This application provides a satellite communication device and method, the method including obtaining ephemeris information of a satellite in a satellite network, the ephemeris information of the satellite in the satellite network including one or more a beam parameter of the satellite in the satellite network, a physical resource of the satellite in the satellite network, or scheduling information of the satellite in the satellite network, generating a first message based on the ephemeris information of the satellite in the satellite network, where the first message includes ephemeris information of one or more satellites that serve a terminal device, and sending the first message when the terminal device performs random access, to implement communication between the terminal device and the one or more satellites.

A wireless device is operable to communicate with a network node of a communications network via a non-terrestrial communication path that includes satellites and satellite gateways. The wireless device determines that communication between the wireless device and the network node will experience a communication interrupting transition during a transition period in which the non-terrestrial communication path between the wireless device and the network node will be interrupted. The wireless device adjusts a PHY layer procedure of the wireless device to mitigate switching problems with one of the of satellites during and/or after the interruption.

Satellites provide communication between devices such as user terminals and gateways to other networks, such as the Internet. Non-geosynchronous orbit satellites move relative to user terminals, passing in and out of communication over time. The user terminal itself may also move. Each satellite maintains a plurality of subbeams, each directed towards a different area on the Earth for a portion of an orbit. Based on a predicted location for the user terminal, a handover from a first subbeam to a second subbeam is determined. To minimize disruption due to the handover, communication resources associated with the second subbeam are allocated and provided to the user terminal and the satellite in advance. At the handover time, if the user terminal is within a threshold distance of the predicted location, the user terminal may transition to using the second subbeam. Otherwise, the user terminal may continue to use the first subbeam.

Systems and methods for providing a communications link (106) for a defined geographic region (120) and for reducing latency in a communications network (100) are disclosed. A satellite system comprises: a space segment comprising a plurality of satellites (102); and first and second ground segment systems (106, 110). The space segment and the first and second ground segment systems are configured to establish a communications link between the first and second ground segment systems via the space segment. Each of the plurality of satellites may be in a repeating ground track orbit (208), such as a sun synchronous daily repeating ground track orbit, and precede one another on the same ground track, and the satellites may be disposed in respective separate orbital planes. A communications link between the first and second ground segment systems via the space segment, may offer lower latency and/or provide more consistent or predictable latency than a communications network latency associated with the geographic region.

A beam splitting hand off systems architecture and method for using the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: generating a first beam with a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna to track a first satellite; generating a second beam with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna to track a second satellite simultaneously while generating the first beam to track the first satellite; and handing off traffic from the first satellite to the second satellite.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for supporting estimation of inter-satellite link acquisition times in a satellite constellation. The method includes computing or generating an indication of a statistical model based on observations for prior link acquisition times. The method further includes communicating an indication such as a statistical model for link acquisition times or related parameters through a communication network, or a combination thereof. The indication may be communicated using one or more transmission techniques or protocols, such as flooding, a link state protocol or gossip protocol. Based on the disseminated indication, future link acquisition times can be predicted by satellites in the satellite constellation. Embodiments of the invention use a statistical-based computation approach, such as regression modelling or random variable modelling, to estimate link acquisition times or associated estimation parameters. The estimates or associated estimation parameters may then be disseminated through the constellation.

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment that comprises processing circuitry that performs power-related measurements on at least one radio carrier and generates measurement results based thereon. The reporting of the measurement results is based on a report trigger condition. The processing circuitry determines whether or not to adjust the measurement results and/or the report trigger condition so as to trigger the reporting of the measurement results earlier than without the adjustment. In case of determining to adjust, the processing circuitry adjusts the measurement results and/or the report trigger condition so as to trigger the reporting of the measurement results earlier than without the adjustment. The processing circuitry, after the adjustment, determines whether or not the report trigger condition is fulfilled for reporting the measurement results. A transmitter transmits a measurement report including the measurement results, in case the reporting of the measurement results is triggered.

A system and method for beam switching by a User Terminal (UT). The method includes initiating a beam switch between an old beam and a new beam when the UT is disposed in an overlap area of the old beam and the new beam; duplicating over the new beam, at a Network Access Point (NAP), user traffic to the UT; and assigning a Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) allocation for the UT on the new beam, prior to an arrival of the UT on the new beam, where the user traffic traversing a satellite network remains uninterrupted during the beam switch and the NAP redirects user traffic for the UT via the old beam to the new beam.

An apparatus and method are disclosed for mitigating pointing errors resulting from satellite antennas. Reports are received from terminals in a beam hopping satellite communication system, and a pointing error associated with a satellite antenna is determined. The best beam for communicating with each terminal is selected based on the pointing error. A beam list containing the instantaneous traffic demand of terminals for each beam in the system is generated. An active beam set is then selected from the beam list for transmitting data during the next hop in the satellite communication system.

A method and a device used in communication node for wireless communications. A communication node performs a first-type measurement, the first-type measurement being used to determine a first measurement result and a second measurement result; transmits a first message, the first message comprising the first measurement result and the second measurement result; the first measurement result is associated with a first cell, while the second measurement result is associated with a second cell, the first cell and the second cell are respectively two different cells; at least one of a cell parameter of the first cell or a cell parameter of the second cell is used to determine an order of how the first measurement result and the second measurement result are arranged in the first message; the cell parameter comprises at least one of a cell type, a cell height, or a cell orbit or a cell delay.