Ground Station Beam Tracking With Adjacent Beam Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for tracking Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites using phased array antennas are inefficient and time-consuming as they require scanning all communication beams to identify the best signal strength, especially with increasing array sizes and higher beam resolution.
Innovation Solution
A satellite tracking method that selects a best communication beam and adjacent alternative beams with overlapping coverage, determining signal strength only among these beams to potentially replace the best beam, reducing the need to scan all beams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If all communication beams are scanned to identify the best signal strength, then the satellite tracking precision is improved, but the tracking time and computational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complete beam scanning task into two parts: (1) a coarse scanning phase that divides the sky into regions and identifies potential satellite locations, and (2) a fine scanning phase that only scans beams in the identified regions. This segmentation reduces the total number of beams scanned while maintaining tracking precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by scanning only a subset of beams rather than all beams. The coarse scan identifies sufficient information to locate the satellite, and the fine scan refines this location without requiring exhaustive scanning of every beam, thus achieving acceptable precision with reduced time expenditure.
2Measurement precision
If the array antenna scale increases and beam resolution becomes higher, then the signal receiving precision is improved, but the beam scanning efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the beam scanning process into coarse and fine phases, where the coarse phase uses lower resolution to quickly identify regions of interest, and the fine phase uses higher resolution only in those regions. This maintains signal receiving precision while dramatically improving scanning efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses partial action by applying high-resolution scanning only to selected regions identified by the coarse scan, rather than scanning all beams at high resolution. This preserves the benefits of high beam resolution for signal precision while avoiding the exponential increase in scanning time that would result from scanning all beams at high resolution.
3Reliability
If exhaustive beam scanning is performed to ensure accurate satellite tracking, then the tracking reliability is improved, but the system complexity and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tracking system into two functional modules: a coarse scanning module that provides preliminary satellite location information, and a fine scanning module that refines the tracking. This segmentation reduces computational complexity while maintaining reliability by ensuring that the fine scan focuses computational resources on the correct region.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action through the coarse scanning phase, which performs preliminary identification of satellite locations before the fine scanning phase begins. This preliminary action reduces the search space for the fine scan, ensuring reliable tracking while reducing overall system complexity and computational load.
Data Source
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AI summary
A satellite tracking method for ground station (10) comprises selecting a plurality of alternative beams, each of which corresponds to one of communication beams (241B, 242B, 251B, 253B, 261B, 262B) adjacent to a best communication beam (252B); and determining whether the best communication beam (252B) is going to be replaced by a selected one of the alternative beams (241B, 242B, 251B, 253B, 261B, 262B) in accordance with a signal strength of the selected alternative beam while ignoring the communication beams except the alternative beams (241B, 242B, 251B, 253B, 261B, 262B). The ground station (10) communicates with the satellite through the best communication beam which is one of the plurality of communication beams (200B - 283B) emitted by the ground station (10).