Dynamic satellite beam switching
View Patent ↗A dynamic satellite map updating system measures geographic position and travel information of in-flight aircraft in a fleet of aircraft equipped to establish in-flight connectivity services from a plurality of satellite beams. The in-flight aircraft include an on-board satellite map program with satellite map parameters to indicate which satellite beam of a group of available satellite beams is the most desirable based on the in-flight aircraft's geographic location. The system selects in-flight aircraft, determines updated satellite map parameters for the selected aircraft, and transmits the updated satellite map parameters to the aircraft to assemble new satellite map programs to relieve wireless data outage conditions on one or more of the satellite beams. The dynamic satellite updating system may transmit the updated satellite map parameters over an existing satellite data connection to make up-to-date adjustments to the communications load among the group of available satellite beams.
1. A system for updating satellite maps of in-flight aircraft, the system comprising:
a satellite beam inspector communicatively connected to one or more satellites, the satellite beam inspector configured to monitor the one or more satellites and collect information indicative of one or more conditions that impact a communicative connectivity of a particular in-flight aircraft to at least one satellite beam included in a plurality of satellite beams generated by the one or more satellites, the particular in-flight aircraft having a satellite map including a set of satellite map parameters for selecting a satellite beam of the plurality of satellite beams, the satellite map parameters corresponding to a set of satellite beam connection parameters, and the particular in-flight aircraft configured to communicatively connect a modem to the selected, satellite beam; and
a satellite beam map updater configured to determine, based on the one or more conditions, a change to at least one satellite beam connection parameter, and store an indication of an update to the satellite map of the particular in-flight aircraft based on the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions include a change in a geographic location of the particular in-flight aircraft.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions include an outage of a specific satellite beam included in the plurality of satellite beams.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the collection of the information indicative of the one or more conditions includes a collection of information indicative of a respective data load of each satellite beam included in one or more satellite beams of the plurality of satellite beams.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein:
the one or more conditions include the respective data load of the each satellite beam included in multiple satellite beams of the plurality of satellite beams;
the respective data loads of the multiple satellite beams are indicative of a load imbalance among the multiple satellite beams; and
the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter is determined based on the load imbalance.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the load imbalance is a projected load imbalance determined based on the respective data loads of the multiple satellite beams.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more conditions include a level of a quality of service of a particular satellite beam included in the plurality of satellite beams.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the level of the quality of service of the particular satellite beam is a detected level of the quality of service, and wherein the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter is based on a predicted level of quality of service determined based on the detected level of the quality of service of the particular satellite beam.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein an indication of the changed at least one satellite beam connection parameter is transmitted to the particular in-flight aircraft, thereby updating the satellite map at the particular in-flight aircraft.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the particular in-flight aircraft is included in a group of in-flight aircraft, and the indication of the changed at least one satellite beam connection parameter is transmitted to the group of in-flight aircraft, thereby updating the satellite maps at the group of in-flight aircraft.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam is collected via a teleport that is communicatively connected to the one or more satellites.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least another portion of the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam is collected via a fleet of in-flight aircraft, the fleet of in-flight aircraft including the particular in-flight aircraft.
13. A method of updating satellite maps of in-flight aircraft, the method comprising:
monitoring, by a satellite beam inspector, one or more satellites that are communicatively connected to the satellite beam inspector;
collecting, by the satellite beam inspector based on the monitoring, information indicative of one or more conditions that impact a communicative connectivity of a particular in-flight aircraft to at least one satellite beam included in a plurality of satellite beams generated by the one or more satellites, the particular in-flight aircraft having a satellite map including a set of satellite map parameters for selecting a satellite beam of the plurality of satellite beams, the satellite map parameters corresponding to a set of satellite beam connection parameters, and the particular in-flight aircraft configured to communicatively connect a modem to the selected, satellite beam;
determining, based on the one or more conditions, a change to at least one satellite beam connection parameter; and
storing an indication of an update to the satellite map of the particular in-flight aircraft based on the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more conditions include at least one of: a change in a geographic location of the particular in-flight aircraft or an outage of a specific satellite beam included in the plurality of satellite beams.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the one or more conditions include respective data loads of each satellite beam included in multiple satellite beams of the plurality of satellite beams; and
determining the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter includes determining the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter to thereby balance the respective data loads of the multiple satellite beams.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the one or more conditions include a detected level of a quality of service of a particular satellite beam included in the plurality of satellite beams; and
the change to the at least one satellite beam connection parameter is based on a predicted level of quality of service at the particular in-flight vehicle determined based on the detected level of the quality of service of the particular satellite beam.
17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising transmitting an indication of the changed at least one satellite beam connection parameter to the particular in-flight aircraft, thereby updating the satellite map included on the particular in-flight aircraft.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the particular in-flight aircraft is included in a group of in-flight aircraft, and the method further comprises transmitting the indication of the changed at least one satellite beam connection parameter to the group of in-flight aircraft, thereby updating the satellite maps at the group of in-flight aircraft.
19. The method of claim 13 , wherein collecting the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam includes collecting at least a portion of the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam via a teleport that is communicatively connected to the one or more satellites.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein collecting the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam includes collecting at least another portion of the information indicative of the one or more conditions that impact the communicative connectivity of the particular in-flight aircraft to the at least one satellite beam via a fleet of in-flight aircraft, the fleet of in-flight aircraft including the particular in-flight aircraft.