Satellite system calibration in active operational channels

1. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of analog receive paths and signal processing equipment onboard a satellite;

wherein each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, is configured to receive an RF signal via a respective antenna element of an antenna array onboard the satellite, and is configured to condition the received RF signal before providing it to the signal processing equipment downstream of the analog receive paths; and

wherein due to environmental variations, each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, causes respective gain and phase deviations to the RF signal received by the analog receive path before the RF signal is provided to the signal processing equipment; and

a calibration subsystem onboard the satellite and configured to inject a calibration signal into each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, while the analog receive path is actively being used to receive and condition an RF signal;

wherein the calibration signal, injected into each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, has a power level that is below a noise floor of the analog receive path into which the calibration signal is injected;

wherein for each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, the calibration subsystem is also configured to extract the calibration signal and compare the extracted calibration signal to the injected calibration signal to thereby determine the respective gain and phase deviations caused by the analog receive path; and

wherein the calibration subsystem is also configured to adjust gain and phase characteristics of one or more of the analog receive paths based on the gain and phase deviations determined for each of the plurality of analog receive paths to thereby compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the analog receive paths.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration signal, that is injected into each analog receive path of the plurality of analog receive paths, is injected into the analog receive path via a coupler of the analog receive path.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a transmission probe onboard the satellite;

wherein the calibration subsystem causes the calibration signal to be emitted by the transmission probe to thereby cause the calibration signal to be simultaneously injected into the plurality of analog receive paths.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration subsystem is configured to adjust gain and phase characteristics of the analog receive paths by applying gain and phase coefficients to compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the analog receive paths.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration signal that is injected into each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, has a bandwidth that is equal to or less than a bandwidth of the analog receive path into which the calibration signal is injected.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration signal that is injected into each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, is produced using a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein for each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, the calibration subsystem is configured to extract the calibration signal from the analog receive path by:

producing a copy of a received signal after the received signal has been conditioned by the analog receive path;

correlating the copy of the received signal with a copy of the calibration signal that was injected into the analog receive path; and

integrating results of the correlating.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths, includes at least one of the following components, each of which due to environmental variations can contribute to the gain and phase deviations to the RF signal received by the analog receive path before the RF signal is provided to a beamformer: a filter; an amplifier; or a frequency converter.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gain and phase deviations caused by the analog receive paths, which are determined by the calibration subsystem, are downlinked to a ground subsystem including one or more processors that determine adjustments to be made to gain and phase characteristics of the analog receive paths and then uplinks the adjustments to the satellite so that the calibration subsystem can adjust the gain and phase characteristics of the analog receive paths.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration subsystem onboard the satellite determines adjustments to be made to gain and phase characteristics of the analog receive paths.

11. A communication system, comprising:

signal processing equipment and a plurality of analog transmit paths onboard a satellite;

wherein each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, is configured to receive an RF signal from the signal processing equipment and condition the RF signal before providing it to a respective antenna element of an antenna array onboard the satellite; and

wherein due to environmental variations, each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, causes respective gain and phase deviations to the RF signal travelling through the analog transmit path before the RF signal is provided to the respective antenna element; and

a calibration subsystem onboard the satellite and configured to inject a calibration signal into each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, while the analog transmit path is actively being used to condition and transmit an RF signal;

wherein the calibration signal, injected into each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, has a power level that is below a noise floor of the analog transmit path into which the calibration signal is injected;

wherein for each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, the calibration subsystem is also configured to extract the calibration signal and compare the extracted calibration signal to the injected calibration signal to thereby determine the respective gain and phase deviations caused by the analog transmit path; and

wherein the calibration subsystem is also configured to adjust gain and phase characteristics of one or more of the analog transmit paths based on the gain and phase deviations determined for each of the plurality of analog transmit paths to thereby compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the analog transmit paths.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the calibration signal, that is injected into each analog transmit path of the plurality of analog transmit paths, is injected into the analog transmit path via a coupler of the analog transmit path.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a reception probe onboard the satellite;

wherein the reception probe is configured to receive RF signals, transmitted by the antenna elements of the antenna array, and configured to provide a received RF signal that includes the calibration signal injected therein to the calibration subsystem; and

wherein the calibration subsystem is configured to extract the calibration signal from received RF signal provided to the calibration subsystem by the reception probe.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the calibration signal, that is extracted from each analog transmit path of the plurality of analog transmit paths, is extracted from the analog transmit path via a coupler of the analog transmit path.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the calibration signal that is injected into each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, has a bandwidth that is equal to or less than a bandwidth of the analog transmit path into which the calibration signal is injected.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the calibration signal that is injected into each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, is produced using a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein for each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, the calibration subsystem is configured to extract the calibration signal from the analog transmit path by:

producing a copy of a signal to be transmitted after the signal to be transmitted has been conditioned by at least a portion of the analog transmit path;

correlating the copy of the signal to be transmitted with a copy of the calibration signal that was injected into the analog transmit path; and

integrating results of the correlating.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, includes at least one of the following components, each of which due to environmental variations can contribute to the gain and phase deviations to the signal to be transmitted by the analog transmit path before the signal to be transmitted is provided to an antenna element of the antenna array: a filter; an amplifier; or a frequency converter.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the gain and phase deviations caused by the analog transmit paths, which are determined by the calibration subsystem, are downlinked to a ground subsystem including one or more processors that determine adjustments to be made to gain and phase characteristics of the analog transmit paths and then uplinks the adjustments to the satellite so that the calibration subsystem can adjust the gain and phase characteristics of the analog transmit paths.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the calibration subsystem onboard the satellite determines adjustments to be made to gain and phase characteristics of the analog transmit paths.

21. A method for use with a satellite that includes analog receive paths and signal processing equipment onboard the satellite,

wherein each of the analog receive paths is configured to receive an RF signal via a respective antenna element of an antenna array onboard the satellite, and is configured to condition the received RF signal before providing it to the signal processing equipment; and

wherein due to environmental variations each of the analog receive paths causes respective gain and phase deviations to the RF signal received by the analog receive path before the RF signal is provided to the signal processing equipment;

the method comprising:

(a) for each analog receive path, of a plurality of the analog receive paths,

(a.1) injecting a calibration signal into the analog receive path while the analog receive path is actively being used to receive and condition an RF signal, wherein the calibration signal is injected into the analog receive path at a power level that is below a noise floor of the analog receive path;

(a.2) extracting the calibration signal from the analog receive path after the calibration signal has traveled through at least a portion of the analog receive path; and

(a.3) comparing the calibration signal extracted from the analog receive path to the calibration signal injected into the analog receive path to thereby determine gain and phase deviations caused by the analog receive path; and

(b) adjusting gain and phase characteristics of one or more of the plurality of analog receive paths, based on the gain and phase deviations determined for each of the plurality of the analog receive paths, to thereby compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the plurality of analog receive paths.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein step (a.1) includes, for each analog receive path of the plurality of the analog receive paths into which the calibration signal is injected, using a coupler of the analog receive path to inject the calibration signal into the analog receive path.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein step (a.1) includes, for each analog receive path of the plurality of the analog receive paths into which the calibration signal is injected, using a transmission probe onboard the satellite to simultaneously inject the calibration signal into the plurality of analog receive paths.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein step (b) includes adjusting gain and phase characteristics of the analog receive paths by applying gain and phase coefficients to compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the analog receive paths.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein step (a.2) comprises, for each analog receive path, of the plurality of analog receive paths:

producing a copy of a received signal after the received signal has been conditioned by at least a portion of the analog receive path;

correlating the copy of the received signal with a copy of the calibration signal that was injected into the analog receive path; and

integrating results of the correlating.

26. A method for use with a satellite that includes signal processing equipment and analog transmit paths onboard the satellite,

wherein each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, is configured to receive an RF signal from the signal processing equipment and condition the RF signal before providing it to a respective antenna element of an antenna array onboard the satellite; and

wherein due to environmental variations, each analog transmit path, of the plurality of analog transmit paths, causes respective gain and phase deviations to the RF signal travelling through the analog transmit path before the RF signal is provided to the respective antenna element;

the method comprising:

(a) for each analog transmit path, of a plurality of the analog transmit paths,

(a.1) injecting a calibration signal into the analog transmit path while the analog transmit path is actively being used to condition and transmit an RF signal, wherein the calibration signal is injected into the analog transmit path at a power level that is below a noise floor of the analog transmit path;

(a.2) extracting the calibration signal from the analog transmit path after the calibration signal has traveled through at least a portion of the analog transmit path; and

(a.3) comparing the calibration signal extracted from the analog transmit path to the calibration signal injected into the analog transmit path to thereby determine gain and phase deviations caused by the analog transmit path; and

(b) adjusting gain and phase characteristics of one or more of the plurality of analog transmit paths, based on the gain and phase deviations determined for each of the plurality of the analog transmit paths, to thereby compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the plurality of analog transmit paths.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein step (a.2) includes, for each analog transmit path of the plurality of the analog transmit paths into which the calibration signal is injected, using a coupler of the analog transmit path to extract the calibration signal from the analog transmit path.

28. The method of claim 26 , wherein step (a.2) includes, for each analog transmit path of the plurality of the analog transmit paths into which the calibration signal is injected, using a reception probe onboard the satellite to extract the calibration signal from the analog transmit path.

29. The method of claim 26 , wherein step (b) includes adjusting gain and phase characteristics of the analog transmit paths by applying gain and phase coefficients to compensate for different gain and phase deviations being caused by different ones of the analog transmit paths.