Ground Station Server Forward Path Congestion Mitigation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Satellite communication systems face congestion issues due to multiple users competing for limited resources, leading to communication channel blocking and potential regulatory violations, especially in geostationary satellite links where mobile terminals cannot sense transmissions from other devices, resulting in increased noise floor and reduced signal-to-noise ratios.

Innovation Solution

A ground station server determines congestion levels on forward and return paths and mitigates it by redirecting communication over uncongested paths, scheduling messages, and adjusting acknowledgment timeouts to prevent channel overload.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If multiple users transmit simultaneously over a shared satellite channel, then communication capacity is increased, but noise floor increases and signal-to-noise ratio decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication capacityVSAvoidnoise floor

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The ground station server proactively determines congestion levels on communication paths before they become critical and preemptively redirects traffic to alternative paths. This preliminary action prevents the noise floor from rising to problematic levels while maintaining high communication capacity, as traffic is balanced across multiple paths rather than allowing one path to become overloaded

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of operation

If mobile terminals cannot sense transmissions from other devices, then transmission coordination is simplified, but channel blocking increases due to lack of collision detection

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransmission coordinationVSAvoidchannel blocking

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The ground station server actively monitors communication path conditions and provides feedback by determining congestion levels and redirecting traffic to uncongested paths. This feedback mechanism compensates for the inability of mobile terminals to sense each other's transmissions, preventing channel blocking while maintaining simple terminal operation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The ground station server acts as an intermediary that coordinates communication paths between mobile terminals. It determines congestion levels and makes routing decisions, eliminating the need for terminals to sense each other while preventing channel blocking through centralized path management

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Productivity

If traffic is concentrated on a single forward communication path, then communication efficiency is maximized, but congestion and channel blocking occur

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication efficiencyVSAvoidchannel blocking

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The communication traffic is segmented and distributed across multiple forward communication paths rather than concentrating all traffic on a single path. The ground station server determines congestion levels on each path and redirects traffic to balance load, maintaining communication efficiency while preventing channel blocking through path diversity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Speed

If acknowledgment timeout periods are short, then communication responsiveness is improved, but channel overload occurs under high load conditions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication responsivenessVSAvoidchannel overload

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The acknowledgment timeout period is made dynamic rather than fixed. Under normal conditions, short timeouts maintain communication responsiveness. When congestion is detected on a communication path, the timeout period is extended to prevent channel overload, allowing the system to adapt timeout values based on real-time path conditions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS10523684B2Forward path congestion mitigation for satellite communications

Publication Date: 2019.12.31 HIGHER GROUND LLC

AI summary

In one embodiment, a ground station server of a satellite communication system mitigates congestion on a particular forward communication path via an intermediate satellite from the ground station server to a plurality of distributed modules. In particular, in response to determining that the level of congestion is above a threshold, then the ground station server mitigates the congestion by, e.g., determining uncongested forward communication paths, scheduling a sufficient amount of communication over the uncongested forward communication paths to alleviate congestion on the particular forward communication path without congesting the one or more uncongested forward communication paths, transmitting instructions on the particular forward communication path to corresponding modules of the plurality of distributed modules, the instructions causing the corresponding modules to use a respective uncongested forward communication path, and communicating to the corresponding modules on their respective uncongested forward communication path.