Patent ID: 11916647
Assignee: ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC.
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A communications system, comprising:
a plurality of operators positioned in an environment, the plurality of operators comprising a first operator and a second operator;
one or more low-earth orbit satellites;
a plurality of communications sub-systems, the plurality of communications sub-systems comprising a first communications sub-system disposed on the first operator and a second communications sub-system disposed on the second operator, wherein each of the plurality of communications sub-systems is configured to operate in an operating mode, and wherein each of the plurality of communications sub-systems comprises at least:
a phased array comprising:
a first antenna element configured to transmit to and receive from at least one of the plurality of communications sub-systems one or more first radio frequency signals along a first directional link, wherein the first directional link comprises a line-of-sight link, wherein the one or more first radio frequency signals comprise electromagnetic waves in a V-band and having a frequency between 40 gigahertz and 75 gigahertz; and
a second antenna element configured to transmit to and receive from the one or more low-earth orbit satellites one or more second radio frequency signals along a second directional link, wherein the second directional link comprises a beyond-line-of-sight link with the one or more low-earth orbit satellites, wherein the one or more second radio frequency signals comprise electromagnetic waves in a Ka-band and having a frequency between 26 gigahertz and 40 gigahertz; and

one or more controllers having one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a set of written program instructions stored in one or more memory units, wherein the set of written program instructions is configured to cause the controller to provide one or more control signals to at least one of the first antenna element or the second antenna element;

wherein each of the plurality of communications sub-systems are communicatively coupled to the one or more low-earth orbit satellites via the second antenna element, and wherein each of the plurality of communications sub-system are configured to transmit to and receive from the one or more low-earth orbit satellites the one or more second radio frequency signals along the second directional link;
wherein prior to transmission of the one or more first radio frequency signals, each of the plurality of communications sub-systems performs one or more conversion functions to extract data transmitted from the low-earth orbit satellites via the one or more second radio frequency signals along the second directional link, wherein the data is transmitted via the one or more first radio frequency signals along the first directional link;
wherein the plurality of communications sub-systems include a system architecture comprising a physical layer, a data link layer, and a network layer;
wherein the physical layer includes the first antenna element and the second antenna element; wherein the data link layer is configured such that each of the first antenna element and the second antenna element are controlled by the network layer simultaneously.