Interference mitigation techniques for air to ground systems

1. A method for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, comprising:

adjusting a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from a forward link of an interferer aircraft;

reducing a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the forward link of the interferer aircraft, on communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from a serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna; and

providing aircraft internet service based on the communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from the serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna.

2. The method of claim 1 , in which the interferer aircraft includes an aeronautical mobile satellite service (AMSS) transmitter.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

assigning the aircraft receiver interface a portion of a communication spectrum that is unused by the interferer aircraft when reducing the data rate of the aircraft receiver interface does not mitigate the detected interference from the forward link of the interferer aircraft.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

handing-off the aircraft receiver interface to a different ground station when reducing the data rate of the aircraft receiver interface does not mitigate the detected interference from the forward link of the interferer aircraft.

5. A method for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, comprising:

adjusting a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from an interferer;

reducing a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the interferer;

performing antenna beam-steering away from a geographic (GEO) arc during an aircraft turn; and

disabling an aircraft transmitter when a roll-angle of the aircraft turn is greater than or equal to a predetermined roll-angle threshold.

6. An apparatus configured for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured:

to adjust a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from a forward link of an interferer aircraft;

to reduce a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the forward link interferer aircraft, on communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from a serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna; and

to provide aircraft internet service based on the communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from the serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , in which the interferer aircraft includes an aeronautical mobile satellite service (AMSS) transmitter.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , in which the at least one processor is further configured to assign the aircraft receiver interface a portion of a communication spectrum that is unused by the interferer when reducing the data rate of the aircraft receiver interface does not mitigate the detected interference from the forward link of the interferer aircraft.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , in which the at least one processor is further configured to hand-off the aircraft receiver interface to a different ground station when reducing the data rate of the aircraft receiver interface does not mitigate the detected interference from the forward link of the interferer aircraft.

10. An apparatus configured for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured:

to adjust a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from an interferer;

to reduce a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the interferer;

to perform antenna beam-steering away from a geographic (GEO) arc during an aircraft turn; and

to disable an aircraft transmitter when a roll-angle of the aircraft turn is greater than or equal to a predetermined roll-angle threshold.

11. A computer program product configured for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having non-transitory program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising:

program code to adjust a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from a forward link of an interferer aircraft;

program code to reduce a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the forward link of interferer aircraft, on communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from a serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna; and

program code to provide aircraft internet service based on the communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from the serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna.

12. An apparatus operable for air to ground communication interference mitigation within an aircraft equipped with a multi-beam array antenna, the apparatus comprising:

means for adjusting a modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction of an aircraft receiver interface in response to detected interference from a forward link of an interferer aircraft;

means for reducing a data rate of the aircraft receiver interface when the adjusting of the modulation symbol interleaving and/or forward error correction does not mitigate the detected interference, from the forward link of the interferer aircraft, on communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from a serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna; and

means for providing aircraft internet service based on the communications received by the aircraft receiver interface from the serving ground station through the multi-beam array antenna.