Method for locating a terminal at the surface of a coverage area by means of a telecommunication network using a multi-beam satellite

1. Method for locating a terminal at the surface of a coverage area by means of a telecommunication network for establishing radiofrequency links, the network comprising a telecommunication multi-beam satellite having a plurality of beams, said multi-beam satellite comprising a multi-beam antenna, said coverage area comprising a plurality of cells, each cell being associated with at least one beam for linking to the satellite to which a frequency band is assigned, said method comprising:

performing an uplink transmission by the terminal of a message incorporated into a modulated signal to said multi-beam satellite at a frequency shared by at least three different uplink beams such that said message is received by said multi-beam satellite via said multi-beam antenna with three different amplitudes;

performing a downlink transmission by the multi-beam satellite of three modulated signals incorporating said message, the first, second and third signals each corresponding to a different beam from among said three beams;

receiving said first, second and third signals by a terrestrial receiver;

determining the amplitudes of the message sent by the terminal incorporated into said first, second and third signals using a terrestrial calculation unit; and

determining the location of said terminal from said amplitudes of said message incorporated into said first, second and third signals;

wherein said message incorporated into said first signal is received by said terrestrial receiver with a greater amplitude than those of said message incorporated into the second and third signals, said method further comprising:

demodulation by said terrestrial calculation unit of said first signal so as to recover the information relative to the following message:

the payload of the message; and

the emission and/or encoding parameters of said message; and

using said information relative to the message to search for said message respectively in said second and third signals by said terrestrial calculation unit.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said modulated signal incorporating said message transmitted by said terminal is modulated according to a spread spectrum protocol.

3. Method according to claim 1 , wherein said signal incorporating said message transmitted by said terminal is modulated according to a spread spectrum protocol and said recovered emission and/or encoding parameters comprise the binary spread spectrum sequence.

4. Method according claim 1 , wherein said terrestrial calculation unit finds said message respectively in said second and third signals by a correlation operation.

5. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the downlink transmission by said multi-beam satellite of said three modulated signals incorporating said message takes place at three different frequencies.

6. Method according to claim 1 , comprising determining at least two of three amplitude differences of said message incorporated into said first, second and third signals.

7. Method according to claim 6 , comprising: determining curves representing a difference in figures of merit corresponding to said amplitude differences; determining the location of said terminal corresponding to the intersection of said curves.

8. Method according to claim 6 , wherein the three amplitude differences of said message incorporated into said first, second and third signals are determined.

9. Method for locating a terminal at the surface of a coverage area by means of a telecommunication network for establishing radiofrequency links, the network comprising a telecommunication multi-beam satellite having a plurality of beams, said multi-beam satellite comprising a multi-beam antenna, said coverage area comprising a plurality of cells, each cell being associated with at least one beam for linking to the satellite to which a frequency band is assigned, said method comprising:

performing an uplink transmission by the terminal of a message incorporated into a modulated signal td said multi-beam satellite at a frequency shared by at least three different uplink beams such that said message is received by said multi-beam satellite via said multi-beam antenna with three different amplitudes;

performing a downlink transmission by the multi-beam satellite of three modulated signals incorporating said message, the first, second and third signals each corresponding to a different beam from among said three beams;

receiving said first, second and third signals by a terrestrial receiver;

determining the amplitudes of the message sent by the terminal incorporated into said first, second and third signals using a terrestrial calculation unit;

determining the location of said terminal from said amplitudes of said message incorporated into said first, second and third signals;

determining at least two of three amplitude differences of said message incorporated into said first, second and third signals;

determining curves representing a difference in figures of merit corresponding to said amplitude difference; and

determining the location of said terminal corresponding to the intersection of said curves;

wherein said terrestrial receiver periodically receives by one or several reference terminals, the exact position of which is known, said position making it possible to correct the lines of figures of merit used for the determination of the position of said terminal.