Handset signalling time slot assignment plan for satellite mobile communication

Abstract

Abstract A mobile, satellite-based communication system (20) includes a defined signaling arrangement developed from an analysis of factors including movement of mobile terminals (28), movement of the satellite (22), beam discrepancies and duration of the call to the mobile terminal (28) to set up a frame assignment plan for time division multiple access (TDMA) carriers and identifying permissible frame offset which can be accommodated throughout the entire transmission. As a result, timing and frequency references from a mobile to mobile command may be provided from a reference source (24) along with receive and transmit data communications without losing the command signals or the communication information and providing highly efficient use of each carriers time slots for receiving/transmitting communication signals. Similarly, the signaling arrangement permits an efficient frame structure and a time slot assignment plan that does not require enhanced equipment at the mobile terminal (28). Moreover, the signaling frame assignment is applicable to multibeam satellite-based mobile communication systems for use with communications between mobile terminals (28) and gateways (24, 20) as well as between mobile terminals (28).

Inventors

• 👤 James D. Thompson
• 👤 Mohammad Soleimani
• 👤 Jeffrey E. Outwater

Bibliographic Details