Multi-Antenna Ground Station Seamless Satellite Handover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multi-antenna ground stations fail to achieve transparent switching between satellites with diversity reception, lack modularity for improved performance, and cannot maintain uninterrupted reception diversity during link changes, and do not allow for the addition of new antennas to enhance reception.
Innovation Solution
A multi-antenna ground station architecture with multiple directional antennas, a multichannel reception and processing device, and a configurable diversity combining device that manages and coordinates the switching of communication links between satellites, ensuring continuous diversity reception and allowing for the addition of new antennas to improve performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional multi-antenna ground stations use only one antenna during the entire period separating two consecutive switchovers, then device complexity is reduced, but reception diversity and signal quality are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining both antennas in a ready state with continuous signal processing chains active. The first antenna tracks the first satellite while the second antenna prepares for the upcoming satellite handover, ensuring that diversity reception is already established before the switchover event occurs. This eliminates the need to activate/deactivate processing chains during switching.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention ensures continuous useful action by maintaining uninterrupted signal processing through both antennas throughout the entire handover period. The signal processing device continuously processes signals from both antennas, and the combining device continuously combines these signals, ensuring that reception diversity is maintained without interruption during the satellite handover transition.
2Reliability
If ground stations require a double demodulation chain during switchover, then signal quality is maintained, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The signal processing device is designed with multi-functionality to handle signals from multiple antennas simultaneously using a single demodulation chain. The device can process and combine signals from both the first antenna tracking the first satellite and the second antenna tracking the second satellite, eliminating the need for separate demodulation chains while maintaining signal quality through coherent combining.
3Adaptability or versatility
If ground stations use fixed antenna configurations, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability for performance improvement is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The ground station is segmented into modular, independently controllable antenna units, each with its own tracking and signal processing capabilities. This allows individual antennas to be added, removed, or reconfigured without affecting the entire system. The signal processing device and combining device are also modular, enabling flexible configuration adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The antenna configuration is made dynamic rather than fixed. The system can adaptively adjust which antennas are active, their tracking targets, and their signal weighting based on real-time conditions. The combining device dynamically adjusts the contribution of each antenna's signal to optimize reception quality, and new antennas can be dynamically integrated into the system.
4Reliability
If ground stations cannot maintain uninterrupted reception diversity during link changeover, then device complexity is reduced, but communication reliability is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where the signal processing device continuously monitors signal quality from both antennas, and the combining device uses this feedback to optimally weight and combine the signals. During handover, the system receives feedback on the transition progress and adjusts the combining parameters in real-time to maintain uninterrupted diversity reception and ensure seamless handover.
Data Source
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AI summary
A ground station with P individual tracking antennas of a satellite between a first starting satellite S1 and a second destination satellite S2 includes, connected in series, a multi-channel receiving and processing device (122) and a configurable diversity combining device (124), and includes a diversity management and seamless failover device (126) of a receive communication link from the first originating satellite S1 to the second destination satellite S2.The diversity management and transparent failover device (126) is configured to manage and coordinate the execution of a succession of k transparent unitary Bi antenna failovers, and during each transparent unitary Bi failover, to control the antennas (112, 114, 116), the multi-channel receiver and processing device (122) and the configurable diversity combining device (124) by determining and sending them respectively: .* satellite acquisition pointing commands, and .* time and phase alignment commands of the P signals received at the input of the multi-channel receiver and processing device developed based on time and phase deviation measurements of P-1 input signals relative to the input signal taken as the reference signal, and .* a guideline for selecting the processed output signals to be combined according to the planning of the switchover from the first diversity configuration C1 to the second diversity configuration C2 and according to quality measurements of the signals received at the input of the receiving and processing device.