Relay Platform Antenna Radiation Pattern for Urban Multipath

The patent applies local quality by directing signal energy preferentially toward useful zones (areas where rovers need positioning) rather than uniformly in all directions. The antenna arrangement creates a non-uniform radiation pattern with higher gain in specific directions and lower gain or nulls in directions where multipath reflections would occur, thus locally optimizing signal distribution to match the spatial requirements of the application.

The patent changes the radiation pattern parameters of the antenna system from an omnidirectional pattern to a shaped pattern with controlled lobes and nulls. By adjusting the antenna arrangement and beamforming parameters, the system modifies the spatial distribution of transmitted energy to concentrate signals where needed while suppressing signals that would cause multipath reflections off surrounding obstacles.

The patent implements dynamics by making the antenna arrangement reconfigurable, allowing the radiation pattern to be dynamically adjusted based on environmental conditions, rover positions, and mission requirements. The system can switch between different beam patterns and redirect energy in real-time to maintain optimal coverage while adapting to changing multipath conditions, thus resolving the static trade-off between focus and coverage.

The patent utilizes vertical dimension by employing three-dimensional beamforming capabilities. Instead of only horizontal direction control, the system shapes radiation patterns in three-dimensional space, creating vertical lobes and adjusting elevation angles to bypass obstacles and reduce multipath reflections while maintaining broad horizontal coverage through spatial diversity in the vertical dimension.

The patent introduces relay platforms as intermediaries between GNSS satellites and receivers. These relay platforms receive weak satellite signals, amplify them, and retransmit with higher power and optimized radiation patterns. This intermediary system improves signal quality at the receiver without requiring the receiver itself to have increased complexity, as the enhancement occurs in the transmission path rather than in the receiver's correlation processing.

The patent creates copies of GNSS positioning signals through relay platforms that receive original satellite signals and generate replicated versions with improved characteristics. The relay platforms demodulate and remodulate the signals, creating enhanced copies that are transmitted to multiple receivers simultaneously, thereby improving measurement quality without requiring each individual receiver to process multiple signal copies independently.