Methods and apparatus for weather detection using satellites

Abstract

The technique relies on the calculation of a weather metric (52) to detect weather conditions affecting a satellite coverage area (26), the weather metric (52) being based on evaluating monitored values ​​(92) of satellite link parameters in relation to a reference value (98). The reference value (98) may be understood as representing a clear sky value determined from past evaluations of historical monitoring of the satellite link parameters of the satellite coverage area (26). Having the reference value (98) based on past evaluations made for the coverage area (26) provides an advantageous relative basis for evaluating ongoing weather conditions. One application of the technique is the detection of weather-induced outages, for example to determine compliance exceptions with respect to a service level agreement (SLA) between the involved satellite service provider and subscribers covered by the SLA. Another application is to control scheduling or load balancing in the involved satellite communication system (10).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The technology relies on the calculation of weather metrics to detect weather conditions that affect services within a corresponding satellite service area, where the weather metrics are based on evaluating monitored values of satellite link parameters in relation to reference values determined from past evaluations.

Background Art

[0002] “Rain fade” in the context of satellite communication systems refers to signal attenuation that occurs with certain atmospheric conditions such as rain, sleet, or snow. Rain fade can reduce the throughput between a satellite and subscriber terminals located within the affected service area, or in more severe cases, can cause service outages. The Ku band and Ka band are particularly susceptible to the effects of rain fade, but this phenomenon is a concern across the range of signal frequencies.

[0003] Exemplary approaches for detecting weather conditions that affect satellite services are known. Exemplary satellite weather detection systems use atmospheric precipitation density data. For example, to detect storms, data such as upstream transmit power, downstream signal strength, or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be collected, normalized, and compared to current atmospheric data. See U.S. Patent No. 8,730,086 (B2) and U.S. Patent No. 9,091,763 (B2).

[0004] However, there remains a need for a technology that provides weather metrics with sufficient reliability and granularity on an automated basis for application to one or more functions of a satellite communication network.

Summary of the Invention

[0005] The technology relies on the calculation of meteorological metrics to detect weather conditions affecting a satellite service area, and these meteorological metrics are based on evaluating monitored values ​​of satellite link parameters in relation to a baseline. The baseline can be understood as representing clear-day values ​​determined from historical evaluations of historical monitoring of satellite link parameters in the satellite service area. The fact that the baseline is based on historical evaluations made for the service area provides a favorable relative standard for evaluating ongoing weather conditions. One application of this technology is, for example, the detection of weather-related service outages to determine compliance exceptions to service level agreements (SLAs) between the satellite service provider involved and the subscribers covered by the SLA. Other applications include controlling scheduling or load balancing in the satellite communication system involved.

[0006] One embodiment includes a method of operation by a computer system. The method includes determining a weather metric for each of one or more time intervals for each of one or more service areas of a satellite communication system. For each service area and time interval, the weather metric is determined based on receiving monitored values ​​of satellite link parameters monitored for a group of subscriber terminals in the service area during the time interval, calculating an evaluation value as a function of the monitored values, and calculating the weather metric as a function of the evaluation value and as a function of a baseline value determined from a plurality of past evaluation values ​​calculated for a plurality of previous time intervals for the service area.

[0007] Another embodiment comprises a computer system including an interface circuit and a processing circuit. 15. The processing circuit operates to determine a weather metric for each of one or more time intervals for each of one or more service areas of a satellite communication system, and to calculate the weather metric for each service area and time interval, the processing circuit is configured to receive monitored values ​​of satellite link parameters monitored for a group of subscriber terminals in the service area during the time interval via the interface circuit, calculate an evaluation value as a function of the monitored values, and calculate the weather metric as a function of the evaluation value and as a function of a baseline value determined from a plurality of past evaluation values ​​calculated for a plurality of previous time intervals for the service area.

[0008] Of course, the present invention is not limited to the features and advantages described above. In fact, those skilled in the art will recognize further features and advantages by reading the detailed description below and referring to the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a satellite communication system according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a computer system according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 3A] Figure 3A is a diagram of an exemplary time interval structure used to calculate evaluation and reference values ​​for meteorological metric determination. [Figure 3B] Figure 3B is a diagram of an exemplary time interval structure used to calculate evaluation and reference values ​​for meteorological metric determination. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a logical flowchart illustrating the operation method of a computer system according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a logical flowchart illustrating the operation method of a computer system according to an exemplary embodiment. [Figure 6]Figure 6 is a plot illustrating the exemplary behavior of weather-related satellite link parameters for a group of subscriber terminals within the service area of ​​a satellite communication system. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a plot showing meteorological metrics calculated depending on the behavior of the satellite link parameters illustrated in Figure 6. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Figure 1 shows a satellite communication system 10 “System 10” according to an exemplary embodiment. The calculation and use of “meteorological metrics” disclosed herein are not limited to the specific system configuration illustrated in Figure 1, but the figure provides illustrative details useful for consideration.

[0011] An exemplary system 10 includes one or more terrestrial gateway terminals 12, which may be referred to as “gateway terminals,” “gateway stations,” “access nodes,” or simply “gateway” for convenience. The exemplary system 10 further includes one or more satellites 14, for example, system 10 may include a constellation of satellites 14. Each satellite 14 includes a bus 16 comprising the satellite 14 infrastructure, including a power system. Each satellite 14 further includes a payload 18, which is a communications package carried by the satellite 14 and includes or is associated with an antenna 20 for receiving from and transmitting to one or more respective gateways 12, and is associated with an antenna 22 for receiving from and transmitting to subscriber terminals 24 within one or more service areas 26.

[0012] Subscriber terminals 24 within a given service area 26 can be considered a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24. Each service area 26 may be a terrestrial footprint of an antenna beam 30 formed by each satellite 14 or by the system 10 as a whole. However, a service area 26 may correspond to two or more antenna beams 30, for example, beams 30 having partially overlapping ground coverage areas or "footprints". Some service areas 26 may be smaller or larger than others. For example, multiple smaller service areas 26 may be used to serve geographical areas with a higher density of subscriber terminals 24, while a single larger service area 26 may be used for geographical areas with a lower density of subscriber terminals 24.

[0013] At least some of the subscriber terminals 24 may be stationary, fixed-location terminals, such as those used for television or other broadband services provided through System 10. A single subscriber may own or lease multiple subscriber terminals 24 and use, for example, one or more communication services provided through System 10 under a Level of Service Agreement (SLA) between the System 10 operator and the subscriber. The subscriber may be an individual or an organization such as a company.

[0014] The payload 18 in each satellite 14 within the system 10 comprises, for example, one or more transponders. Each transponder provides a signal path through the satellite 14 and includes, for example, a receiver circuit and a corresponding transmitter circuit for relaying received signals at the same or converted frequency. The payload 18 may include switching circuits for selectively coupling each transponder with selected antenna feeds corresponding to their respective coverage areas associated with the gateway 12 and subscriber terminals 24. The transponders may be configured as unprocessed signal paths, which may perform frequency conversion and other signal conditioning, but relay received signals as retransmitted signals without the intervention of demodulation and regeneration.

[0015] Regardless of whether satellite 14 uses an unprocessed or processed signal path, system 10 provides forward channels and return channels. Between a given gateway 12 and a given satellite 14, the forward channel comprises a forward channel uplink 32 representing a radio uplink coupling between gateway 12 and satellite 14, and a forward channel downlink 34 representing a radio downlink coupling between satellite 14 and subscriber terminals 24 in their respective service areas 26. Each satellite 14 may provide a plurality of forward channel downlinks 34 corresponding to their respective service areas 26. Correspondingly, with respect to each service area 26, the return channel comprises a return channel uplink 36 representing a radio uplink coupling between each subscriber terminal 24 in the service area 26 and satellite 14. The return channel further comprises a return channel downlink 38 representing a radio downlink coupling between satellite 14 and gateway 12.

[0016] Together with the gateway 12, the ground segment 40 of system 10 includes a ground segment processing system 42, which handles communication signal processing and, for example, interfaces with one or more external communication networks 44. The external network(s) may include, for example, one or more of the following: a public switched telephone network (PSTN), the Internet, or other packet data networks (PDNs). The external communication network(s) 44 may act, for example, as a source of user traffic provided to each subscriber terminal 24.

[0017] A distributed or centralized ground segment processing system 42 relating to gateway 12 includes or is associated with one or more control entities 46. The control entities 46 are configured, for example, to perform one or more of the following within system 10: scheduling and dynamic load balancing. "Scheduling" refers to scheduling user traffic to and from each subscriber terminal according to defined scheduling objectives that take into account, for example, system load and, for example, fairness, link throughput, service prioritization, subscriber prioritization, etc. "Load balancing" refers to manipulating traffic flow for better bandwidth utilization across beam 30 and satellite 14.

[0018] The ground segment 40 includes, or is communicably coupled to, a computer system 50, such as a networked server, configured to calculate weather metrics 52 for one or more service areas 26 of system 10. For example, the computer system 50 is configured to calculate weather metrics 52 for each of the one or more service areas 26 of system 10 on an hourly basis or according to some other repeating time interval, such as every 5 minutes, every 30 minutes, every 2 hours, or according to some other time granularity.

[0019] Broadly speaking, the computer system 50 is configured to determine weather metrics 52 for each of one or more time intervals for each of one or more service areas 26. Each time interval includes any specific time interval within a regularly repeating time interval or a close sequence of similar time intervals, and the computer system 50 may determine weather metrics for any or both of such time interval definitions.

[0020] A periodically repeating time interval is, for example, a time slice that repeats on a daily basis, such as the same time every day, the same 30 minutes every day, etc. A certain time interval within adjacent and consecutive time intervals is, for example, any given 5-minute window within consecutive 5-minute intervals during execution. Of course, the execution intervals may have different granularities, such as 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc. The point to be understood is that "time interval" refers to a specific time window, and as a result, the phrase "previous time interval" refers to a similar time window that precedes the specific time window in question. Thus, taking an exemplary time interval as any given 5-minute window, the plurality of time intervals "before" that given 5-minute window may be the adjacent and consecutive 5-minute windows before this one, or may be a set of 5-minute windows that occur at the same time over the last few days. The computer system 50 in one or more embodiments may calculate the weather metric 52 based on the understanding of either or both of "time interval" and "previous time interval".

[0021] In one or more embodiments, the computer system 50 is configured to output weather metric information as signaling 54 to the database 56. The database 56 may be local to the computer system 50 or, in the illustrated example, may be remote to the computer system 50 and may be hosted, for example, on a remote business support system (BSS) 58. The BSS 58 may be another networked server. The weather metric information includes, for example, one or more weather metrics 52 calculated by the computer system 50 or the corresponding evaluation results. For example, evaluating a specific weather metric 52 calculated for a specific service area 26 and for a specific time interval includes determining whether the value of the weather metric 52 indicates the presence of weather. More specifically, the evaluation in one or more embodiments includes determining whether the weather metric 52 indicates a service disruption based on, for example, the numerical value of the weather metric 52 falling below (or above) a defined threshold corresponding to a substantial service disruption.

[0022] In one or more embodiments, the computer system 50 receives signaling 60 transmitted from the ground segment 40 and communicates monitored values of satellite link parameters for each population 28 of subscriber terminals 24 in a corresponding service area 26 of the system 10, for example. Here, any number of measurements or indicators of link quality between the satellite 14 and each subscriber terminal 24 in the population 28 can function as satellite link parameters used in the calculation of the weather metric 52. Examples of parameters include the transmit power of the subscriber terminal, the received signal SINR at the subscriber terminal 24, or the received signal SINR at the satellite 14 for the subscriber terminal 24.

[0023] Another example of a parameter is the "home channel symbol rate" or HCSR. Exemplary details of HCSR are described in U.S. Patent No. 8,547,863 (B2). Each subscriber terminal 24 can be assigned to a "home channel", and the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) or other parameters of the subscriber terminal 24 are adjusted based on the measured signal quality on the home channel. Here, the home channel includes a particular physical channel or carrier that uses the highest symbol rate at which the subscriber terminal 24 can operate, for example, subject to limitations such as an error rate.

[0024] The system 10 in one or more embodiments assigns the subscriber terminals 24 to a home channel that uses the highest symbol rate possible. As described in U.S. Patent No. 8,547,863 (B2), the system 10 can power control individual subscriber terminals 24 to compensate for rain fade. However, as the severity of the rain fade increases, the system 10 must initiate a reduction in the HCSR of the affected subscriber terminals 24. Therefore, the monitored HCSR values for the population 28 of subscriber terminals 24 provide a good indicator of the weather conditions in the corresponding service area 26.

[0025] In at least one embodiment of this specification, the computer system 50 implements a favorable technique for using monitored HCSR values ​​or monitored values ​​of other satellite link parameters that reflect link adaptations made to compensate for rainfall fades in order to calculate and evaluate the weather metric 52. Through the use of the “evaluation” and “reference” values ​​described below, the weather metric techniques disclosed herein present a particularly reliable automated mechanism for detecting and responding to weather disturbances affecting one or more service areas 26 of the system 10.

[0026] In one or more embodiments, the computer system 50 is configured to output signaling 62 containing control information for controlling the operation of system 10. For example, the signaling 62 indicates weather metrics 52 currently applicable to each service area 26 of system 10 for use in load balancing or scheduling by a control entity 46 in the ground segment 40. In at least one embodiment, the signaling 62 includes commands for load balancing and / or scheduling, specifying, for example, a particular load balancing or scheduling action or strategy to be taken by a control entity 46 in the ground segment 40.

[0027] Additionally or alternatively, the computer system 50 is configured to output a signaling 63 that may include an alarm notification. The notification, including the signaling 63, may be sent to the BSS 58, or to other computer systems or devices associated with the system 10, such as a computer system or device used by the operator of the system 10 to monitor the health and operation of the system 10.

[0028] Figure 2 illustrates exemplary details of a computer system 50 according to one or more embodiments, the computer system 50 comprising a processing circuit 70 and an associated storage device 72, the storage device 72 including one or more types of computer-readable media, such as SRAM or DRAM or other volatile storage devices, and a hard drive or solid-state disk (SSD) for non-volatile storage devices. The storage device 72 may hold one or more computer programs 74, for example, indicated in the figure as "CP(plural)", and one or more types of data 76. In at least one embodiment, the processing circuit 70 includes one or more microprocessors specifically adapted to perform weather metric processing as described herein based on the execution of computer program instructions stored in the storage device 72 as one or more computer programs 74.

[0029] Further exemplary elements of the computer system 50 include a communication circuit 80 and an input / output (I / O) circuit 82, either or both of which may be referred to as “interface circuits” to indicate their role in providing communication coupling between the computer system 50 and one or more external devices or systems. For example, the communication circuit 80 includes an Ethernet interface or other data networking interface and communicatively couples the computer system 50 to a ground segment processing system 42, for example, to receive signaling 60 and send signaling 62. In one or more embodiments, the communication circuit 80 also provides communication coupling with the BSS 58. Alternatively, one or both of the signaling 60 and 62 are provided via an I / O circuit 82, which includes, for example, interface with a local input / output device. The I / O circuit 82 supports interface with local or remote video displays, keyboards, storage systems, etc., for operating monitoring, data recording, etc.

[0030] In at least one embodiment, the data 76 held in the storage device 72 includes one or more sets 90 of monitored values ​​92, where monitored values ​​92 are monitored values ​​of satellite link parameters such as SINR, transmit power, and HCSR, corresponding to subscriber terminals 24 in one or more groups 28. Each group 28 can be understood as corresponding to a particular service area 26 of the system 10. Thus, a “set” 90 of monitored values ​​92 refers to monitored values ​​92 collected for a particular group 28 over a particular time period, i.e., a particular time of day or some other defined time interval. Thus, there may be multiple sets 90 of monitored values ​​92 for each service area 26 of interest, each such set corresponding to its respective time interval.

[0031] The computer system 50 processes each such set 90 of monitored values ​​92 to obtain a corresponding evaluation value 94 used to calculate weather metrics 52 for the corresponding service area 26 and time interval. The evaluation value 94 for the set 90 of monitored values ​​92 is calculated, for example, as an average or as some other statistical measure. After determining the corresponding evaluation value 94, the computer system 50 does not need to retain the given set 90 of monitored values ​​92.

[0032] In one or more embodiments, the data 76 further includes a set 96 of reference values ​​98. For example, for each service area 26, there is a specific reference value 98 for each time interval. The reference value 98 for a specific time interval and for a specific service area 26 can be understood as a “clear weather” value for that service area 26 and that specific time interval. That is, the reference value 98 is a value that reflects the historical performance of a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 within that service area 26 in the absence of weather disturbances. Here, the term “group” should be understood with the expectation that its members will change over time, i.e., a given group 28 does not necessarily always have the same members.

[0033] Generally, a group 28 represents a set of subscriber terminals 24 associated with each service area 26 over a given time interval. In one or more embodiments, the computer system 50 is configured to ignore groups 28 of subscriber terminals 24 that fall below or exceed a certain group size threshold. Ignoring a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 means not calculating the weather metric 52 for that group 28.

[0034] Figure 3A illustrates an exemplary time interval 100 that repeats periodically, for example, in hours or days. The occurrences of the shown time interval 100 are labeled “TI1”, “TI2”, and “TI3”, but it should be understood that this figure shows only a small snapshot of the running timeline. For a given service area 26 labeled “SA_X” in the figure, in order to calculate the weather metric 52 with respect to a given time interval TI_N, the computer system 50 uses a baseline value 94 calculated from monitored values ​​92 taken from subscriber terminals 24 during all or part of TI_N, and for SA_X, uses a baseline value 98 that depends on the baseline value 94 calculated for each previous time interval within a plurality of previous time intervals.

[0035] In this example, the previous occurrences of the time interval 100 considered are the previous occurrences TI_N-1 to TI_N-R. For example, if the time interval 100 is a specific time on a day, R represents the number of previous days considered for the calculation of the baseline value 98. For any given service area 26 and any given time interval 100, the evaluation value 94 depends on the monitored value 92 corresponding to the given time interval 100, and the baseline value 98 depends on several baseline values ​​94 calculated for multiple previous time intervals 100 for the same service area 26.

[0036] Figure 3B shows time intervals 100 occurring consecutively, i.e., time intervals 100 in a series of similar intervals in which time intervals are running, such as 5-minute intervals, 10-minute intervals, or intervals of some other granularity. For any given service area 26, e.g., SA_X, the calculation of the weather metric 52 for any given one of the time intervals 100 depends on a baseline value 94 determined from monitored values ​​92 obtained for all or part of the time intervals 100 for subscriber terminals 24 in SA_X, and a baseline value 98 based on several baseline values ​​94 calculated for multiple previous time intervals 100 for the same service area 26. Compared to Figure 3A, the previous time intervals 100 can be taken as R recent consecutive time intervals 100 in a series of time intervals in which time intervals are running.

[0037] The computer system 50 may calculate the weather metric 52 according to the time interval structure in Figure 3A or Figure 3B, or it may calculate separate weather metrics 52 for each criterion. Roughly speaking, using either time interval structure, the weather metric 52 calculated for a particular service area 26 with respect to a particular time interval 100 is based on (1) an evaluation value 94 calculated for the particular service area 26 and the particular time interval 100, and (2) a criterion value 98 calculated for the particular service area 26 for several previous time intervals 100. These previous time intervals 100 are "similar" to the particular time interval 100 in question, at least because they have the same duration and can correspond to past instances of the same time, as seen in Figure 3A.

[0038] With the illustrative details of Figures 3A and 3B in mind, a computer system 50 according to one or more embodiments comprises an interface circuit 80 or 82 and a processing circuit 70. Herein, and elsewhere in this disclosure, unless specifically stated or evident from the context, “A or B” means A alone, B alone, or both A and B. The processing circuit 70 operates to determine a weather metric 52 for each of one or more time intervals 100 for each of one or more service areas 26 of the satellite communication system 10.

[0039] To calculate a weather metric 52 for any specific time interval 100 for any specific service area 26, the processing circuit 70 is configured to (a) receive monitored values ​​92 of satellite link parameters monitored for the time interval 100 for a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 in the service area 26 via an interface circuit system 80 or 82, (b) calculate an evaluation value 94 as a function of the monitored value 92, and (c) calculate the weather metric 52 as a function of the evaluation value 94 and as a function of a reference value 98 determined from a plurality of past evaluation values ​​94 calculated for a plurality of previous time intervals 100 for the service area 26.

[0040] The weather metric 52 is a numerical value calculated for a specific time interval 100 and service area 26 based on applicable assessment values ​​94 and applicable baseline values ​​98. “Applicable” means that these values ​​are relevant to a specific time interval 100 and a specific service area 26. The weather metric 52 thus calculated indicates the presence, absence, or severity of weather disturbances in the service area 26 with respect to the time interval 100. For example, the weather metric calculation yields a numerical value that falls within a defined range, with one end of the range corresponding to no weather disturbance and the other end corresponding to the “worst” weather disturbance.

[0041] Each time interval 100 includes any specific time interval within a regularly repeating time interval or a close sequence of similar time intervals. In one example, the time interval 100 of interest is a time on a given day such that a meteorological metric 52 calculated for any given time on a given day depends on an assessment value 94 calculated for that given time on that particular day, and an applicable baseline value 98 depends on an assessment value 94 calculated for some previous occurrences of that time on a given service area 26, for example, over the past month.

[0042] In one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is further configured to output signaling 54 to the database 56 via an interface circuit 80 or 82. The signaling 54 indicates one or more weather metrics 52 calculated by the processing circuit 70, or the corresponding evaluation results, along with a timestamp and service area information.

[0043] In one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is further configured to output signaling 62 to a control entity 46 in the ground segment 40 of the satellite communication system 10 via an interface circuit 80 or 82. The signaling 62 indicates one or more weather metrics 52 or corresponding evaluation results, and the control entity 46 operates to perform at least one of load balancing and transmit scheduling in the satellite communication system 10, depending on the signaling 62.

[0044] In one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is further configured to output signaling 63, including one or more notifications, via an interface circuit 80 or 82, in response to at least a specific value of one or more weather metrics 52. For example, in response to detecting that one or more weather metrics 52 fall below (or above) a threshold associated with a significant weather disturbance, the processing circuit 70 outputs one or more types of electronic signals, or controls the computer system 50 to initiate the output of one or more types of electronic signals. Examples of electronic signals include short messaging service (SMS) messages, emails, or signals for computer displays, auditory annanciers, and visual annanciers.

[0045] According to at least one embodiment, the reference value 98 for each service area 26 and each time interval 100 is a numerical value having a percentage rank defined with respect to a plurality of corresponding past evaluation values ​​94 calculated with respect to a plurality of corresponding previous time intervals 100 for each service area 26. Here, the plurality of corresponding past evaluation values ​​94 and the plurality of corresponding previous time intervals 100 are “applicable” evaluation values ​​94 and previous time intervals 100 within the scope of the meaning described above.

[0046] In one or more embodiments, the satellite link parameter is the adaptable home channel symbol rate (HCSR). In such embodiments, for each service area (26) and each time interval (100), the monitored value 92 is the HCSR of each subscriber terminal among the subscriber terminals 24 in the service area 26 during all or part of the time interval 100. In at least one such embodiment, the evaluated value 94 for each service area 26 and time interval 100 is calculated as a weighted average of the HCSRs used by each number of subscriber terminals 24 operating within the service area 26.

[0047] In one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is further configured to correlate a service outage event detected for any particular service area 26 with an index of weather disturbance for that particular service area 26, such as that indicated by a corresponding weather metric 52 calculated for that particular service area 26.

[0048] The satellite communication system 10 includes, for example, multiple service areas 26, and in one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is configured not to calculate a weather metric 52 for service areas 26 that are below a certain service area size threshold, or not to calculate a weather metric 52 for service areas 26 that are above a certain service area size threshold. Additionally or alternatively, the processing circuit 70 is configured not to calculate a weather metric 52 for service areas 26 that have a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 that is below a certain group size threshold. Additionally or alternatively, the processing circuit 70 is configured not to calculate a weather metric 52 for service areas 26 that have offline subscriber terminals 24 that exceed a threshold percentage. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the processing circuit 70 is configured to exclude certain subscriber terminals 24 within a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 from consideration in the calculation of the evaluation value 94.

[0049] In at least one embodiment, the weather metric 52 is calculated as a numerical value within a range bounded by a minimum and maximum range value. One of the minimum or maximum range value corresponds to the absence of a weather effect, and the other corresponds to the maximum weather effect. In a particular embodiment, the weather metric 52 has a maximum value corresponding to the absence of a weather disturbance and a lower threshold corresponding to the maximum weather disturbance, and values ​​below the lower threshold are considered invalid as resulting from defective or insufficient input data, for example, monitored values ​​92 from a group of subscriber terminals 24 28.

[0050] In a more detailed example, the given time interval 100 under consideration is repeated on a daily basis. With respect to a particular service area 26, the processing circuit 70 is configured to maintain a baseline value 98 for the time interval 100 as a value having a defined percentile rank with respect to a plurality of past evaluation values ​​94 calculated for previous occurrences of the time interval 100 over a defined number of recent days for the service area 26. For example, the processing circuit 70 calculates the baseline value 98 as the “p99” value with respect to a plurality of running past evaluation values ​​94 determined for a plurality of corresponding past occurrences of the time interval 100. The “p99” value is the 99th percentile value, meaning it is better than 99 percent of the plurality of baseline values ​​94.

[0051] Other percentile rankings or other ranking schemes may be used to reach a baseline value 98 used to calculate a weather metric 52 for a specific time interval 100 for a particular service area 26. For example, the baseline value may be the maximum value or may be selected according to another metric. Furthermore, it should be understood that for any given service area 26, the baseline value 98 for a certain time interval 100, e.g., the 6-7 a.m. interval, may be different from the baseline value 98 calculated for a different time interval 100, e.g., the 3-4 p.m. interval. Another point to recognize is that the computer system 50 may calculate the weather metric 52 for different time granularities; for example, the computer system 50 may maintain a weather metric 52 referenced to time intervals, but may also maintain a weather metric 52 referenced to shorter or longer intervals, such as 10-minute or 5-minute intervals.

[0052] In one or more embodiments, the monitored value 92 of the satellite link parameter provided for weather metric calculations is the adaptable home channel symbol rate (HCSR). In such cases, the monitored value 92 of the satellite link parameter is the HCSR of each subscriber terminal 24 in the service area 26 during all or part of the time interval 100 under consideration. The HCSR is "adaptable" in the sense that the system 10 controls the HCSR for each subscriber terminal 24 and sets, for example, the HCSR for each subscriber terminal 24's radio conditions to the best achievable rate. The system 10 may operate with a limited set of possible HCSRs, and as a result, each subscriber terminal 24 in normal operation will support the highest of those possible HCSRs that it can support in light of the radio conditions.

[0053] In at least one such embodiment, the processing circuit 70 is configured to calculate an evaluation value 94 as a weighted average of HCSRs for a given time interval 100 and for a given service area 26. The weighting depends on the number of each subscriber terminal 24 in the group 28 operating on each HCSR in the set of defined HCSRs. That is, for a limited number of defined HCSRs, there may be some subscriber terminals 24 in the group 28 operating on a first HCSR among the defined HCSRs, and another number of subscriber terminals 24 in the group operating on a second HCSR among the defined HCSRs. Thus, determining the average of the first and second HCSRs will depend on the relative number of subscriber terminals 24 in the group 28 using the first and second HCSRs.

[0054] Figure 4 shows a method 400 of operation by a computer system, such as computer system 50. Method 400 includes determining a weather metric 52 for each of one or more time intervals 100 for each of one or more service areas 26 of the satellite communication system 10. For each service area 26 and time interval 100, the weather metric 52 is determined based on (a) receiving monitored values ​​92 of satellite link parameters monitored for the time interval 100 for a group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 within the service area 26 (block 402), (b) calculating an evaluation value 94 for the service area 26 as a function of the monitored values ​​92 (block 404), and (c) calculating the weather metric 52 as a function of the evaluation value 94 and as a function of a baseline value 98 determined from multiple past evaluation values ​​94 calculated for multiple previous time intervals 100 for the service area 26 (block 406).

[0055] In one or more embodiments, the method 400 further includes (d) outputting a signaling indicating one or more weather metrics 52 or a corresponding evaluation result (block 408). An example of such a signaling is outputting a signaling 54 to the BSS 58 to record the weather metric 52 or the result of evaluating the weather metric 52 in the database 56. Another example is outputting a signaling 62 to one or more control entities 46 in the ground segment 40 of the system 10, for example, to output a signaling to control load balancing or scheduling in the system 10 in response to a detected weather disturbance, or to output a signaling 63 including a notice or alarm to warn a system operator or other responsible party about a detected weather disturbance.

[0056] Therefore, block 408 can be understood as any one or more of the following: - Output signaling 54, which shows at least one of the weather metrics or the result of evaluating the weather metrics, to the database 56 along with a timestamp and service area information. - Outputting a signaling 62 to a control entity 46 in the ground segment 40 of system 10, wherein the signaling 62 indicates at least one of the weather metrics or the result of evaluating the weather metrics, and the control entity 46 operates to perform at least one of load balancing and transmission scheduling in the satellite communication system, or - Output an alert signal that responds to at least a specific value of a weather metric.

[0057] Method 400 may be performed for each of one or more service areas 26 of System 10, with respect to each of one or more time intervals 100. When multiple service areas 26 are considered, Method 400 may be performed in parallel for multiple service areas 26, or it may be performed sequentially for one service area 26 at a time. Furthermore, Method 400 may be called in response to the passage of each time interval 100, for example, at the end of each time interval. However, Method 400 may be applied retrospectively, as long as the necessary data is stored. Consider an example in which a computer system 50 or another computer associated with System 10 maintains a historical set 90 of monitored values ​​92, or maintains a historical set of evaluation values ​​94 derived from such a set 90 of monitored values ​​92. Then, if the computer system 50 has enough stored data to determine the evaluation values ​​94 and baseline values ​​98 for any past time interval with respect to the service area 26 in question, it can calculate the weather metric 52 for that time interval 100.

[0058] Figure 5 illustrates a method 500 of operation by a computer system and can be understood as providing exemplary details for the implementation of method 400. The process shown is applied for each of one or more service areas 26 and for each of one or more time intervals 100.

[0059] The process "starts" with a selected time interval 100 and a selected service area 26, and includes calculating and recording a weather metric 52 for the selected time interval 100 for the selected service area 26. If there are further service areas 26 for which a weather metric 52 for the currently selected time interval 100 should be calculated, the process continues by selecting the next service area 26 and calculating the corresponding weather metric 52. Such operation is repeated for all service areas 26 to be evaluated for the currently selected time interval 100. See blocks 502, 504, and 506. The entire process is then repeated for each further time interval 100 to be considered. See blocks 508 and 510. Thus, performing the process of Figure 5 with respect to multiple time intervals 100 and multiple service areas 26 will result in the respective weather metric 52 for each time interval 100 for each service area 26.

[0060] Using weather metrics 52 as described above presents a significant improvement in the functionality of the satellite communication system 10. For example, operators of satellite communication systems, i.e., service providers, often provide services to subscribers according to negotiated parameters such as uptime, throughput, and other quality of service (QoS) metrics. These service level agreements (SLAs) often specify monetary or other penalties if the service provider fails to meet the terms specified in the SLA. However, such agreements often have exceptions for service issues related to adverse weather.

[0061] In at least one embodiment, the computer system 50 is configured to correlate a service failure, for example, a service outage experienced in any given service area 26 of system 10, with a detected weather event, i.e., an applicable weather metric 52 calculated for a given service area 26. Here, “correlation” means determining whether a service failure experienced in a particular service area 26 during a particular time interval 100 matches a weather metric 52 indicating the presence of a weather failure calculated for that service area 26 during that time interval 100.

[0062] Among several advantages of the weather metric calculations disclosed herein, this technique provides a simple, single metric relating to the impact of weather on a user beam or service area. Here, “related” can be understood to mean that the calculated value of the weather metric 52 is at least somewhat proportional to the severity of the weather. Another advantage is that the weather metric 52 is not based on the count of subscriber terminals 24 within the service area 26, and can actually be used to account for a decrease in the count of online subscriber terminals 24 within the service area 26. Another noteworthy point is that the weather metric 52 reflects the weather conditions that actually affect the satellite service.

[0063] In one or more exemplary embodiments, the weather metric 52 is calculated as a numerical value between 0 and 100, where 100 represents no weather impact and the lowest value represents a significant weather impact. The exemplary range is as follows: -95~100: No bad weather. -90~95: Possibility of bad weather. -90 or less: Severe weather -0: Invalid data; ignore weather metrics.

[0064] In one or more embodiments, the weather metric 52 calculated for a given service area 26 with respect to a given time interval 100 is based on the subscriber terminal distribution across different return links HCSRs, where the return link or "RL" refers to the uplink from the subscriber terminal 24 to the satellite 14. For example, if the time interval 100 is the time of day, the weather metric 52 for a particular time of day for a particular service area 26 is calculated as follows: - For a specific service area 26, the weighted average of HCSR over the past 5 minutes was multiplied by 100 and then divided by the p99 HCSR for the same time on that day over the previous 30 days. In an exemplary case, the highest possible HCSR is 160 and the lowest possible HCSR is 3. Using these numbers, weather metric 52 will never fall below a value of 3, unless the data used to calculate weather metric 52 is invalid. If the previous week's p99 HCSR was 160 and the current HCSR is 3, weather metric 52 will depend on the fraction 3 / 160, which is approximately 3%, resulting in weather metric 52 having a value of 3.

[0065] The weighted average of HCSR over the past 5 minutes can be considered an example of the evaluation value 94 described above, and the p99 HCSR can be considered an example of the baseline value 98 described above. In particular, the p99 HCSR can be considered a clear day value, given that it is close to the maximum weighted average HCSR observed over the same time interval for a particular service area 26 over the past 30 days. The weighted average of HCSR for subscriber terminals 24 within a group 28 in service area 26 can be calculated based on how many subscriber terminals 24 in the group are in each HCSR within a defined set of possible HCSRs.

[0066] In at least one embodiment, the calculation of the weather metric 52 for a given service area 26 and for a specific time interval 100 does not take into account all subscriber terminals 24 within the service area 26. That is, the group of subscriber terminals 24 considered for the weather metric calculation 28 may be a "filtered" group determined from a larger group, from which some subscriber terminals 24 are excluded. For example, subscriber terminals 24 newly entering the group 28 may be excluded because they may not be their optimized or stabilized HCSR. Similarly, subscriber terminals 24 performing "distancing" or other operations may be excluded from consideration for the calculation of the weather metric 52.

[0067] Other filtering may be performed at the service area level. For example, the weather metric 52 may not be calculated for a given service area 26 if the number of subscriber terminals 24 that were online during a given time interval 100 was less than a fraction of the "normal" number of subscriber terminals 24 or the expected number. Such filtering may be based on subscriber profiles or historical monitoring that provide a basis for knowing or estimating the expected number of online subscriber terminals 24. As an example, the weather metric 52 is not calculated if the number of subscriber terminals 24 is less than 80 percent of the expected number for any given time interval 100 for any given service area 26.

[0068] Figure 6 shows exemplary behavior of HCSR as an exemplary satellite link parameter for a given group of subscriber terminals 24 28 within a given service area 26, for example, a weighted average of HCSR per terminal. Figure 7 shows the corresponding exemplary behavior of a weather metric 52 calculated for the entire group 28 of subscriber terminals 24 within the service area 26. The weather threshold indicating critical weather is set at the 90% level, and the weather metric 52, also called the weather score, remains above that level unless critical weather affects the service area 26. Naturally, the numerical values ​​and the shown score behavior should be understood as examples applicable in the given context.

[0069] In particular, modifications and other embodiments of the disclosed invention(s) will be conceivable to those skilled in the art, for which the teachings presented in the foregoing description and the associated drawings are of interest. Therefore, it should be understood that the invention(s) are not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. Certain terms may be used herein, but they are used only in a general and descriptive sense and are not intended to be limiting.

Claims

1. A method (400) of operation by a computer system (50), wherein the method (400) is This includes determining a weather metric (52) for each of one or more time intervals (100) for each of one or more service areas (26) of the satellite communication system (10), wherein for each service area (26) and time interval (100), the weather metric (52) is Receiving (402) monitored values ​​(92) of satellite link parameters monitored for a group (28) of subscriber terminals (24) within the service area (26) during the aforementioned time interval (100), The calculation of an evaluation value (94) as a function of the monitored value (92) (404), The weather metric (52) is determined based on the calculation (406) of the evaluation value (94) as a function of the evaluation value (94) and as a function of a reference value (98) determined from a plurality of past evaluation values ​​(94) calculated for a plurality of previous time intervals (100) for the service area (26), The satellite communication system (10) includes a plurality of service areas (26), and the method (400) is (a) Do not calculate weather metrics (52) for service areas (26) that fall below a certain service area size threshold. (b) Not calculating weather metrics (52) for service areas (26) that exceed a certain service area size threshold, and A method (400) further comprising at least one of (c) not calculating a weather metric (52) for a service area (26) having a group (28) of subscriber terminals (24) that falls below a certain group size threshold.

2. Each time interval (100) A time interval that repeats periodically, or The method according to claim 1 (400), comprising one of any specific time intervals within a contiguous sequence of similar time intervals.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2 (400), further comprising outputting one or more of the weather metrics (52) or signaling (54) indicating the corresponding evaluation results to a database (56) together with a timestamp and service area information (408).

4. The method (400) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising outputting a signaling (62) to a control entity (46) of the satellite communication system (10), wherein the signaling (62) indicates one or more weather metrics (52) or corresponding evaluation results, and the control entity (46) operates to perform at least one of load balancing and transmission scheduling in the satellite communication system (10) depending on the signaling (62).

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 (400), further comprising outputting a signaling (63) including one or more notifications in response to a specific value of one or more weather metrics (52).

6. The method (400) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plurality of past evaluation values ​​(94) calculated with respect to the plurality of previous time intervals (100) for a specific service area (26) includes an execution set of past evaluation values ​​(94) corresponding to the execution window of the previous time interval (100).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 (400), wherein the reference value (98) for each service area (26) and each time interval (100) is a numerical value having a percentile rank defined with respect to a plurality of corresponding past evaluation values ​​(94) calculated with respect to a plurality of corresponding previous time intervals (100) for the service area (26).

8. The method (400) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the satellite link parameter is an adaptable home channel symbol rate (HCSR), and for each service area (26) and each time interval (100), the monitored value (92) is the HCSR of each subscriber terminal among the subscriber terminals (24) in the service area (26) during all or part of the time interval (100).

9. The method according to claim 8 (400), wherein the evaluation value (94) for each service area (26) and each time interval (100) is calculated as a weighted average of the HCSRs in use by each number of subscriber terminals (24) operating within the service area (26).

10. The method (400) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising correlating a service outage event detected for any particular service area (26) with an index of weather disturbance for the particular service area (26), such that it is indicated by a corresponding weather metric (52) calculated for the particular service area (26).

11. The method (400) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising excluding from consideration subscriber terminals (24) newly entering the satellite communication system (10) within the specific service area (26) with respect to calculating an evaluation value (94) for any specific time interval (100) for any specific service area (26).

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 (400), wherein each weather metric (52) is calculated as a numerical value within a range bounded by a minimum range value and a maximum range value, where one of the minimum range value or the maximum range value corresponds to no weather influence and the other of the minimum range value or the maximum range value corresponds to the maximum weather influence.

13. A computer system (50), Interface circuits (80, 82) and The satellite communication system (10) includes a processing circuit (70) which operates to determine a weather metric (52) for each of one or more time intervals (100) for each of one or more service areas (26), wherein the processing circuit calculates the weather metric (52) for each service area (26) and time interval (100), The monitored values ​​(92) of satellite link parameters, which were monitored for a group (28) of subscriber terminals (24) within the service area (26) during the time interval (100), are received via the interface circuits (80, 82). The evaluation value (94) is calculated as a function of the monitored value (92). The weather metric (52) is calculated as a function of the evaluation value (94), and as a function of a reference value (98) determined from a plurality of past evaluation values ​​(94) calculated for a plurality of previous time intervals (100) for the service area (26). The satellite communication system (10) includes a plurality of service areas (26), and the processing circuit (70) further, (a) Do not calculate weather metrics (52) for service areas (26) that fall below a certain service area size threshold. (b) Not to calculate weather metrics (52) for service areas (26) that exceed a specific service area size threshold, and A computer system (50) configured to perform at least one of the following: (c) not calculating weather metrics (52) for a service area (26) having a group (28) of subscriber terminals (24) that falls below a certain group size threshold.

14. Each time interval (100) A time interval that repeats periodically, or The computer system (50) according to claim 13, comprising one of any specific time intervals within a contiguous sequence of similar time intervals.

15. The computer system (50) according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing circuit (70) is further configured to output signaling (54) to a database (56) via the interface circuits (80, 82), the signaling (54) indicating one or more weather metrics (52) or corresponding evaluation results, together with a timestamp and service area information.

16. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the processing circuit (70) is further configured to output signaling (62) to a control entity (46) in the ground segment (40) of the satellite communication system (10) via the interface circuits (80, 82), the signaling (62) indicating one or more weather metrics (52) or corresponding evaluation results, and the control entity (46) operates to perform at least one of load balancing and transmission scheduling in the satellite communication system (10) depending on the signaling (62).

17. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the processing circuit (70) is further configured to output signaling (63) including one or more notifications via the interface circuit devices (80, 82) in response to at least a specific value of one or more weather metrics (52).

18. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the reference value (98) for each service area (26) and each time interval (100) is a numerical value having a percentile rank defined with respect to a plurality of corresponding past evaluation values ​​(94) calculated with respect to a plurality of corresponding previous time intervals (100) for the service area (26).

19. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the satellite link parameter is an adaptable home channel symbol rate (HCSR), and for each service area (26) and each time interval (100), the monitored value (92) is the HCSR of each subscriber terminal among the subscriber terminals (24) in the service area (26) during all or part of the time interval (100).

20. The computer system (50) according to claim 19, wherein the evaluation value (94) for each service area (26) and time interval (100) is calculated as a weighted average of the HCSRs used by each number of subscriber terminals (24) operating within the service area (26).

21. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 20, wherein the processing circuit (70) is further configured to correlate a service outage event detected for any particular service area (26) with an index of weather disturbance for the particular service area (26), such that it is indicated by a corresponding weather metric (52) calculated for the particular service area (26).

22. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 13 to 21, wherein the satellite communication system (10) includes a plurality of service areas (26), and the processing circuit (70) is configured not to calculate weather metrics (52) for service areas (26) having offline subscriber terminals (24) exceeding a threshold percentage.

23. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 14 to 22, wherein the processing circuit (70) is configured to exclude from consideration in the calculation of the evaluation value (94) any subscriber terminal (24) that newly enters the satellite communication system (10) within the group (28) of subscriber terminals (24).

24. The computer system (50) according to any one of claims 14 to 23, wherein the weather metric (52) is calculated as a numerical value within a range bounded by a minimum range value and a maximum range value, where one of the minimum range value or the maximum range value corresponds to no weather influence and the other of the minimum range value or the maximum range value corresponds to the maximum weather influence.

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