초록 ▼

An Earth station having an antenna is configured to establish communication with a satellite. The Earth station stores a table of satellite position data for a plurality of satellites and is configurable to enable its own location position on the surface of the Earth as well as the azimuth and eleva

An Earth station having an antenna is configured to establish communication with a satellite. The Earth station stores a table of satellite position data for a plurality of satellites and is configurable to enable its own location position on the surface of the Earth as well as the azimuth and elevation of its antenna to be obtained. The tabulated satellite position data is then utilised to calculate the position of the satellite in relation to the location position. Thereafter at least one of the satellites is selected with which to establish communication and in response to the selection and the obtained azimuth and elevation, a direction is determined in which to configure the antenna for operation with the at least one selected satellite. Following determination of the direction, the antenna is configured for operation with the at least one selected satellite. The location position and the azimuth and elevation of the antenna may be determined through the Earth station comprising a GPS receiver. The Earth station may be configured as a mobile, portable or fixed unit and the invention is configurable to enable communication to be established with geostationary satellites, non-geostationary satellites or a combination of both geostationary and non-geostationary satellites.

대표청구항 ▼

[ I claim:] [1.] A method of establishing communication with a satellite, comprising steps of:at an earth based communications device having an antenna capable of transmitting and receiving a radiation beam:storing satellite position data for at least one satellite;obtaining a location position data

[ I claim:] [1.] A method of establishing communication with a satellite, comprising steps of:at an earth based communications device having an antenna capable of transmitting and receiving a radiation beam:storing satellite position data for at least one satellite;obtaining a location position data of said earth station;obtaining an azimuth data and elevation data of said antenna;utilizing said satellite position data to calculate a position data of said at least one satellite in relation to said location position;in response to said obtained azimuth and elevation data, determining a direction in which to configure an antenna for operation with said at least one satellite; andconfiguring said antenna for operation in said direction so as to enable transmission of telecommunications data from said earth station to said satellite and vice versa, wherein said data comprises data from the set comprising: image data; speech data; and text data.