초록 ▼

A satellite communications system provides an information channel between remotely located transmitters and receivers. A virtual satellite system provides the same service, but divides the signal either in power or in data content into subchannels such that any particular signal is conducted to the

A satellite communications system provides an information channel between remotely located transmitters and receivers. A virtual satellite system provides the same service, but divides the signal either in power or in data content into subchannels such that any particular signal is conducted to the intended receiver via a plurality of traditional satellite channels. The receiving terminal accepts the plurality of signals simultaneously from a possible plurality of satellites, combining the subchannels comprising the virtual channel into the original signal content as if conducted via a single channel. The receiving antenna system receives satellite subchannel signals from a plurality of directions using multiple antennas or a single antenna with multi-direction capability. Prior to signal combining, the receiver necessarily time-synchronizes the plurality of subchannels by introducing time delay in some channels before combining the subsignals into the original composite. A timing signal present in the virtual satellite system assists the receiver in determining the amount of delay to apply to each incoming signal. The timing signal is either a separate carrier or an additional modulation on the existing information-bearing carrier.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A receiving terminal system collecting signals from a plurality of satellite transponders and creating a delayed reconstruction of an original digital signal, the receiving terminal system comprising:an antenna subsystem, the antenna subsystem comprising one of a multiple beam antenna simultaneou

1. A receiving terminal system collecting signals from a plurality of satellite transponders and creating a delayed reconstruction of an original digital signal, the receiving terminal system comprising:an antenna subsystem, the antenna subsystem comprising one of a multiple beam antenna simultaneously receiving the signals from the plurality of transponders and presenting each of said signals on a corresponding one of a plurality of separate output ports; and a plurality of independent single beam antennas simultaneously receiving the signals from the plurality of transponders and presenting each of said signals on said corresponding one of said plurality of separate output ports; a plurality of tuners, each coupled to each separate output port, for translating a frequency of each received signal to a fixed intermediate frequency; a plurality of demodulators, each coupled to each tuner, demodulating for each tuner output and creating a plurality of bit streams each corresponding to information content of an associated subchannel; a plurality of delay means, each coupled to a demodulator output, for delaying one or more first-arriving of the plurality of bit streams such that outputs of the plurality of delay means are synchronized in time; a digital combiner, coupled to the outputs of the plurality of delay means, for combining information in each of the outputs of the plurality of delay means into the delayed reconstruction of the original digital signal; a timing signal correlator, coupled to each tuner output, for measuring a relative delay between each received signal and in accordance therewith generating a timing signal correlation signal; a nonvolatile memory for storing information about a frequency property and a propagation delay property of each of a plurality of virtual channels to be selected, and in accordance with there generating a plurality memory of nonvolatile signals; and a controller, coupled to the antenna subsystem, the plurality of tuners, the plurality of delay means, the timing signal correlator, and the nonvolatile memory, for receiving the timing signal correlation signal and the nonvolatile memory signals and issuing a plurality of control signals to the antenna subsystem setting a beam direction and a polarization, a plurality of tuner control signals to the plurality of tuners to set a plurality of subchannel receive frequencies, and a plurality of delay control signals to the plurality of delay means to synchronize the outputs of the delay means.