JPH05227069A - Satellite communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the means for wide-band communication by means of optical communication technique for the satellite communication. CONSTITUTION:A flying body 8 making a high-level flight over the clouds is provided between a still satellite 1 and earth stations 2 and 3 so as to perform a relaying of a optical communication between the satellite 1 and the station 2, 3 and to prevent the influence of rain or cloud on the radio line between the flying body 8 and the earth stations 2 and 3. Accordingly, both the wide- range communication through optical communication and the radio wave permeability can be made available, dissimilar communication can be performed for each area using the same frequency radio wave by means of the narrow view range of the flying body, making an effective use of the radio wave.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication method for communicating between an artificial satellite and the ground.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional communication satellite method. In the figure, 1 is a geostationary communication satellite, 2 is a first transceiver station, 3 is a second transceiver station, and 4 is for satellite installation. Relay antenna, 5 is a satellite-mounted repeater, 6 is a ground station antenna,
Reference numeral 7 is a ground station transmission / reception facility.

In the above configuration, the transmission signal relayed from the ground line in the ground station transmission / reception equipment 7 of the first transmission / reception station 2 is transmitted as a radio wave from the antenna 6 on the ground, and in the geostationary satellite 1, the radio wave from the first transmission / reception station 2 is transmitted. Is received by the antenna 4 and is subjected to amplification frequency conversion by the satellite-mounted repeater 5, and then transmitted again to the second transmitting / receiving station 3 via the antenna 4 and received by the antenna 6 of the second transmitting / receiving station 3 to be relayed on the ground. Connected to the line. The communication in the reverse direction is also performed by the route completely opposite to the above.

[0004]

Since the conventional satellite communication method is configured as described above, only the same content can be communicated at the same frequency in the area covered by the antenna beam of the satellite, and the communication volume is increased. As the number increased, a wide band of radio waves was needed. Optical communication is a method for dramatically increasing the line capacity, but there was a problem that the line could not be maintained at all times because it was blocked by clouds and rain surrounding the earth.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides a means for performing satellite communication by using an optical signal capable of obtaining a sufficiently large line capacity.

[0006]

A satellite communication method according to the present invention constitutes a line between a satellite and a ground by light and removes an influence of a factor of line disconnection due to rain, clouds, atmosphere, and the like.
By providing a flying object that stays above the clouds and using it as a relay station between the satellite and the ground station, and connecting the flying object relay station and the ground by radio waves, , A communication relay system that takes advantage of both the transparency of radio waves to clouds.

[0007]

The present invention relays optical communication between the satellite and the ground by means of a flying object provided between the satellite and the ground station, and connects the flying object and the ground by radio waves to cause rain. And not be affected by clouds.

[0008]

EXAMPLES Example 1. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a diagram showing a satellite communication method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a geostationary communication satellite, 2 is a first transceiver station, 3 is a second transceiver station, 5 is a satellite-borne repeater, 6 is a ground station antenna, 7 is a ground station transmission / reception equipment, 8 is a flying body, 9 is an optical radio wave converter, 10a is a spacecraft optical communication telescope, 10b is a geostationary satellite optical communications telescope, and 12 is a spacecraft. It is a transmitting and receiving antenna.

In the apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the two projectiles 8 fly above the ground at an altitude of 20 km or more, and there is no cloud between the projectile 8 and the geostationary satellite 1. .. Therefore, the communication line between the two flying bodies 8 and the geostationary satellite 1 uses an optical communication device to use a flying body-mounted optical communication telescope 10a, a geostationary satellite-mounted optical communication telescope 10b, a satellite-mounted repeater 5, and a geostationary satellite. The satellite-mounted optical communication telescope 10b and the flying object-mounted optical communication telescope 10a are configured to be able to always communicate.

Further, the flying body 8 and the ground station 2 or the ground station 3
Since the communication line between and is connected using the radio wave between the flying body-mounted transmitting / receiving antenna 12 and the ground station antenna 6, the line can be maintained at all times without being affected by clouds, rain, or the like.

Since the altitude of the flying object 8 is much smaller than that of the satellite 1, the range of viewing the ground from the flying object 8 is smaller than the range viewed from the satellite. Therefore, a plurality of flying objects use the same frequency for each ground. Even if the station and the line are configured, there is no risk of mutual interference. For this reason, it is possible to carry out wide-band communication of optical communication by using a smaller frequency bandwidth of radio waves as compared with the conventional method.

As described above, according to the satellite communication method of the present invention, there is a great advantage that the broadband satellite communication of optical communication can be carried out without being affected by rain or clouds. Furthermore, since relaying is done via satellite, it goes without saying that a large amount of communication can be carried out between international communications and points outside the line of sight across the sea.

In the above embodiment, the case where the number of flying objects connected to the satellite is two has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the same can be applied to any case of two or more.

Example 2. FIG. 2 shows the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a line between the flying object 8 and the ground station 2 and the ground station 3 is provided with an optical line by the optical communication telescope 10c in addition to the radio line shown in the first embodiment. While there is no cloud or atmosphere that blocks light between the flying object 8 and the ground station 1 and ground station 3, high-speed data transmission using light is used to perform high-speed data transmission. If used, a large amount of data can be efficiently relayed.

In the above description, the case where the ground station 2 and the ground station 3 have both a radio wave line and an optical line has been described. However, even when a plurality of ground stations each have only one radio wave or optical line. It goes without saying that it can be operated in the same way.

According to this method, there is an advantage that data transmission that does not necessarily require real-time property can be efficiently transmitted while observing the state of the line.

Embodiment 3. FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention in which an optical line between flying objects is added to the first or second embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration shown in the figure, the flying lines that are within the line-of-sight range of each other are connected by optical lines, so the line via the geostationary satellite can be a simple one with a small line capacity that handles only outside the line-of-sight range of the projectile. There is a great advantage that the reliability of the impossible satellite line can be improved.

Example 4. FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention in which a signal distributor is added to the first or third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a signal distributor for extracting and separating only signals in a specific frequency band of a line by radio waves from the ground.

In the above configuration, the two-way communication signal including the voice signal is assigned to the specific frequency band from the ground station 2, transmitted from the ground station antenna 6 to the flying body, and transmitted by the signal distributor 11 of the flying body 8. Separated, an optical line is formed between the optical radio converter 9 and a corresponding device of another flying object 8 via the optical communication telescope 10a, and the optical communication telescope 10a, the optical radio converter 9, and signal distribution Combined in the device 11, antenna 1
A signal is transmitted to the ground station 3 via a radio wave line via 2. The route from the ground station 3 to the ground station 2 is also transmitted by tracing the reverse.

As described above, according to the method of the present invention, since the bidirectional communication is transmitted through the short line path, there is no signal delay that occurs when this is performed in the geostationary satellite communication,
Communication without discomfort is possible.

Embodiment 5. FIG. 5 shows a fifth embodiment in which a plurality of antennas 12 mounted on a flying object are added to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration shown in the figure, the flying object is provided with a plurality of antennas 12, and each constitutes a radio wave line with the ground station. Since the altitude of the flying object is lower than that of the geostationary satellite, the pointing directions of the plurality of antennas mounted on the flying object are different, and there is no fear of interference even if each uses the same frequency for communication. Therefore, efficient communication can be performed using the limited radio wave band.

[0022]

As described above, according to the satellite communication method according to the present invention, it is possible to utilize both the wide band property of optical communication and the transparency of radio waves, and it is extremely effective for transmitting a large amount of data. ..

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining a satellite communication method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram for explaining a satellite communication method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram for explaining a satellite communication method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for explaining a satellite communication method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram for explaining a satellite communication method according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram for explaining a conventional satellite communication method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Geostationary Communication Satellite 2 1st Transmitting / Receiving Station 3 2nd Transmitting / Receiving Station 4 Antenna 5 Satellite Mounted Repeater 6 Ground Station Antenna 7 Ground Station Transmitting / Receiving Equipment 8 Flying Body 9 Optical Radio Converter 10 Optical Communication Telescope 11 Signal Distributor 12 Antenna

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A communication vehicle between an artificial satellite and the ground is provided with a flying object that stays in the high altitude as a relay station between them.
Communication is performed using light between the satellite and the relay vehicle,
A satellite communication method characterized by performing communication using radio waves between a flying body and the ground. 2. The satellite communication method according to claim 1, wherein communication using radio waves and communication using light are used together between the flying body and the ground. 3. A plurality of flying objects are connected by an optical line, and communication relay via a satellite and communication relay via a flying object are used together. Satellite communication method. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a low data rate including a voice signal and a bidirectional communication are selectively allocated to the inter-body communication and the other communication is allocated to the line via the satellite. The satellite communication method described.