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:
Dec. 14, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 31, 1997
Brian William Kroeger, Sykesville, MD (US);
Paul James Peyla, Elkridge, MD (US);
CBS Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A beam steering control for a mobile satellite communications antenna, includes an antenna having a steering mechanism; a dynamic rate sensor for producing a signal related to the rate of change of position of a vehicle to which the antenna is mounted; and a control system for controlling the steering mechanism, the control system including a satellite tracking loop, an inertial stabilization loop, a calibration algorithm for dynamically calibrating the rate sensor, and a satellite acquisition algorithm for determining a azimuth angle of the antenna relative to an inertial reference. A method for beam steering a mobile satellite communications antenna, includes mounting an antenna on a steering mechanism; using a dynamic rate sensor to produce a signal related to the rate of change of position of a vehicle to which the antenna is mounted; and controlling the steering mechanism, using a control system including a satellite tracking loop, an inertial stabilization loop, a calibration algorithm for dynamically calibrating the rate sensor, and a satellite acquisition algorithm for determining a azimuth angle of the antenna relative to an inertial reference. Special techniques are employed to tolerate signal outages in a fading communication channel, while other techniques are employed to overcome practical and economical limitations of the hardware.