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:
May. 15, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 04, 1999
John L. Norin, Hawthorne, CA (US);
The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
The new satellite communications repeater test method allows multiple transponders to be tested from a single ground test station. The satellite's receive antenna is aligned with the ground station antenna and uplink test signals are transmitted to the satellite. The uplink test signal is converted to a corresponding downlink signal which is distributed to the transponders fed by the receive antenna. Prior to transmission from the satellite, the amplified downlink signals are sampled and combined and/or switched into a single path having a frequency spectrum which includes the frequency bands of the sampled downlink signals. The combined signal is transmitted to the ground test station from a wide angle transmit antenna. The received downlink signals are measured and stored for later processing to validate the operational characteristics of the transponders. In an alternative embodiment, the sampling and combining matrix includes switches for selecting the sampled signals to be combined.