Hughes Network Systems, LLC

Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Sandeep Ahluwalia

Chandrasekhar Sangireddi

Thomas Jagodits

Robert James Torres

Satyajit Roy

Jun Xu

Charles A Barnett

Liqing Xiao

Amit Arora

Deepak

Yeqing Tang

Ran Wang

Neha Jain

ALexey Razuvaev

Joseph Sanju George

Channasandra S Ravishankar

George Joseph Choquette

Ali Masoomzadeh

Mohammad Mamunur Rashid

Baosheng Li

Jyotirmoy Banik

A constellation of satellites provides communication services to user terminals (UTs). Some UTs may be fixed while others are mobile. Each satellite provides communication services to discrete geographic areas or 'spots' on and above the Earth. The mobile UT may operate in various modes. In a normal mode, communication resources within a single spot are allocated to a mobile UT. An obfuscated mode allocates the mobile UT communication resources in many spots, even though the mobile UT is only physically present in one. A whisper mode minimizes transmission from the mobile UT. With the exact location of the mobile UT unknown to the satellites, the mobile UT may send a handover request that is used to schedule a handover to other satellite(s), providing ongoing communication service while the mobile UT moves. In some implementations the handover request is determined in advance. A quiet mode facilitates the mobile UT receiving only.

System for providing communication to a mobile user terminal

A satellite utilizes a scheduler to manage uplink contention by providing a user terminal (UT) with grants to use uplink resources. The scheduler may process buffer data status (BDS) information received from the UT that indicates data enqueued by the UT for transmission on the uplink. Based on the BDS the scheduler provides solicited grants to the UT. When there is no backlog of enqueued data on the uplink, unsolicited grants (USGs) are provided to the UT. The USGs provide the UT with access to the uplink without resorting to a high latency random-access channel. If the UT utilizes the USG, subsequent USGs may be provided at shorter repetition intervals. If the UT does not utilize the USG, subsequent USGs may be provided at longer repetition intervals. The changes to the repetition interval may be asymmetrical, such as decreasing additively and increasing multiplicatively.

System for allocation of unsolicited grants to access satellite uplink

A satellite provides communication between user terminals (UTs) and ground stations that connect to other networks, such as the Internet. Because the satellite is within range of many UTs at any given time, many UTs are in contention to use an uplink to send upstream data to the satellite. This saturates a random-access channel (RACH) on the uplink. When a UT has data to uplink, it sends a short buffer data status (SBDS) message using the RACH. The minimal size of the SBDS facilitates use of a non-orthogonal multiple access uplink. Based on the SBDS, the satellite allocates a grant to the UT to use the uplink. Additional messages from the UT involving buffer status may be sent using the granted uplink. Unsolicited grants may be issued to the UT based on analysis of uplink and downlink traffic. If needed, the RACH may still be used to request additional grants.

Satellite uplink management system

Systems and methods for transmitting data using a satellite communication network are disclosed herein. In an embodiment, a satellite communication network includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a base station. The first terminal is configured to collect first target data. The second terminal is configured to receive a first data packet including the first target data from the first terminal via a local connection. The base station is in communication with the first terminal and the second terminal via at least one satellite. The base station is configured to: (i) receive copies of the first data packet from each of the first and second terminals via the at least one satellite; (ii) process a first copy of the first data packet; and (iii) delete a second copy of the first data packet.

Systems and methods for transmitting data via a satellite network

Systems and methods are provided to achieve dynamic bandwidth allocation among terminal groups (TGs) with proportional fairness in terms of both throughput and spectrum usage across a network. Quality of service (QoS) metrics for such TGs can be satisfied in terms of maximum throughput and spectrum utilization, while also satisfying QoS metrics such as latency, throughput, and prioritized traffic services for individual terminals within the TGs. A centralized bandwidth manager can be utilized to manage such dynamic bandwidth allocation across multiple Code Rate Organizers (CROs), including environments in which the multiple CROs manage communications across multiple IPGWs for multiple terminal groups. Because, in such environments, a given conventional CRO cannot effectively manage allocations across the entire network, the centralized bandwidth management functionality can be introduced to assess the flows for multiple TGs across multiple CROs and to make bandwidth allocations accordingly.

Dynamic bandwidth management with spectrum efficiency for logically grouped terminals in a broadband satellite network

A communication method includes receiving, by a first node of a satellite communications network, a stream of terrestrial data packets that are encapsulated in accordance with a predetermined protocol, de-encapsulating, by the first node, the terrestrial data packets to extract user plane context and QoS parameters for a user session in accordance with the predetermined protocol, encapsulating, by the first node, the user plane context within satellite data packets, and transmitting, by the first node, the satellite data packets to a second node of the satellite communications network via a satellite communications link between the first node and the second node by scheduling the satellite data packets using the QoS parameters in accordance with the predetermined protocol.

Communication method and communication system

Systems and methods provide bandwidth management on the inroute of a satellite network. Inroute group managers (IGMs) monitor bandwidth usage in each terminal group (TG) under each of the IGMs, and report this bandwidth usage to a bandwidth manager. Upon receipt of the reported bandwidth usage from each of the IGMs, the bandwidth manager compares the bandwidth usage and minimum/maximum throughput rates associated with each TG. The bandwidth manager calculates scaling factors that it transmits to each of the IGMs to allow the IGMs to allocate bandwidth accordingly.

Bandwidth management across logical groupings of access points in a shared access broadband network

A system and method for interfacing a User Equipment (UE) to a Core Network (CN) is disclosed. The method including: providing a high latency connection; providing a satellite network portal (SNP) to connect to the UE via a satellite link, wherein the SNP includes a Media Access Control (MAC) layer for managing the satellite link and a Radio Layer Control (RLC) layer of the UE; interfacing the UE to the CN with a Point of Presence (POP) including a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer of the UE and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer of the UE; and establishing a session between the CN and the UE via the RRC layer, the PDCP layer and the RLC layer. In the method, network traffic, between the SNP and the POP, over the high latency connection has a latency greater than 10 milliseconds (ms), the session does not timeout due to the latency of the high latency connection, and the MAC layer schedules bandwidth for the establishing over the satellite link.

Inter-layer communications in wireless networks including a high latency connection

An approach is provided for the application of network acceleration technologies to remote node traffic over GPRS tunneling protocols (GTP) in terrestrial mobile communications networks. A proxy device of a first network node receives a stream of data packets that are encapsulated in accordance with GTP. Each GTP packet is de-encapsulated by stripping GTP header from the packet, identifying the TEID (reflecting a respective GTP flow with which the GTP packet is associated), and maintaining a respective GTP payload (PDU). Acceleration functions are applied to the GTP PDUs, and the resulting acceleration packets are transmitted communications network link(s) to a proxy of a second network node. The second node proxy device receives the transmitted packets, and re-encapsulates each packet, in accordance with the GTP protocol, based at least in part on the respective TEID of the packet.

Acceleration of GTP traffic flows, over a satellite link, in a terrestrial wireless mobile communications system

A communication system, an apparatus and a method to route an Internet Protocol (IP) datagram with a standard internet routing protocol over a space link. The method including: routing according to the standard internet routing protocol including a current routing table including routing via the space link; receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) datagram including a destination; querying the routing stack to determine whether the destination is linked via the space link; and forwarding the IP Datagram to a space link address when IP datagram's destination is linked via the space link.

Method for route propagation over a satellite link, and a system thereof

An apparatus and a system to preserve Internet Protocol (IP) addressing over a space link is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a network interface; a space link interface; a configuration table comprising Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network information and a satellite hub table, wherein the VSAT network information comprises subnet and range information for a network linked to the network interface; and a VSAT registration module. The VSAT registration module is configured to: select a satellite hub from the satellite hub table for communicating with using the space link interface, register the apparatus with the selected hub, and advertise the local-network information by communicating a route based on the local-network information to the selected hub, wherein the local-network information is independent of the hub selected from the satellite hub table.

Growing community of inventors

Gaithersburg, MD, United States of America

Sandeep Ahluwalia