Patent Grant
8760354
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems, in particular, to an antenna and communications subsystem that may be used on passenger vehicles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Many communication systems involve reception of an information signal from a satellite. Conventional systems have used many types of antennas to receive the signal from the satellite, such as Rotman lenses, Luneberg lenses, dish antennas or phased arrays. However, each of these systems may suffer from limited field of view or low efficiency that limit their ability to receive satellite signals. In particular, these conventional systems may lack the performance required to receive satellite signals where either the signal strength is low or noise is high, for example, signals from low elevation satellites.
One measure of performance of a communication or antenna subsystem may be its gain versus noise temperature, or G/T. Conventional systems tend to have a G/T of approximately 9 or 10, which may often be insufficient to receive low elevation satellite signals or other weak/noisy signals. In addition, many conventional systems do not include any or sufficient polarization correction and therefore cross-polarized signal noise may interfere with the desired signal, preventing the system from properly receiving the desired signal.
There is therefore a need for an improved communication system, including an improved antenna system, that is able to receive weak signals or communication signals in adverse environments.
Aspects and embodiments of the present invention are directed to lens antenna assemblies.
According to one embodiment, an internal-step Fresnel dielectric lens comprises a first, exterior surface having at least one exterior groove formed therein, a second, opposing surface having at least one groove formed therein, and a single step Fresnel feature formed within an interior of the dielectric lens, the single step Fresnel feature having a first boundary adjacent the second surface and a second, opposing boundary, wherein the second boundary has at least one groove formed therein.
In one example, the internal-step Fresnel dielectric lens comprises a cross-linked polymer polystyrene material. In another example, the material is Rexolite®.
In another example, the first surface of the dielectric lens is convex in shape and the second surface of the lens is planar. The single step Fresnel feature may be trapezoidal in shape with the first boundary being substantially parallel to the second surface of the lens. The at least one groove may be formed on any of the first surface of the lens, the second surface of the lens and the second boundary of the single step Fresnel feature comprises a plurality of grooves formed as concentric rings.
According to another embodiment, an antenna assembly comprises a first horn antenna adapted to receive a signal from a source, a second horn antenna, substantially identical to the first antenna, and adapted to receive the signal, a first dielectric lens coupled to the first horn antenna to focus the signal to a feed point of the first horn antenna, the first dielectric lens having at least one groove formed in a surface thereof, a second dielectric lens coupled to the second horn antenna to focus the signal to a feed point of the second horn antenna, the second dielectric lens having at least one groove formed in a surface thereof, and a waveguide feed network coupled to the feed points of the first and second horn antennas and including a first feed port and a second feed port, the waveguide feed network being constructed to receive the signal from the horn antennas and to provide a first component signal having a first polarization at the first feed port and a second component signal having a second polarization at the second feed port. The antenna assembly further comprises a polarization converter unit coupled to the first feed port and the second feed port and comprising means for compensating for any polarization skew between the signal and the source.
In one example, the dielectric lenses are internal-step Fresnel lenses.
The foregoing, and other objects, features and advantages of the system will be apparent from the following non-limiting description of various exemplary embodiments, and from the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like elements through the different figures.
A communication system described herein includes a subsystem for transmitting and receiving an information signal that can be associated with a vehicle, such that a plurality of so-configured vehicles create an information network, e.g., between an information source and a destination. Each subsystem may be, but need not be, coupled to a vehicle, and each vehicle may receive the signal of interest. In some examples, the vehicle may be a passenger vehicle and may present the received signal to passengers associated with the vehicle. In some instances, these vehicles may be located on pathways (i.e., predetermined, existing and constrained ways along which vehicles may travel, for example, roads, flight tracks or shipping lanes) and may be traveling in similar or different directions. The vehicles may be any type of vehicles capable of moving on land, in the air, in space or on or in water. Some specific examples of such vehicles include, but are not limited to, trains, rail cars, boats, aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, tractor-trailers, buses, police vehicles, emergency vehicles, fire vehicles, construction vehicles, ships, submarines, barges, etc.
It is to be appreciated that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing”, “involving”, and variations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. In addition, for the purposes of this specification, the term “antenna” refers to a single antenna element, for example, a single horn antenna, patch antenna, dipole antenna, dish antenna, or other type of antenna, and the term “antenna array” refers to one or more antennas coupled together and including a feed network designed to provide electromagnetic signals to the antennas and to receive electromagnetic signals from the antennas.
Referring to
The mountable subsystem 50 may include a mounting bracket 58 to facilitate mounting of the mountable unit 50 to the vehicle 52. According to one embodiment, the mountable unit may be moveable in one or both of elevation and azimuth to facilitate communication with the information source 56 from a plurality of locations and orientations. In this embodiment, the mounting bracket 58 may include, for example, a rotary joint and a slip ring 57, shown on
The mounting bracket 58 may allow for ease of installation and removal of the mountable subsystem 50 while also penetrating a surface of the vehicle to allow cables to travel between the antenna system and the interior of the vehicle. Thus, signals, such as the information, control and power signals, may be provided to and from the mountable subsystem 50 and devices, such as a display or speakers, located inside the vehicle for access by passengers.
Referring to
According to one embodiment, illustrated as a functional block diagram in
Again referring to
As shown in
According to an embodiment, the mountable subsystem 50 may further include a down-converter unit (DCU) 400, which may receive power from the gimbal assembly 300 over line(s) 74. The DCU 400, may receive input signals, e.g. the linearly or circularly polarized signals on lines 106, from the antenna assembly 100 and may provide output signals, e.g. linearly or circularly polarized signals, on lines 76, at a lower frequency than the frequency of the input signals received on lines 106. The DCU 400 will be described in more detail infra.
According to one embodiment, the mountable subsystem 50 may be coupled, for example, via cables extending through the mounting bracket (58,
Referring to
Referring to
In general, each horn antenna 110 may receive incoming electromagnetic radiation though an aperture 116 defined by the sides of the antenna 110, as shown in
According to one embodiment, the antenna assembly 100 may be mounted on a vehicle 52 (as shown in
As described above, because of height and/or space constraints on the antenna array, it may in some applications be desirable to use a low-height, wide aperture horn antenna 110. However, such a horn antenna may have a lower gain than is desirable because, as shown in
According to one embodiment, the dielectric lens 114 may be a plano-convex lens that may be mounted above and/or partially within the horn antenna aperture, as shown in
Referring to
According to one embodiment, the lens may be constructed from a dielectric material and may have impedance matching concentric grooves formed therein, as shown in
The outside surface of the lens may be created by, for example, milling a solid block of lens material and thereby forming the convex-plano lens. As discussed above, according to one example, the external surface of the lens may include a plurality of grooves 132, forming a plurality of concentric rings about the center axis of the lens. The grooves contribute to improving the impedance match of the lens to the surrounding air, and thereby to reduce the reflected component of received signals, further increasing the antenna-lens efficiency. The concentric grooves 132, of which there may be either an even or odd number in total, may be, in one example, evenly spaced, and may be easily machined into the lens material using standard milling techniques and practices. In one example, the grooves may be machines so that they have a substantially identical width, for ease of machining.
The concentric grooves 132 may facilitate impedance matching the dielectric lens 114 to surrounding air. This may reduce unwanted reflections of incident radiation from the surface of the lens. Reflections may typically result from an impedance mismatch between the air medium and the lens medium. In dry air, the characteristic impedance of free space (or dry air) is known to be approximately 377 Ohms. For the lens material, the characteristic impedance is inversely proportional to the square root of the dielectric constant of the lens material. Thus, the higher the dielectric constant of the lens material, the greater, in general, the impedance mismatch between the lens and the air. In some applications it may be desirable to manufacture the lens from a material having a relatively high dielectric constant in order to reduce the size and weight of the lens. However, reflections resulting from the impedance mismatch between the lens and the air may be undesirable.
The dielectric constant of the lens material is a characteristic quantity of a given dielectric substance, sometimes called the relative permittivity. In general, the dielectric constant is a complex number, containing a real part that represents the material's reflective surface properties, also referred to as Fresnel reflection coefficients, and an imaginary part that represents the material's radio absorption properties. The closer the permittivity of the lens material is relative to air, the lower the percentage of a received communication signal that is reflected.
The magnitude of the reflected signal may be significantly reduced by the presence of impedance matching features such as the concentric rings machined into the lens material. With the grooves 132, the reflected signal at the surface of the lens material may be decreased as a function of ηn, the refractive indices at each boundary, according to equation 1 below:
A further reduction in the reflected signal may be obtained by optimizing the depth of the grooves such that direct and internally reflected signals add constructively.
Referring to
where η is the refractive index of the lens dielectric material.
The size of the lens and of the grooves formed in the lens surface may be dependent on the desired operating frequency of the dielectric lens 114. In one specific example, a dielectric lens 114 designed for use in the Ku frequency band (10.70-12.75 GHz) may have a height 136 of approximately 2.575 inches, and diameter 138 of approximately 7.020 inches. In this example, the grooves 132 may have a width 139 of approximately 0.094 inches and the concavity 134 formed at the base of each of these grooves may have a radius of approximately 0.047 inches. As illustrated in
Conventional impedance matching features on dielectric lenses may require the insertion of a large number of holes regularly spaced, for example, every one half wavelength. For example, the quantity of holes using a hole spacing of 0.34 inches along radials 0.34 inches apart is 337, for a 7 inch diameter lens, whereas a grooved dielectric lens according to the invention may include only 19 grooves. The invention may thus eliminate the need to form hundreds of holes, and may reduce the complexity of design and manufacture of the lens. It is further to be appreciated that while the grooves 132 have been illustrated as concentric, they may also alternatively be embodied in the form of parallel rows of grooves, or as a continuous groove, such as a spiral.
According to another embodiment, a convex-plano lens according to aspects of the invention may comprise impedance matching grooves 132, 140 formed on both the convex lens surface and the planar surface, as shown in
In one example, illustrated in
Referring again to
According to the illustrated embodiment, the concentric grooves 132 on the convex side of the lens may not be perfectly aligned with the concentric grooves 140 on the planar side of the lens, but instead may be offset as shown in
According to another embodiment, a plano-convex dielectric lens may include a single zone Fresnel-like surface feature formed along an interior face of the convex lens. In combination with grooves on the exterior and interior surfaces of the plano-convex lens (as discussed above), the Fresnel-like feature may contribute to greatly reduce the volume of the lens material, thereby lowering the overall weight of the lens. As discussed above, one application for the lens is in combination with an antenna mounted to a passenger vehicle, for example, an airplane, to receive broadcast satellite services. In such as application, the total weight of the lens and antenna may be an important design consideration, with a lighter structure being preferred. The overall weight of the lens may be reduced significantly by the incorporation of a single Fresnel-like zone into the inner planar surface of a plano-convex lens.
Referring to
According to one embodiment, illustrated in
where, α is attenuation in dB/inch, “losst” is the loss tangent of the material, ∈ is the dielectric constant of the material, and λ is the free space wavelength of the signal.
Referring to
A conventional Fresnel lens 170 is illustrated in
Referring to
As discussed above, the dielectric lenses may be designed to have an optimal combination of weight, dielectric constant, loss tangent, and a refractive index that is stable across a large temperature range. It may also be desirable that the lens will not deform or warp as a result of exposure to large temperature ranges or during fabrication, and will absorb only very small amounts, e.g., less than 1%, of moisture or water when exposed to humid conditions, such that any absorbed moisture will not adversely affect the combination of dielectric constant, loss tangent, and refractive index of the lens. Furthermore, for affordability, it may be desirable that the lens be easily fabricated. In addition, it may be desirable that the lens should be able to maintain its dielectric constant, loss tangent, and a refractive index and chemically resist alkalis, alcohols, aliphatic hydrocarbons and mineral acids.
According to one embodiment, a dielectric lens may be constructed using a certain form of polystyrene that is affordable to make, resistant to physical shock, and can operate in the thermal conditions such as −70 F. In one example, this material may be a rigid form of polystyrene known as crossed-linked polystyrene. Polystyrene formed with high cross linking, for example, 20% or more cross-linking, may be formed into a highly rigid structure whose shape may not be affected by solvents and which also may have a low dielectric constant, low loss tangent, and low index of refraction. In one example, a cross-linked polymer polystyrene may have the following characteristics: a dielectric constant of approximately 2.5, a loss tangent of less than 0.0007, a moisture absorption of less than 0.1%, and low plastic deformation property. Polymers such as polystyrene can be formed with low dielectric loss and may have non-polar or substantially non-polar constituents, and thermoplastic elastomers with thermoplastic and elastomeric polymeric components. The term “non-polar” refers to monomeric units that are free from dipoles or in which the dipoles are substantially vectorially balanced. In these polymeric materials, the dielectric properties are principally a result of electronic polarization effects. For example, a 1% or 2% divinylbenzene and styrene mixture may be polymerized through radical reaction to give a crossed linked polymer that may provide a low-loss dielectric material to form the thermoplastic polymeric component. Polystyrene may be comprised of, for example, the following polar or non-polar monomeric units: styrene, alpha-methylstyrene, olefins, halogenated olefins, sulfones, urethanes, esters, amides, carbonates, imides, acrylonitrile, and co-polymers and mixtures thereof. Non-polar monomeric units such as, for example, styrene and alpha-methylstyrene, and olefins such as propylene and ethylene, and copolymers and mixtures thereof, may also be used. The thermoplastic polymeric component may be selected from polystyrene, poly(alpha-methylstyrene), and polyolefins.
A lens constructed from a cross-linked polymer polystyrene, such as that described above, may be easily formed using conventional machining operations, and may be grinded to surface accuracies of less than approximately 0.0002 inches. The cross-linked polymer polystyrene may maintain its dielectric constant within 2% down to temperatures exceeding the −70 F, and may also have a chemically resistant material property that is resistant to alkalis, alcohols, aliphatic hydrocarbons and mineral acids. In one example, the dielectric lens so formed may include the grooved surfaces and internal-step Fresnel feature discussed above.
In one example, the dielectric lens may be formed of a combination of a low loss lens material, which may be cross-linked polystyrene, and thermosetting resins, for example, cast from monomer sheets & rods. One example of such a material is known as Rexolite®. Rexolite® is a unique cross-linked polystyrene microwave plastic made by C-Lec Plastics, Inc. Rexolite® maintains a dielectric constant of 2.53 through 500 GHz with extremely low dissipation factors. Rexolite® exhibits no permanent deformation or plastic flow under normal loads. All casting may be stress-free, and may not require stress relieving prior to, during or after machining. During one test, Rexolite® was found to absorb less than 0.08% of moisture after having been immersed in boiling water for 1000 hours, and without significant change in dielectric constant. The tool configurations used to machine Rexolite® may be similar to those used on Acrylic. Rexolite® may thus be machined using standard technology. Due to high resistance to cold flow and inherent freedom from stress, Rexolite® may be easily machined or laser beam cut to very close tolerances, for example, accuracies of approximately 0.0001 can be obtained by grinding. Crazing may be avoided by using sharp tools and avoiding excessive heat during polishing. Rexolite® is chemically resistant to alkalis, alcohols, aliphatic hydrocarbons and mineral acids. In addition, Rexolite® is about 5% lighter than Acrylic and less than half the weight of TFE (Teflon) by volume.
Referring again to
According to another embodiment, the flanges 180 may be tapered evenly so that at the mid-point 182 between flanges 180, no material protrudes beyond the approximate 7.020-inch diameter of the lens, as illustrated in
According to one example, the dielectric lens 114 may be designed to fit over, and at least partially inside, the horn antenna 110, as shown in
Referring again to
According to another example, the lens 114 may be designed such that a center of mass of the lens 114 acts as a counterbalance to a center of mass of the corresponding horn antenna 110 to which the lens is mounted, moving a composite center of mass of the lens and horn closer to a center of rotation of the entire structure, in order to facilitate rotation of the structure by the gimbal assembly 300.
Referring to
As discussed above, the antenna array 102 includes a feed network 112 that, according to one embodiment, may be a waveguide feed network 112, as illustrated in
According to one embodiment, each antenna 110 may be coupled, at its feed point ((
In the illustrated example in
The ports 608, 610 of the OMT 604 may not necessarily be perfectly phase-matched and thus the first component signal provided at port 608 may be slightly out of phase with respect to the second component signal provided at port 610. In one embodiment, the PCU may be adapted to correct for this phase imbalance, as will be discussed in more detail below.
Referring again to
As shown in
According to one embodiment, a dielectric insert may be positioned within the feed ports 600, 602 of the feed network 112.
Referring again to
According to another embodiment, the waveguide feed network 112 may include a feed orthomode transducer (not shown) coupled to each of the feed ports 600, 602. Referring to
Φ[ωt+φ1)+φp+φ2]=Φ[(ωt+φ2)+p+φ1] (4)
where (ωt+φ1) and (ωt+φ2) are the polarized first and second component signals and which are phase matched at the output port 646 of the feed OMT 640.
According to another embodiment, the feed ports 600, 602 of the feed network 112 may be coupled directly to the PCU, without a feed OMT, and the PCU may be adapted to provide polarization compensation and phase matching to compensate for any difference between φ1 and φ2, as will be discussed in more detail below.
In some applications, the antenna array may be exposed to a wide range of temperatures and varying humidity. This may result in moisture condensing within the feed network and antennas. In order to allow any such moisture to escape from the feed network, a number of small holes may be drilled in sections of the feed network, as shown by arrows 650, 652 in
Referring to
The gimbal assembly 300 may further provide operating power to the PCU 200. In addition, providing the control lines to the PCU and DCU via the gimbal assembly 300 may minimize the number of lines that need to pass through the mounting bracket 58, as well as the number of wires in a cable bundle that may be used to interconnect the antenna assembly 100 and devices such as, for example, as a display or speaker, that may be located inside the vehicle for access by passengers. An advantage of reducing the number of discrete wires in the slip ring is in an increase in overall system reliability. Additionally, some advantages of reducing the number of wires in the bundle and reducing the overall bundle diameter, for example, with smaller bend radii are that the cable installation is easier and a possible reduction in crosstalk between cables carrying the control information.
Referring to
According to another embodiment, the CPU 306 of the gimbal assembly 300 may include a tracking loop feature. In this embodiment, the CPU 304 may receive a tracking loop voltage from the DCU 400 (see
Referring to
Satellite (or other communication) signals may be transmitted on two orthogonal wave fronts. This allows the satellite (or other information source) to transmit more information on the same frequencies and rely on polarization diversity to keep the signals from interfering. If the antenna array 102 is directly underneath or on a same meridian as the transmit antenna on the satellite (or other information source), the receive antenna array 1-2 and the transmit source antenna polarizations may be aligned. However, if the vehicle 52 moves from the meridian or longitude on which information source is located, a polarization skew β is introduced between the transmit and receive antenna. This skew can be compensated for by physically or electronically rotating the antenna array 102. Physically rotating the antenna array 102 may not be practical since it may increase the height of the antenna array. Therefore, it may be preferable to electronically “rotate” the antenna array to compensate for any polarization skew. This “rotation” may be done by the PCU.
Referring again to
As shown in
Considering the path for circular polarization, lines 234 and 238 provide the second and fourth PCU signals to a 90° hybrid coupler 240. The 90° hybrid coupler 240 thus receives a vertically polarized signal (the fourth PCU signal) and a horizontally polarized signal (the second PCU signal) and combines them, with a phase difference of 90°, to create right and left hand circularly polarized resultant signals. The right and left hand circularly polarized resultant signals are coupled to switches 212 via lines 242 and 244, respectively. The PCU therefore can provide right and/or left hand circularly polarized signals from the vertically and horizontally polarized signals received from the antenna array.
From the dividers 230, the first and third PCU signals are provided on lines 232 and 236 to second dividers 246 which divide each of the first and third PCU signals in half again, thus creating four signal paths. The four signal paths are identical and will thus be described once. The divided signal is sent from the second divider 246, via line 248 to an attenuator 204 and then to a bi-phase modulator (BPM) 206. For linear polarization, the polarization slant, or skew angle, may be set by the amount of attenuation that is set in each path. Zero and 180 degree phase settings may be used to generate the tilt direction, i.e., slant right or slant left. The amount of attenuation is used to determine the amount of orthogonal polarization that is present in the output signal. The attenuator values may be established as a function of polarization skew β according to the equation 5:
A=10*log((tan(β))2
The value of the polarization skew β may be provided via the control interface 202. For example, if the input polarizations are vertical and horizontal (from the antenna array) and a vertical output polarization (from the PCU) is desired, no attenuation may be applied to the vertical path and a maximum attenuation, e.g., 30 dB, may be applied to the horizontal path. The orthogonal output port may have the inverse attenuations applied to generate a horizontal output signal. To generate a slant polarization of 45 degrees, no attenuation may be applied to either path and a 180 degree phase shift may be applied to one of the inputs to create the orthogonal 45 degree output. Varying slant polarizations may be generated by adjusting the attenuation values applied to the two paths and combining the signals. The BPM 206 may be used to offset any phase changes in the signals that may occur as a result of the attenuation. The BPM 206 is also used to change the phase of orthogonal signals so that the signals add in phase. The summers 250 are used to recombine the signals that were divided by second dividers 246 to provide two linearly polarized resultant signals that are coupled to the switches 212 via lines 252.
The switches are controlled, via line 214, by the control interface 202 to select between the linearly or circularly polarized pairs of resultant signals. Thus, the PCU may provide at its outputs, on lines 106, a pair of either linearly (with any desired slant angle) or circularly polarized PCU_output signals. According to one example, the PCU may include, or be coupled to, equalizers 220. The equalizers 220 may serve to compensate for variations in cable loss as a function of frequency—i.e., the RF loss associated with many cables may vary with frequency and thus the equalizer may be used to reduce such variations resulting in a more uniform signal strength over the operating frequency range of the system.
The PCU 200 may also provide phase-matching between the vertically and horizontally polarized or left and right hand circularly polarized component signals. The purpose of the phase matching is to optimize the received signal. The phase matching increases the amplitude of received signal since the signals received from both antennas are summed in phase. The phase matching also reduces the effect of unwanted cross-polarized transmitted signals on the desired signal by causing greater cross-polarization rejection. Thus, the PCU 200 may provide output component signals on lines 106 (see
According to one embodiment, the PCU 200 may provide all of the gain and phase matching required for the system, thus eliminating the need for expensive and inaccurate phase and amplitude calibration during system installation. As known to those familiar with the operation of satellites in many regions of the world, there exists a variety of satellites operating frequencies resulting in broad bands of frequency operations. Direct Broadcast satellites, for example, may receive signals at frequencies of approximately 14.0 GHz-14.5 GHz, while the satellite may send down signals in a range of frequencies from approximately 10.7 GHz-12.75 GHz. Table 1 below illustrates some of the variables, in addition to frequency, that exist for reception of direct broadcast signals, which are accommodated by the antenna assembly and system of the present invention.
By providing all of the gain and phase matching with the PCU and antenna array, a more reliable system with improved worldwide performance may result. By constraining the phase matching and amplitude regulation (gain) to the PCU and antenna, the system of the invention may eliminate the need to have phase-matched cables between the PCU and the mounting bracket, and between the mounting bracket and the cables penetrating a surface of the vehicle to provide radio frequency signals to and from the antenna assembly 100 and the interior of the vehicle. Phase-matched cables, even if accurately phase matched during system installation, may change over time, and temperature shifts may degrade system performance causing poor reception or reduced data transmission rates. Similarly, the rotary joint can be phase matched when new but over time, being a mechanical device, may wear resulting in the phase matching degrading. Thus, it may be particularly advantageous to eliminate the need for these components to be phase-matched, but accomplishing substantially all of the phase-matching of the signals at the PCU.
According to one embodiment, the PCU 200 may operate for signals in the frequency range of approximately 10.7 GHz to approximately 12.75 GHz. In one example, the PCU 200 may provide a noise figure of 0.7 dB to 0.8 dB over this frequency range, which may be significantly lower than many commercial receivers. The noise figure is achieved through careful selection of components, and by impedance matching all or most of the components, over the operating frequency band.
Referring to
DCU 400 may provide an RF interface between the PCU 200 and a second down-converter unit 500 (see
According to one embodiment, the DCU 400 may receive power from the gimbal assembly 300 via line 413. The DCU 400 may also be controlled by the gimbal assembly 300 via the control interface 410. According to one embodiment, DCU 400 may receive two RF signals on lines 106 from the PCU 200 and may provide output IF signals on lines 76. Directional couplers 402 may be used to inject a built-in-test signal from local oscillator 404. A switch 406 that may be controlled, via a control interface 410, by the gimbal assembly (which provides control signals on line(s) 322 to the control interface 410) is used to control when the built-in-test signal is injected. A power divider 428 may be used to split a single signal from the local oscillator 404 and provide it to both paths.
Referring again to
As discussed above, the gimbal assembly 300 may include a tracking feature wherein the gimbal CPU 306 uses a signal received from the DCU 400 on line 322 to provide control signals to the antenna array to facilitate the antenna array tracking the information source. According to one embodiment, the DCU 400 may include a control interface 410 that communicates with the gimbal CPU 306 via line 322. The control interface 41 may sample the amplitude of the IF signal on either path using couplers 412 and RF detector 434 to provide amplitude information that may be used by the CPU 306 of the gimbal to track the satellite based on received signal strength. An analog-to-digital converter 436 may be used to digitize the information before it is sent to the gimbal assembly 300. If the DCU is located close to the gimbal CPU, this data may be received at a high rate, e.g. 100 Hz, and may be uncorrupted. Therefore, performing a first down-conversion, to convert the received RF signals to IF signals, close to the antenna may improve overall system performance.
The CPU 306 of the gimbal may include software that may utilize the amplitude information provided by the DCU to point at, or track, an information source such as a satellite. The control interface may provide signals to the gimbal assembly to allow the gimbal assembly to correctly control the antenna assembly to track a desired signal from the source. In one example, the DCU may include a switch 414 that may be used to select whether to track the vertical/RHC or horizontal/LHC signals transmitted from an information source, such as a satellite. In general, when these signals are transmitted from the same satellite, it may be desirable to track the stronger signal. If the signals are transmitted from two satellites that are close, but not the same, it may be preferable to track the weaker satellite.
Allowing the antenna to be pointed at the satellite based on signal strength as well as aircraft coordinates simplifies the alignment requirements during system installation. It allows for an installation error of up to five tenths of a degree versus one tenth of a degree without it. The system may also use a combined navigation and signal strength tracking approach, in which the navigation data may be used to establish a limit or boundary for the tracking algorithm. This minimizes the chances of locking onto the wrong satellite because the satellites are at least two or more degrees apart. By using both the inertial navigation data and the peak of the signal found while tracking the satellite, it may be possible to calculate the alignment errors caused during system installation and correct for them in the software.
According to one embodiment, a method and system for pointing the antenna array uses the information source (e.g., a satellite) longitude and vehicle 52 (e.g., an aircraft) coordinates (latitude and longitude), vehicle attitude (roll, pitch and yaw) and installation errors (delta roll, delta pitch, and delta yaw) to compute where the antenna should be pointing. As known to those experienced in the art, geometric calculations can be easily used to determine look angles to geostationary satellites from known coordinates, including those from aircraft. Signal tracking may be based on using the received satellite signal strength to optimize the antenna orientation dynamically. During tracking the gimbal CPU may use the amplitude of the received signal (determined from the amplitude information received from the DCU) to determine the optimum azimuth and elevation pointing angle by discretely repositioning the antenna from its calculated position to slight offset positions and determining if the signal received strength is optimized, and if not repositioning the antenna orientation in the optimized direction, and so forth. It is to be appreciated that pointing may be accurate and precise, so if, for example, the aircraft inertial navigation system is later changed, the alignment between the antenna array coordinates and the Inertial Navigation System may have to be recalculated.
In general when a navigation system is replaced in an aircraft or other vehicle, it is accurately placed to within a few tenths of a degree to the old Inertial Navigation System. However, this few tenths of a degree can cause the Antenna System to not point at the satellite accurately enough for the onboard receivers to lock on the signal using only a pointing calculation, and thus may result in loss of picture for the passenger. If the Inertial Navigation System is replaced, the Antenna System should be realigned within one or two tenths of a degree when using a pointing-only antenna system. In conventional systems this precision realignment can be a very time consuming and tedious process and thus may be ignored, impairing performance of the antenna system. The present system has both the ability to point and track, and thus the alignment at installation may be simplified and potentially eliminated since the tracking of the system can make up for any alignment or pointing errors, for example, if the replacement Inertial Navigation system is installed within 0.5 degrees with respect to the preceding Inertial Navigation coordinates
The system may be provided with an automatic alignment feature that may implemented, for example, in software running on the gimbal CPU. When automatic alignment is requested, the system may initially use the inertial navigation data to point at a chosen satellite. Maintenance personnel can request this action from an external interface, such as a computer, that may communicate with the gimbal CPU. When the antenna array has not been aligned, the system starts scanning the area to look for a peak received signal. When it finds the peak of the signal it may record the azimuth, elevation, roll, pitch, yaw, latitude and longitude. The peak may be determined when the system has located the highest signal strength. The vehicle may then be moved and a new set of azimuth, elevation, roll, pitch, yaw, latitude and longitude numbers are measured. With this second set of numbers the system may compute the installation error delta roll, delta pitch and delta yaw and the azimuth and elevation pointing error associated with these numbers. This process may be repeated until the elevation and azimuth pointing errors are acceptable.
The conventional alignment process is typically only performed during initial antenna system installation and is done by manual processes. Conventional manual processes usually do not have the ability to input delta roll, delta pitch and delta yaw numbers, so the manual process requires the use of shims. These shims are small sheets of filler material, for example aluminum shims, that are positioned between the attachment base of the antenna and the aircraft, for example. to force the Antenna System coordinates to agree with the Navigation System coordinates. However, the use of shims requires the removal of the radome, the placement of shims and the reinstallation of the radome. This is a very time consuming and dangerous approach. Only limited people are authorized to work on top of the aircraft and it requires a significant amount of staging. Once the alignment is completed the radome has to be reattached and the radome seal cured for several hours. This manual alignment process can take all day, whereas the automatic alignment process described herein can be performed in less than 1 hour.
Once properly aligned, pointing computations alone are generally sufficient to keep the antenna pointed at the information source. In some instances it is not sufficient to point the antenna array at the satellite using only the Inertial Navigation data. Some Inertial Navigation systems do not provide sufficient update rates for some high dynamic movements, such as, for example, taxiing of an aircraft. (Conventional antenna systems are designed to support a movement of 7 degrees per second in any axis and an acceleration of 7 degrees per second per second.). One way to overcome this may be to augment the pointing azimuth and elevation calculated with a tracking algorithm. The tracking algorithm may always be looking for the strongest satellite signal, thus if the Inertial Navigation data is slow, the tracking algorithm may take over to find the optimum pointing angle. When the Inertial Navigation data is accurate and up to date, the system may use the inertial data to compute its azimuth and elevation angles since this data will coincide with the peak of the beam. This is because the Inertial Navigation systems coordinates may accurately point, without measurable error, the antenna at the intended satellite, that is predicted look angles and optimum look angles will be identical. When the Inertial Navigation data is not accurate the tracking software may be used to maintain the pointing as it inherently can “correct” differences between the calculated look angles and optimum look angles up to 0.5 degrees.
According to another embodiment, the communication system of the invention may include a second down-converter unit (DCU-2) 500.
According to one embodiment, the DCU-2500 may receive input signals on lines 76 from the DCU 400. Power dividers 508 may be used to split the received signals so as to be able to create high band output IF signals (for example, in a frequency range of 1150 MHz to 2150 MHz) and low band output IF signals (e.g. in a frequency range of 950 MHz to 1950 MHz). Thus, the DCU-2 may provide, for example, four output IF signals, on lines 78, in a total frequency range of approximately 950 MHz to 2150 MHz. Some satellites may be divided into two bands 10.7 GHz to 11.7 GHz and 11.7 GHz to 12.75 GHz. The 10.7 GHz to 11.7 GHz band are down converted to 0.95 GHz to 1.95 GHz and the 11.7 GHz band to 12.75 GHz band are down converted to 1.1 GHz to 2.15 GHz. These signals may be presented to a receiver (not shown), for example, a display or audio output, for access by passengers associated with the vehicle 52 (see
According to the illustrated example, the DCU-2500 may include band-pass filters 510 that may be used to filter out-of-band products from the signals. The received signals are mixed, using mixers 512, with a tone from one of a selection of local oscillators 514. Each local oscillator 514 may be tuned to a particular band of frequencies, as a function of the satellites (or other information signal sources) that the system is designed to receive. Which local oscillator is mixed in mixers 512 at any given time may be controlled, using switches 516, by control signals received from the gimbal assembly by the control interface 502. The output signals may be amplified by amplifiers 518 to improve signal strength. Further band-pass filters 520 may be used to filter out unwanted mixer products. In one example, the DCU-2500 may include a built-in-test feature using an RF detector 522 and couplers 524 to sample the signals, as described above in relation to the DCU and PCU. A switch 526 (controlled via the control interface 502) may be used to select which of the four outputs is sampled for the built-in-test.
Having thus described several exemplary embodiments of the system, and aspects thereof, various modifications and alterations may be apparent to those of skill in the art. Such modifications and alterations are intended to be included in this disclosure, which is for purposes of illustration only, and not intended to be limiting. The scope of the invention should be determined from proper construction of the appended claims, and their equivalents.
This application is a continuation of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120, to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/176,808 filed Jul. 21, 2008 and entitled “Communication System with Broadband Antenna,” which is a continuation of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §102 to, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/234,870, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,403,166, filed Sep. 23, 2005, and entitled “Communication System with Broadband Antenna,” which is a divisional of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 and §121 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/644,493, filed Aug. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,073 which in turn claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/405,080 entitled “Communication System with Broadband Antenna,” filed Aug. 20, 2002 and U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/409,629 entitled “Communication System with Broadband Antenna,” filed Sep. 10, 2002, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10644493 | Aug 2003 | US |
| Child | 11234870 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12176808 | Jul 2008 | US |
| Child | 12876552 | US | |
| Parent | 11234870 | Sep 2005 | US |
| Child | 12176808 | US |
