Selection, diversity combining or satellite MIMO to mitigate scintillation and/or near-terrestrial multipath to user devices
A ground station processes downlink signals received from respective satellites. The ground station has a plurality of signal conditioning devices each receiving a respective one of the downlink signals and providing a conditioned downlink signal. A plurality of Doppler and/or Delay compensator devices each receive a respective conditioned downlink signal from a respective one of the plurality of signal conditioning devices. The compensator devices conduct Doppler and/or Delay compensation on the received conditioned downlink signal, and provide a compensated downlink signal output. A selector or diversity combiner receives the compensated downlink signal from each of the plurality of Doppler and/or Delay compensators. The selector or diversity combiner selects one of the received compensated downlink signals based on received signal strength of each received compensated downlink signal to provide a selected downlink signal, or diversity combines all of the received compensated downlink signals to provide a diversity combined signal. The selector or diversity combiner provides the selected downlink signal or the diversity combined signal to an eNodeB.
1 . A ground station comprising:
memory; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
condition a signal to generate a conditioned signal, wherein to condition the signal, the one or more processors are configured to translate a signal frequency of the signal from a first frequency band to a second frequency band;
compensate the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler to generate a compensated signal; and
perform, based on determining whether there is a residual frequency and a phase mismatch between the conditioned signal and one or more other compensated signals, at least one of:
select the compensated signal from among the one or more other compensated signals to be provided to a base station, or
combine the compensated signal with another compensated signal of the one or more other compensated signals to generate a diversity combined signal to be provided to the base station.
2 . The ground station of claim 1 ,
wherein the first frequency band comprises a Q-band or V-band, and
wherein the second frequency band comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) band.
3 . The ground station of claim 1 ,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to select the compensated signal from among the one or more other compensated signals based on determining, from a frequency and phase of the compensated signal and the one or more other compensated signals, that there is a residual frequency and a phase mismatch.
4 . The ground station of claim 1 ,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to combine the compensated signal with the another compensated signal based on determining, from a frequency and phase of the compensated signal and the another compensated signal, that there is not a residual frequency and a phase mismatch.
5 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein the base station comprises an eNodeB.
6 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to compensate the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler based on satellite ephemeris data associated with a satellite.
7 . The ground station of claim 6 , wherein the satellite ephemeris data comprises a position and one or more orbital parameters of the satellite.
8 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to compensate the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler based on location information of the ground station.
9 . The ground station of claim 8 , wherein the location information of the ground station is obtained from a global positioning satellite (GPS) location of the ground station.
10 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein the signal comprises one or more of a downlink signal or an uplink signal.
11 . A method comprising:
conditioning, by one or more processors of a ground station, a signal to generate a conditioned signal, wherein conditioning the signal comprises translating a signal frequency of the signal from a first frequency band to a second frequency band;
compensating, by the one or more processors of the ground station, the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler to generate a compensated signal; and
based on determining whether there is a residual frequency and a phase mismatch between the compensated signal and one or more other compensated signals, performing, by the one or more processors of the ground station, at least one of:
selecting the compensated signal from among the one or more other compensated signals to be provided to a base station, or
combining the compensated signal with another compensated signal of the one or more other compensated signals to generate a diversity combined signal to be provided to the base station.
12 . The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the first frequency band comprises a Q-band or V-band, and
wherein the second frequency band comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) band.
13 . The method of claim 11 ,
wherein selecting the compensated signal from among one or more other compensated signals is based on determining, from a frequency and a phase of the compensated signal and the one or more other compensated signals, that there is a residual frequency and a phase mismatch.
14 . The method of claim 11 ,
wherein combining the compensated signal with another compensated signal is based on determining, from a frequency and a phase of the compensated signal and the another compensated signal, that there is not a residual frequency and a phase mismatch.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein compensating the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler is based on satellite ephemeris data associated with a satellite, wherein the satellite ephemeris data comprises a position and one or more orbital parameters of the satellite.
16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein compensating the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler is based on location information of the ground station.
17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the signal comprises one or more of a downlink signal or an uplink signal.
18 . Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to:
condition a signal to generate a conditioned signal, wherein to condition the signal comprises translating a signal frequency of each downlink signal from a first frequency band to a second frequency band;
compensate the conditioned signal for delay and Doppler to generate a compensated signal; and
based on determining whether there is a residual frequency and a phase mismatch between the compensated signal and one or more other compensated signals, perform at least one of:
selecting the compensated signal from among the one or more other compensated signals to be provided to a base station, or
combining the compensated signal with another compensated signal of the one or more other compensated signals to generate a diversity combined signal to be provided to the base station.
19 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein to select the compensated signal from among one or more other compensated signals to be provided to a base station, the one or more processors are configured to:
select the compensated signal from among one or more other compensated signals based on a received signal strength of the compensated signal.
20 . The ground station of claim 1 , wherein selecting the compensated signal from among one or more other compensated signals to be provided to a base station comprises selecting the compensated signal from among one or more other compensated signals based on a received signal strength of the compensated signal.