbit satellite through the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The channel parameters include the signal-to-noise ratio information between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, the point beam coverage position information of the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite, and the uplink synchronization information of the low-orbit satellite.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, According to the channel parameters, the service data scheduling strategy is determined, comprising: According to the signal-to-noise ratio information between the low-orbit satellite and its current high-orbit relay satellite, the service data scheduling strategy is determined, which includes allocating the position and quantity of physical resource blocks PRBs and selecting the level of modulation coding strategy MCS.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein, According to the channel parameters, the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite is determined, comprising: According to the point beam coverage position information of the current high-orbit relay satellite of the low-orbit satellite and the uplink synchronization information of the low-orbit satellite, the semi-static transceiving window of the low-orbit satellite is determined.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The type of the service data includes telemetry data and periodic task data. 8.A method for low earth orbit satellite beam control, used for a low earth orbit satellite, the method comprising: The method comprises: Receiving, by the electronic device, a downlink control information (DCI) and a downlink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) from a high orbit satellite, wherein the DCI includes a service data scheduling policy, and the downlink MAC CE includes a semi-static transmission window, wherein the DCI and the downlink MAC CE are transmitted by a relay ground station to the high orbit satellite based on the semi-static transmission window, wherein the service data scheduling policy and the semi-static transmission window are determined by the relay ground station according to channel parameters, wherein the channel parameters are calculated by the relay ground station based on ephemeris information and position information of the low orbit satellite and antenna parameters and transmission parameters of the high orbit satellite. Transmitting, by the electronic device, uplink data to the relay ground station according to the DCI and the downlink MAC CE, wherein the uplink data includes service data and / or an uplink MAC CE.

9. An electronic device, comprising: The electronic device comprises: one or more processors; a memory having stored thereon one or more computer programs that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the low orbit satellite beam control method according to any one of claims 1-8.

10. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program, characterized in that, The computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the low orbit satellite beam control method according to any one of claims 1-8.

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