Patent ID: 8837333

Claim:
A satellite communication system for extending communications between a vehicle and a satellite in an area of non-visibility of the satellite, comprising: a fixed transceiver system which comprises a first antenna intended to be positioned outside the area of non-visibility of the satellite and at least one second antenna coupled with the first antenna and intended to be positioned in the area of non-visibility of the satellite, and is configured to: receive through the first antenna downlink signals transmitted by the satellite on at least one downlink carrier frequency, and transmit the received downlink signals on the at least one downlink carrier frequency in the area of non-visibility of the satellite through the at least one second antenna; and a mobile transceiver system, which is intended to be installed on the vehicle, comprises a third antenna and a fourth antenna, and is configured to: receive through the third antenna the downlink signals transmitted by the fixed transceiver system on the at least one downlink carrier frequency, receive through the fourth antenna the downlink signals transmitted by the satellite on the at least one downlink carrier frequency, determine whether the vehicle is in the area of non-visibility of the satellite or in an area of visibility of the satellite, and transmit uplink signals on at least one uplink carrier frequency through the third antenna if the vehicle is in the area of non-visibility of the satellite or through the fourth antenna if the vehicle is in the area of visibility of the satellite; the fixed transceiver system being further configured to: receive through the at least one second antenna the uplink signals transmitted by the mobile transceiver system on the at least one uplink carrier frequency, and transmit the received uplink signals to the satellite on the at least one uplink carrier frequency through the first antenna; the mobile transceiver system being further configured to: compute a first quality indicator that indicates a quality of the downlink signals received through the third antenna; compute a second quality indicator that indicates a quality of the downlink signals received through the fourth antenna; and determine whether the vehicle is in the area of non-visibility of the satellite or in the area of visibility of the satellite based on a comparison of the computed first quality indicator and the second quality indicator relative to each other.