US 20080043663 A1
Methods and apparatus are disclosed to enable a fixed or a mobile ground based slave stations (VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminal) in a communication network to receive TDM transmissions from and transmit TDMA burst transmissions to one or more ground-based gateway stations in a networking system that employs one or more geosynchronous satellites. Each gateway station transmits on one or more forward TDM channels to the slave stations; however, one primary gateway acts as the master station at any given time which transmits the network control messages to the slave stations (VSATs) that control their TDMA transmission behavior on the network.
1. A TDMA or MF-TDMA satellite network system comprising:
at least two gateway stations, wherein at least one gateway station is configured to perform as a master station;
at least one fixed or mobile slave station; and
at least one geosynchronous satellite, wherein the at least one slave station is configured to receive at least two continuously modulated TDM channels, where one of the modulated TDM channels is transmitted by the master station and the other modulated TDM channel is transmitted by a gateway station that is not the master station.
2. The system of
3. The system of
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10. A method of communication of a slave station with more than one gateway stations in a TDMA or MF-TDMA satellite network, wherein one gateway station is a primary gateway station, the method comprising:
receiving information, by the slave station, from an assigned TDM channel transmitting network control information;
joining an assigned TDMA or MF-TDMA network by employing the received information from the assigned TDM channel and logging on to an assigned primary gateway;
getting permission and required information from the primary gateway station to communicate with at least one other gateway station, if the primary gateway station is so configured to recognize such capabilities in the slave station, or if the slave station is so preconfigured to attempt such communication with the at least one other gateway station without the permission of the primary gateway station; and
communicating with the at least one other gateway station by receiving from, transmitting to, or receiving from and transmitting to the at least one other gateway station.
11. The method of
12. The method of
13. A slave station in a TDMA or MF-TDMA satellite network system, wherein the network system includes at least two gateway stations at least one of which acts as a master station, and at least one geosynchronous satellite, and wherein the slave station comprises multiple TDM continuous mode receivers, transmitters, or both, configured to communicate with more than one gateway stations.
14. The slave station of
15. The slave station of
16. The slave station of
17. A slave station in a TDMA or MF-TDMA satellite network with more than one gateway stations wherein one gateway station in the network is a primary gateway station, the slave station comprising:
means for receiving information from an assigned TDM channel transmitting network control information;
means for joining an assigned TDMA or MF-TDMA network by employing the received information from the assigned TDM channel and logging on to an assigned primary gateway;
means for getting permission and required information from the primary gateway station to communicate with at least one other gateway station, if the primary gateway station is so configured to recognize such capabilities in the slave station, or if the slave station is so preconfigured to attempt such communication with the at least one other gateway station without the permission of the primary gateway station; and
means for communicating with the at least one other gateway station by receiving from, transmitting to, or receiving from and transmitting to the at least one other gateway station.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/746,356, filed on May 3, 2006.
Disclosed embodiments relate, in general, to satellite communication systems and, in particular, to TDM channel reception from a master station (or “gateway” or “hub”) by a ground based slave station (VSAT), and TDMA or MF-TDMA methods for return channel communication from a ground based slave station (VSAT) to a master station or to another type of gateway station or hub or to another slave station.
Satellite networking systems supporting two-way communications that have one active ground station functioning as the master station and a plurality of widely distributed slave stations are very common today. These slave stations are often called “VSATs”—Very Small Aperture Terminals—or simply “terminals.” There are international standards defining how such VSAT networks should be built and operated. The most comprehensive and widely adopted standard is the DVB-RCS standard which is a family of DVB (Direct Video Broadcast) standards developed by the DVB Project and published by the European Technical Standards Institute (ETSI). See ETSI EN 301 790 and www.etsi.org.
The DVB-RCS standard utilizes TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) on the forward channel to the VSATs, and MF-TDMA (Multi-Frequency Time Division Multiple Access) techniques on the return channels to the master station. Most such VSAT networks today—even those not based on the DVB-RCS standard—use TDM and MF-TDMA techniques in a similar way as described in the DVB-RCS standard, though particular details of their implementations may differ. Some older technology VSAT networks may still use a single return channel (at a single carrier frequency) and, therefore, only employ TDMA.
The embodiments disclosed herein apply to any type of VSAT network that utilizes TDM communications from the master station and either MF-TDMA or simply TDMA techniques on the return channel communications to the master station in what forms a star topology network with the master at the hub. They also apply to situations where slave stations or VSATs may be able to communicate to each other directly by using TDMA communications on one or more assigned channels, in what forms a mesh topology network among the slave stations, which is overlaid on a star-topology network. Both situations are common today. However, these embodiments are mere examples and do not limit the invention to these specific communication types.
VSAT networks are used for providing two-way data, voice, and/or video communication between one major location, such as near a metropolitan area or an Internet backbone site, and a variety of more remote locations, such as small businesses or homes in suburban or rural areas or entire villages or towns in remote areas of some countries. Such networks are particularly useful in areas where the terrestrial telecommunication infrastructures are less developed than those commonly found in major cities of well developed countries. They are also useful as a low-cost competitive alternative to many terrestrial services.
Today, because all VSAT network technologies only allow one active master station, their flexibility is limited. The master station usually also functions as the “gateway” between the VSAT slave stations, which are often isolated, and the rest of world's telecommunications infrastructure. (A master station or a gateway station sometimes is also called a “hub station” because of its role as the hub of a star topology network.) Therefore, a desired enhancement to VSAT networking technology of all types is to allow communication with multiple gateways with any VSAT station of the network. Such multi-gateway enhancement has applications and advantages of the following general nature:
However, special considerations are required to enable the slave station (VSAT) to receive TDM transmission from multiple gateways and to send TDMA transmission to multiple distinct gateways. That is because the gateway station—as noted earlier—also acts as the master station for the entire VSAT network and it is not possible for a VSAT network to have two or more master stations operating concurrently.
The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding of, and enabling description for, embodiments of the invention. However, one skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without these details. Well known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the description of the embodiments of the invention.
Disclosed embodiments present methods and apparatus for enabling a fixed or a mobile ground-based slave station (VSAT) in a TDMA or MF-TDMA network receive multiple continuous mode TDM transmissions from and transmit TDMA burst transmissions to one or more concurrently active ground-based gateway stations in a digital data networking system that employs one or more geosynchronous satellites, where each gateway station transmits on one or more forward channels, utilizing TDM techniques, but where one primary gateway station has the unique role of the master station at any given time and thus only one gateway station transmits network control messages to the slave stations (VSATs).
Notes on Terminology
A master station need not actually act as a gateway between the slave stations and the terrestrial network, neither may it be the sole communications hub in a star topology network. This is because some TDMA and MF-TDMA satellite networks may allow for partial or full mesh communications among the slave stations (without the need of those communications passing through the master station), and in such a mesh satellite communication network any one of the slave stations may in fact act as a limited gateway into the world's terrestrial networks on behalf of other slave stations that may lack such terrestrial connections. However, because the TDM continuous mode transmission and reception is more efficient and costs less to implement in hardware than TDMA burst mode transmission and reception, a gateway station resembling a master station in capabilities will generally be a more effective and efficient high-throughput gateway for high-volume traffic coming from the world's terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure going to the slave stations.
Likewise the use of “VSAT” or “terminal” (in place of “slave station”) may be misleading because it obscures their fundamental role as slaves in the network, and implies that they are merely end-points in the network and/or earth stations with very small antennas, neither of which may actually be the case in the disclosed embodiments.
Therefore, throughout this detailed description, a clear distinction will be made between the role of master station vs. that of gateway station. Furthermore the term “slave station” will be used in place of “VSAT” or “terminal”, because a “slave station” may neither be a communications end-point in the satellite network nor use a very small diameter antenna.
Also, for simplicity, reference to both TDMA and MF-TDMA methods will be made as “TDMA,” except where it is of particular importance to distinguish those situations where multiple return to the master and possibly other TDMA channels are enabled, each at a different frequency, that can be used by the slave terminals (e.g., by frequency hopping) for communications with the master station or directly with other slave stations.
Types of TDMA Networks
TDMA networks (whether satellite-based or purely terrestrial-based network) may be static, quasi-static, or dynamic. In a static TDMA network, each slave station is given a fixed bandwidth to transmit to the master station. In quasi-static TDMA networks, the operator may change the return channel bandwidth allocated to a given station. In dynamic TDMA networks the slave stations may request bandwidth as needed for transmitting user traffic, and can be assigned that bandwidth dynamically and very quickly, within some business-oriented or policy guidelines and/or within the constraints of the technology. Most modern wide-area TDMA networks are dynamic, since it creates the greatest potential for the efficient use of bandwidth, which for “over the air” networks is usually scarce and expensive. And most modem TDMA networks are in fact MF-TDMA in nature, because they support multiple TDMA channels, each on a different carrier frequency, where slave stations may use frequency hopping to move between these TDMA channels and gain access to additional bandwidth and flexibility. However, it is very uncommon for the TDM (or forward channel) capacity in a TDMA network to be dynamically shared among multiple gateways and the master station.
One common and early form of dynamic TDMA network technology is known as “slotted aloha”. In slotted aloha slave stations are allowed to transmit randomly in any time slot, within some policy constraints. There is no attempt to coordinate the transmissions of different slave stations, thus there is a chance of collisions among bursts from different slave stations that grow dramatically with the level of congestion on the network. More modem TDMA and MF-TDMA networks limit the use of slotted aloha techniques to just those infrequent occasions where it is necessary (e.g., at time of initial logon by the slave station to the network), so as to reduce the adverse impacts on bandwidth efficiency caused by this access technique. This is done by using control messages communicated to slave stations by the master station.
Role of the Master Station in a TDMA Network
The master station plays a unique and critical role in a TDMA network, whether it is satellite-based or purely terrestrial-based network. The master station provides the network clock reference information and a variety of timing correction messages, and other control messages, to all the slave stations in the network. These messages are essential to align the timing of the burst transmissions from the slave stations, whether those transmissions are addressed to the master station (for star topology operation), or between any two slave stations in the network (for a mesh topology operation).
If two or more different master stations were to attempt to provide concurrently the network clock reference information and the associated timing correction messages and other control messages independently of each other, then inconsistencies, errors and/or malfunctions would eventually occur or would be very difficult to avoid. Thus there is only one active master station in a TDMA network. This means the entire network is vulnerable and all slave stations will be unable to either send or receive traffic if the master station should fail. Present options for implementing “back-up” master stations are very limited in their ability to quickly take over control of the network.
The essential character of a TDMA network is that the slave stations share one or more transmission channels with each other. Each such transmission channel has a dedicated frequency band for its carrier frequency which is modulated in some fashion individually by each slave station. Each such transmission channel—to support the use of TDMA techniques—must be divided into a series of logical time slots during which transmission is allowed by one and only one slave station at a time, except for the possible presence of specially designated time slots that allow “random access” (e.g., slotted aloha) by any slave station without prior assignment from the master station.
When a slave station transmits on any of the available shared TDMA channels, it must transmit in a short burst, that should (if the slave station and the network overall are operating properly) fall entirely into the assigned time slots for that slave station. Thus slave stations posses what are called “burst transmitters”, and master station possesses what are called “burst receivers”. Burst transmitters are different in character from the continuously modulated transmitters used by the master station to transmit the TDM forward channel, in that burst transmitters must be able to turn-on and turn-off their transmitter very quickly (e.g., for a millisecond or less). Burst receivers for TDMA burst transmissions are likewise different from ordinary receivers used to demodulate continuously modulated TDM transmissions. Burst transmitters and burst receivers are often frequency agile, meaning they can change the carrier frequency they use very quickly, and perform what is called “frequency hopping”.
In a modem high speed TDMA network of any type—satellite based or terrestrial—some of the allowed time slots may be only one millisecond or smaller in duration. Thus TDMA networks impose very precise timing alignment requirements upon slave stations so that when one slave station is using its burst transmitter, in accordance with timing instructions from the master stations, another slave station does not start its burst before the current slave station finishes. If this should happen, the burst transmissions of one or both stations will be corrupted and transmission errors will occur. Likewise, precise timing alignment is important so that bandwidth resources are not unnecessarily wasted by imposing undesirably large “guard times” around each time slot. However, to a small degree, such guard times are necessary because an absolutely perfect alignment of the timing among all slave stations for their burst transmissions is impractical to achieve in any TDMA technology.
Essential to a TDMA network is the time slot structure of each TDMA channel. This structure defines the precise duration of each time slot, including guard times. This may be a static and cyclical structure in simple TDMA networks, or a dynamically changing structure in more advanced TDMA networks. If it is a dynamically changing structure, each new variation of it is communicated to the slave stations periodically or on irregular basis, by the master station. The basic slot structure, the allowed usage of each slot, and instructions regarding which slave station may use which slot for what purpose are communicated to slave stations by the master station in what is commonly called the “burst plan” for the network, which may change frequently as just noted.
The slave stations will have their burst transmitters aligned with each other if and only if the time slot structure of the different channels of the TDMA network for the upcoming interval of time, as understood by each slave station, is aligned in such a way that if each slave station were to transmit in a different time slot and all time slots were occupied with bursts, no two bursts would overlap or interfere upon reception at the master station. Obtaining this alignment is not trivial given the differing time-of-flight delays, and the possibly differing transmission processing delays, associated with each different slave station.
The Challenges of Satellite-based TDMA Networks
The use of TDMA in satellite communication systems is very common today and of growing importance. For many networking applications it has rapidly replaced a simpler but less bandwidth efficient approach known as “Single Channel Per Carrier”, where one or more dedicated carrier frequencies are allocated to each ground station for its transmissions.
The implementation of TDMA in a satellite network (vs. a small terrestrial-only, wireless or wired network) however, is complicated by several factors:
Even a geosynchronous satellite—which is approximately 35,800 kilometers above the equator of the earth at any one of various longitudes along the equator of the earth, spaced approximately 2 degrees apart in longitude—typically undergoes periodic, detectable and undesirable motion about its nominal “fixed” position on the order of up to 50 kilometers.
The geosynchronous satellite obviously plays an important role in a satellite communication network. It may possibly: (a) regenerate signals from ground station transmissions and (b) switch either through IF (intermediate frequencies) or baseband signals to one or more other transponders on the satellite. But in most cases satellites today do not do this. In all cases though, the satellite: (a) amplifies the electromagnetic waves carrying transmission signals it receives from the ground stations; (b) extracts a modulated IF signal; (c) re-modulates a different carrier frequency with that signal; and (d) re-directs the new carrier frequency back to earth to reach additional ground stations, which may—and in most cases does—include the originating ground station of that signal.
The present embodiments consider satellites of all types mentioned above. This does not result in notable variations in these embodiments, because in none of these cases does the satellite play any role in aligning the TDMA timing advances of the various slave stations in a satellite network.
Ground stations working with satellites in geostationary orbit typically use directive antennas to achieve high bit rates in both transmission and reception, using power amplifiers of a reasonable scale.
The positions on the surface of the earth where a satellite, or one of its transponders, directs the electromagnetic waves it receives are usually called the “footprint” of the satellite. They may also be thought of as “beams of light” intersecting the surface of the earth. The position on the surface of the earth from which a satellite, or one of its transponders, can receive electromagnetic waves from a ground station suitably positioned and pointed at it without undue obstruction may also be thought of as being within the foot print or beam of the satellite or one of its transponders. All ground stations must be in the footprint (or beam) of the satellite to receive signals from it, and to direct signals to it. However, it must be noted that some ground stations may transmit signals to one satellite (or transponder on a satellite) and receive signals from a different satellite (or a different transponder on the same satellite). Furthermore a ground station may transmit to or receive from multiple satellites or multiple transponders on the same satellite at the same time, if its antenna and associated RF and baseband electronic are suitably configured. The disclosed embodiments include these various common and less common satellite networking arrangements.
In a modern high-speed TDMA satellite network the maximum variation allowed in the timing alignment among slave stations (hence the size of the guard times on certain time slots, particularly those used for user traffic which comprise the majority of time slots allocated to slave stations) may be less than a few microseconds. Thus, assuming for illustration purposes a 5 microsecond guard time is specified, a difference in the distance between one slave station and the master station vs. other slave station and the master station of only 1500 meters would be enough to necessitate a mechanism in place for the master station to force each slave station to correct its timing advance relative to the network clock individually given its unique position on or near the surface of the earth. (NOTE: This result is calculated simply from the speed of light in air and free space which is approximately 300,000 kilometers per second and is the approximate speed at which all electromagnetic waves travel in free space or air with some variations depending on air densities and ion concentrations).
As noted above, in any TDMA network the timing alignment required among the burst transmitters of the slave stations is most easily understood as requiring alignment upon reception of those burst transmissions at the master station where there exists the necessary burst receiver technology for capturing, demodulating and decoding each burst. Burst receivers must not only know the time slot structure (e.g., type of slots, assigned function and duration of each) used in the TDMA network for each channel, but must also know when each different type of burst time slot on each different TDMA channel is about to arrive (to within less than the size of the smallest guard time used), and in more advanced TDMA networks, like DVB-RCS, also know how each burst on each TDMA channel is modulated and encoded by the slave station that sent it. This effectively requires that burst receivers know which slave station is using which specific (i.e., numbered) burst time slot, even before the actual burst arrives at the master station. Thus it is critical for the burst receivers to be fully aligned with the detailed and constantly changing structure of burst plan and how it is being used in all these respects, not just an alignment in a simplified “relative time sense” like following the regular beat of a drum.
In a TDMA network based on the use of a geosynchronous satellite, it is useful to point out that if the burst transmitters among the slave stations are aligned properly with the burst plan for reception by the burst receivers of the master station, then the burst transmitters are also aligned—relative to each other—upon reception at the location of the applicable geosynchronous satellite itself (˜36,000 km above the surface of the earth). That follows logically because the distance from the satellite to the master station is the same for the incoming transmissions of all slave stations using those same TDMA channels.
However, the distance between the satellite and the master station is not the same at different points in time. That is because of the motion of the satellite due to normal drift patterns or due to intentional positional corrections by the satellite operator for different reasons. The same applies for the distance between the satellite and each slave station. Therefore the master station must be able to frequently and individually adjust the timing advance for each slave station even if all slave stations are fixed in their locations. This is because even the slow or small drifts in the motion of the satellite may unequally affect the distance between the master station and the slave stations. Similarly, the small amounts of satellite motion can affect the relative alignment of the burst transmitters at the location of the satellite.
It is worth emphasizing that the applicable geosynchronous satellite in this case is the one used for the carrier frequencies of the applicable TDMA channel (or channels) from the slave stations to the master station. If multiple TDMA channels are used (as in MF-TDMA systems) and some are handled by one satellite and others by a different satellite, which by necessity are in different positions and undergo different motions at different times, then the master station must be able to manage multiple and distinct timing advances and adjustments, both for the satellites and for the slave stations. Furthermore, the master station must receive burst transmissions from all slave stations in the network, sent regularly via each satellite corresponding to each slave station, so that the master station can observe and compensate any timing offset observed in the burst transmissions of any slave station.
With this understanding of the unique role of the master station in a TDMA satellite network, the essential background information regarding the types of control messages transmitted by the Master Station to the slave stations in the network is described below.
Control Messages Transmitted by the Master Station to the Slave Stations
Using its TDM forward channel, a master station transmits not only the user data traffic (or user voice or video traffic) destined to one or more of the slave stations but also control messages that may be directed to one or all of the slave stations. Various ways of coding these control messages, which are sometimes called “signaling,” may be used. Most TDMA networks use very efficient coding techniques for constructing these control messages to consume a minimal amount of bandwidth.
The control messages may be of various types and names and use various encodings depending on the technological heritage and applicable standards for the TDMA networking system of interest. In general, though; in all modern TDMA networks there must be sufficient signaling methods or messages to perform the following functions:
It is important to note that not all TDMA satellite networks have distinct messages types or distinct signaling methods for each of the above functions. Some networks may not even support all of these functions. However, the distinct or not so distinct character of these different types of messages and signaling is immaterial to the embodiments of the present invention. Neither is it required that a given TDMA satellite technology support all of these functions to implement the presented embodiments.
It is also important to note that a given TDMA technology may implement these messages, or signaling methods, in a variety of ways, e.g., in dedicated TDM time slots, and with various types of Layer 2 framing, e.g., MPEG framing, ATM framing, or any other types of framing at Layer 2, which allow the messages to be directed to one, multiple, or all slave stations.
Management and Control Messages Transmitted by the Slave Stations
Most modern TDMA and MF-TDMA networks support a variety of management and control messages sent to the master station by the slave stations. These were alluded to above, when discussing the types of burst time slots supported in the burst plan messages. The common types of management and control message sent to the master station that are relevant to the disclosed embodiments are:
As explained above, TDMA networks can have one active master station, which may also be called a primary gateway. The requirement for one, and only one, active master station within the network follows from the need for just one single station to set the network clock reference information for the entire network and to transmit the essential timing correction messages and other control messages to each slave station.
The ability to support additional ground stations (called “secondary gateways”) at various locations of the network, which may have identical features and capabilities to the actual master station (“primary gateway”) but which do not act as masters, has several benefits, including:
Of course a necessary condition for realizing some of the benefits mentioned above is that a slave station must be physically equipped with the appropriate number of TDM receivers for the number of the TDM channels they need to receive and the processing power necessary to handle the additional digital data streams which are sent to it by multiple gateways over TDM channels. Given trends in digital electronics for the common type receiver chips used in slave stations (e.g., DVB-S and DVB-S2) this is increasingly possible at low cost. Even if not all slave stations are so equipped with multiple TDM receivers, benefits such as the option of sending traffic through multiple secondary gateways in addition to the master station and the rapid failure recovery are still achievable.
Slave Station (VSAT) Capable of Communicating with Multiple Gateways
A slave station (VSAT) configured to concurrently and bi-directionally communicate with multiple gateways is disclosed, herein referred to as a multi-gateway enhanced slave station or VSAT. In one embodiment it is configured such that it may be implemented in any common TDM/TDMA networking technology, including DVB-RCS standard technology. In another embodiment it is also configured such that the multi-gateway enhanced slave station is able to operate in a network concurrently with the master station and slave stations comprising a typical TDM/TDMA network of the technology type for which it is implemented.
The multi-gateway capable slave station apparatus is formed by using a ground station having the same types of hardware and software capabilities as is typically used in a slave station (VSAT) for either star-topology or mesh-topology networking (see
Method of Log-on by Multi-Gateway Enhanced Slave Station (VSAT)
In some of the embodiments the slave station proceeds to log on to the network as it normally would. This typically involves the slave station providing a unique hardware address (typically its own Layer 2 or MAC address) to the master station, and may required additional customized passwords or keys to be entered into the slave station prior to its initial logon attempt. If the log-on is successful, the master station will inform the slave station of the usual information it provides to all newly logged-on slave stations. This information—as customary today—may include: a different TDM channel to listen to of those which are transmitted by the master station for its routine operation. This other channel, if applicable, will become the active control channel for the slave station on this network, and if so, the slave station will discontinue listening on initially configured TDM channel carrier frequency, and possibly then re-logon to the newly designated TDM channel. In addition this typical information may possibly include position information (e.g., longitude, latitude, altitude) pertaining to the location of master station, the nominal position of the satellite, and the position of the slave station itself, to assist in aligning the timing of its burst transmitters. Additionally, it may include timing correction messages (large and small) for the same purpose.
The master station can identify the multi-gateway enhanced slave stations by their Layer 2 address or another identifier configured into the slave station for log-on, which the master station knows to look for based on details of the implementation desired, which can be easily devised by a person skilled in the art.
After successful log-on, the multi-gateway enhanced slave station may also be provided, as disclosed herein, with certain additional informational messages by the master station, containing information such as the carrier frequencies modulation rates and FEC encoding used by other gateways for the supplementary TDM channels they transmit and the TDMA channels they receive; the satellites used for these supplementary TDM and the various additional TDMA channels and the nominal positions of the satellites used for these channels; the nature of the informational content services or interactive services available from those gateways; their location, their hours of operation, etc., so that the slave station may make the best use of the available other gateways on the network and their supplementary TDM channels. If this approach is not used then the multi-gateway enhanced slave station may be preconfigured with this information or a sub-set of it. These messages may be implemented in a variety of forms and delivered via a variety of common or standard mechanisms, and may be easily devised and implemented by a person skilled in the art, either at Layer 2 or at Layer 3.
The master station may also securely transmit certain keys or passwords to use on the network to gain access to certain other gateway stations and or their supplementary TDM channels, or as needed to transmit to those other gateways, or as may be needed to decrypt content that is distributed by the master station or other gateway stations over those supplementary TDM channels, as needed to make the best use of other gateways and the available supplementary TDM channels on the network. Such keys or passwords can be distributed securely by using, for example, well-know techniques involving Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology and in messages similar to those devised above for distributing other information to the multi-gateway enhanced slave stations.
These supplementary TDM channels may be used by secondary gateways or the master for transmission of the outbound component of interactive data, video conferencing or voice traffic, or the transmission of broadcast or multicast one-way traffic. Interactive traffic and/or digital content may be distributed in either standard (e.g., MPEG) or other types of Layer 2 frames, or in Layer 3 data packets such as IP (and encapsulated into Layer 2 frames for transport over the satellite network), or a combination of all of these (e.g., interactive traffic at Layer 3 or Layer 2, Layer 2 broadcasts and multicasts, as well as Layer 3 broadcast and multicast traffic), and the method of distribution may vary by supplementary TDM channel.
The additional TDMA channels may be used by the enhanced slave stations for transmission to the various other secondary gateway stations, as well as for mesh communications with other slave stations, if so allowed by the master station.
If the multi-gateway enhanced slave station is to take advantage of using multiple TDM channels and/or TDMA channels concurrently, and some of those are on multiple different satellites, then it may have either an antenna that supports transmission and reception concurrently to those multiple satellites, or multiple antennas (and necessary associated RF electronics with each antenna, e.g., Low Noise Amplifier, and Block Up-converter), each pointed to the appropriate satellite, if such antenna direction diversity is required for the satellites used.
Transmitting via TDMA to Secondary Gateways
Using any of the above mentioned methods, the multi-gateway enhanced slave station (VSAT) may now engage with and receive digital content or user traffic from multiple other TDM channels and multiple other gateways. To send TDMA burst transmission to these other gateways, however, the slave station must be sure, or else the overall implementation of the multi-gateway networking system of which the slave station is a part must be able to assure without any extra effort by the multi-gateway enhanced slave station, that the slaves TDMA burst transmitting schedule is appropriate for reception of the slaves transmission bursts by any other applicable gateway's TDMA burst receivers. Given that each other gateway is at a separate location and may have only its own local timing reference, which is not necessarily perfectly adjusted to be aligned with the master station's overall network clock reference, this is not a trivial problem. Therefore, for the multi-gateway enhanced slave station to engage with other gateways for the purposes of exchanging interactive traffic, or any traffic that requires transmission to other gateways, additional considerations are required. However, there are multiple options for accomplishing this objective. These optional methods include:
Methods “a” and “b” above can be accomplished (assuming the master station already has the ability to determine the timing advance that should be used by slaves for transmissions to itself) by measuring or calculating the following:
And then, the timing advance required for TDMA transmission to the secondary gateway of interest is calculated for a slave as an adjustment to the timing advance used for transmission to the master as follows:
However this approach works only if the burst receivers at the secondary gateway of interest are perfectly aligned to the same timing reference as those of the master station, as if the two were one. Due to the distance between them the gateways will have to undertake additional measures which a person skilled in the art can implement, such as using a common external timing reference (e.g., a GPS timing reference and/or a Network Time Protocol timing reference,).
Method “c” above can also be accomplished by knowing those same two transit times above (M & G). The timing advance (or retard) required to align the secondary gateways burst receivers to the burst plan relative to the timing applied for the master TDMA burst receivers, is calculated as: 2*(G−M). This additional advance (or retard) must then be applied relative to the network clock reference and any advance (or retard) applied for the master TDMA burst receivers relative to the network clock reference. The secondary gateway may simply construct a local version of that network clock reference based on received network clock reference messages. The timing advance relative to this locally constructed network clock reference (which is subject to the transit delay between the master and the secondary gateway) is calculated as: G+M+2*(G−M)+Master-Receiver-Advance/Retard.
Method “d” can be accomplished the master station making these measurements or calculations and supplying them to the secondary gateways, however the additional delay in distributing that information to the secondary gateways will make this method less accurate.
Method “e” is fundamentally different in nature and is fully described above.
Note that it is common practice for such one-way transit delays (e.g., the values of M and G above) to be measured by having the ground station measure the round-trip transit time between itself and the satellite, and then divide by two. It is common for master ground stations to have this ability and anyone skilled in the art can add such capabilities to a ground station.
Concurrency in Transmission and Reception
Note that the term “concurrently” in the world of digital communications can be inexact and may be applied in the case of multiplexing and/or very fast switching. Thus, considered above are various options that will or may yield the desired effect of concurrent transmission to multiple gateways, depending on the speed at which such “switching” occurs.
Also note that while it has been assumed that the multi-gateway enhanced slave stations, devised for use in either star topology networking or mesh topology networking, need not have multiple and separate physical TDMA burst transmitters, it may be possible and desirable to have them in some instances. Nonetheless, the concurrent transmission to multiple gateways over multiple different TDMA channels can be achieved even with just one TDMA burst transmitter, because these devices are very frequency agile, with sub-millisecond agility in some cases.
Likewise, concurrent reception at a slave station from multiple gateways could in theory be achieved by “frequency hopping” of the frequency carrier or band at which a single TDM receiver in the slave station is tuned. This is not well suited to TDM (continuous mode) receivers. While it would be a “slow frequency” hopping, and may not appear to the users as “concurrent” it may be considered one possible implementation option for concurrent reception from multiple gateways.
Formation of Secondary Gateway Stations
However, as disclosed in the separate patent filing, there may be additional functions that must be attached to the secondary gateway to enable a very reliable and efficient means for implementation of option “c” above or other options above, which as noted requires TDM receivers to receive the master station's network clock reference information. (See “Enhance Secondary Gateway” section later below)
Traffic Routing Control and Information
All such secondary gateway stations may however engage in the distribution of Layer 3 routing management or policy information and supplementary network management information or information requests (e.g., via SNMP) also via Layer 3 (e.g., IP packets), which do not affect network TDMA timing or the calculation or determination of timing advances used by the slave stations. Such routing management information will inform the multi-gateway capable slave stations where to send which classes of traffic. Alternatively, the master station may be the only station allowed to send such information, if centralized routing control is desired. Additionally it is possible that each slave station (but multi-gateway capable and not) transmit all TDMA communications to all of the gateway stations, primary and secondary, that can receive them, and then each gateway station determines, under a coordinated routing policy plan among all such gateway stations, which traffic to forward to terrestrial network connections or on to other gateway stations, or on to other slave stations.
Enhanced Secondary Gateway Apparatus for Communication Among Gateways
An enhanced secondary gateway apparatus and its implementation are disclosed below, which allow for gateway-to-gateway communication.
Enhanced Master Station Apparatus
An enhanced master station apparatus and its implementation are disclosed below, that allow the master station in a multi-gateway network to also function as a secondary gateway. In addition the enhanced master station has the ability to recognize the slave stations that are enhanced for multi-gateway operation and therefore provide the additional information they may required from the master station to discover and the supplementary TDM channels and use the other gateways in the network (as discussed earilier).
This apparatus is similar to that shown in
This higher level control process relies on communication between all the gateways (including the current master) via one or more satellites. This communication may be establish by relying upon pre-assigned (pre-configured) TDM channel carrier frequencies and frequency bands (unique to each master-capable station) with associated modulation parameters and FEC encoding parameters, where those stations communicate with other such master-capable stations and by having each such station knowing all such assigned frequencies and transmissions parameters, as well as their own. Other mechanisms may also be used whereby this information is distributed initially (and/or edited and updated occasionally) by distribution from one preconfigured or designated “primary master station,” which all the others will acknowledge as having that authority with suitable secure authentication applied to such update messages.
Over these TDM channels the various master-capable secondary gateways exchange messages to determine which station will be the current master station for the network. These same TDM channels may also be used concurrently or at appropriate times for transmissions to slave stations (both enhanced and ordinary) and either with or without network control information being distributed to those slave stations over the TDM channel, depending on whether “master station status” has been assigned to that master-capable gateway station.
Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with various telecommunications or computer system configurations, including Internet appliances, hand-held devices, wearable computers, palm-top computers, cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers and the like.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in a sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above, “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application.
The above detailed descriptions of embodiments of the invention are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while steps are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps in a different order. The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described herein.
While specific circuitry may be employed to implement the above embodiments, aspects of the invention can be implemented in a suitable computing environment. Although not required, aspects of the invention may be implemented as computer-executable instructions, such as routines executed by a general-purpose computer, e.g., a server computer, wireless device or personal computer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that aspects of the invention can be practiced with other communications, data processing, or computer system configurations, including: Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including personal digital assistants (PDAs)), wearable computers, all manner of cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the like. Indeed, the terms “computer,” “host,” and “host computer” are generally used interchangeably herein, and refer to any of the above devices and systems, as well as any data processor.
Aspects of the invention can be embodied in a special purpose computer or data processor that is specifically programmed, configured, or constructed to perform one or more of the processes explained in detail herein. Aspects of the invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks or modules are performed by remote processing devices, which are linked through a communications network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Aspects of the invention may be stored or distributed on computer-readable media, including magnetically or optically readable computer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips (e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biological memory, or other data storage media. Indeed, computer implemented instructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data under aspects of the invention may be distributed over the Internet or over other networks (including wireless networks), on a propagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagnetic wave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time, or they may be provided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuit switched, or other scheme). Those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that portions of the invention reside on a server computer, while corresponding portions reside on a client computer such as a mobile or portable device, and thus, while certain hardware platforms are described herein, aspects of the invention are equally applicable to nodes on a network.
Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel, or may be performed at different times. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively.
The teachings provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described herein. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. All of the above patents and applications and other references, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
Particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention.
Changes can be made to the invention in light of the above “Detailed Description.” While the above description details certain embodiments of the invention and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Therefore, implementation details may vary considerably while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated.
In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims.
While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Accordingly, the inventors reserve the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.