The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 09, 2019
Filed:
May. 13, 2016
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Mac Allen Cody, Richardson, TX (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
A method for generating contact graphs for delay/disruption tolerant networking for a constellation of network nodes (e.g., satellites in low earth orbit, terrestrial sensors, and ground stations). A contact graph indicates the availability and data rates for communications links between spacecraft and ground stations. The links may be intermittent due to orbital dynamics and the earth's rotation, and may be line-of-sight or relayed. The method predicts the future locations of satellite nodes in the Earth Centered inertial reference frame, and converts the locations of terrestrial nodes by converting their coordinates from the Earth Centered Earth Fixed reference frame. The method also determines whether line-of-sight links are possible, and estimates the closing velocity between network nodes to estimate signal Doppler shift. Contact graph routing determines the links used to most effectively move data over the network. Output data files may be directly used by Interplanetary Overlay Network administration software.