Patent ID: 8179313

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first radio frequency (RF) autotracked antenna subsystem, said first subsystem comprising a first antenna and a first antenna positioning mechanism (APM), each mounted on a vehicle, and a first ground-based RF beacon; a second RF autotracked antenna subsystem, said second subsystem comprising a second antenna and a second APM, each mounted on said vehicle, and a second ground-based RF beacon; and a controller, said controller comprising: a memory to store historical data from an accumulated record of actuations of the second APM as a function of time, said accumulated record denoting normal operation of the second antenna, the second APM, and the second ground-based RF beacon, an estimator to calculate a desired antenna tracking profile for the second antenna, during occurrence of an outage of the second ground-based RF beacon, by combining real-time information received from the first RF autotracked antenna subsystem with at least a portion of the historical data, and a signal generator to transmit actuation commands to the second APM so as to cause the second antenna to track the desired antenna tracking profile.