Patent ID: 8848605

Claim:
A ground-based communication system for providing in-flight broadband mobile communication services, comprising: at least one ground-based base station configured to generate at least one cell forming a three-dimensional space above and around the ground-based base station, the ground-based base station further comprising at least one antenna array configured to use two-dimensional-beamforming to generate at least one beam defining the at least one cell for serving at least one airplane in the space covered by the at least one cell using spatial-division multiple access, SDMA, wherein the ground-based base station is configured to track the at least one airplane using the at least one beam generated by the two-dimensional-beamforming; wherein the at least one beam generated by the two-dimensional-beamforming comprises airplane-specific adaptive beams to facilitate tracking the corresponding airplane; wherein the airplane-specific adaptive beams use antenna weights that are dynamically adapted to a position of the corresponding airplane in conjunction with tracking the airplane.