A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting satellites with no attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A radio communication system for transmitting data to a ground station includes plural stochastically distributed orbiting satellites with plural antennas traversing a portion of the earth's surface divided into zones. The ground station has a unique address identifying itself and the zone where it is located. A local area network associated with the ground node includes at least one satellite that stores the identity of a satellite antenna paired with a ground station antenna to form a radio link for transmitting data onboard the satellite to the ground station. Other satellites in the local area network store the ground node address and the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna in another satellite that also has stored the ground node address. A wide area network includes at least one satellite, each of which stores the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna of another satellite that has stored the ground node zone to form at least one inter-satellite radio link. If a satellite with data onboard is not in a local area network associated with the destination ground node or a wide area network, the satellite transmits the data toward the ground node zone.

A method of operating a satellite communications network, the method comprising: receiving from a satellite terminal a message; and storing the message contents in a satellite network database, the message indicating one or both of: (i) a list of communication satellites which are blocked to a satellite antenna or a portion of the field of view of the satellite antenna which is blocked, at a particular geographic location of the satellite antenna; and (ii) a list of communication satellites that are visible to the satellite antenna or a visible portion of the field of view of the satellite antenna, at a particular geographic location of the satellite antenna. A method of operating a satellite terminal having a satellite antenna. The method comprises controlling a beam of the satellite antenna to scan at least a portion of the field of view of the satellite antenna and locate at least one communication satellite or controlling a beam of the satellite antenna to perform a search to locate a communication satellite in the vicinity of a predicted location of the communication satellite, the predicted location being obtained from satellite ephemeris data. The method further comprises updating a satellite terminal database of communication satellites and their locations by recording the location of the located communication satellite in the satellite terminal database. The database and satellite ephemeris data may be used to determine a list of communication satellites which are blocked or a portion of the field of view of the satellite antenna which is blocked at the current location of the satellite antenna, or to determine a list of communication satellites that are visible to the satellite antenna or a visible portion of the field of view of the satellite antenna. The blocking information or visibility information may be transmitted to a satellite communication network and may be used to build a model of satellite communications network availability across a geographical area.

A user equipment (UE) accesses a public land mobile network (PLMN) and obtains an address of a server and authorization data. The UE sends the server a request for coverage data based on the address and including the authorization data. After verifying the authorization data, the server sends the coverage data to the UE, which enables the UE to determine whether access to the PLMN is possible at one or more locations of the UE, at one or more future times, and using one more radio access technologies (RATs), including non-terrestrial network (NTN) RAT(s) and/or terrestrial network (TN) RAT(s). The authorization data may include a temporary identifier for the UE that may be ciphered and may enable verification of the authorization data. The request for coverage data may indicate signal levels needed by the UE to access the NTN and TN RATs and the locations and the future times.

According to the present invention, there is provided a signal routing method, performed by a processing module, for configuring transmission of a signal through a communications constellation comprising a plurality of assets, comprising: receiving an instruction to transmit a signal from a transmitter ground station associated with the processing module to a receiver ground station via the communications constellation, requesting and obtaining connection data from a network management module defining the available connections between assets in the communications constellation, determining, using the obtained connection data, a sequence of a plurality of assets representing an optimum route through the communications constellation for transmission of the signal from the transmitter ground station to the receiver ground station, and transmitting the signal from the processing module to the transmitter ground station.

This application discloses a satellite network communication method and a related apparatus, and relates the field of communications technologies. The method includes: determining user device address information of a user device, where the user device address information includes a second sub-area identifier EID and a user device identifier UDID of the user device, the second EID is used to indicate a second sub-area in which the user device is currently located, and the second sub-area is one of a plurality of sub-areas divided from the earth surface; and sending, by the user device, the user device address information to a first satellite. The identifier of the sub-area in which the user device is located is included in the user device address information. This can adapt to a high-speed mobility feature of a satellite on a satellite network and improve communication efficiency of the satellite network.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting, rotating satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A distributed network comprises a network fabric of networking nodes interconnected with each other through at least one of a physical link and a wireless link. The networking nodes include a plurality of access points, each access point configured to allow a first device to exchange data with a second device through the network fabric. A network fabric manager is configured to establish a network topology among the networking nodes, maintain a communication channel over the network topology between the first device and the second device, and transfer manager responsibilities from a first networking node to a different networking node while retaining connectivity.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting satellites with no attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A radio communication system for transmitting data to a ground station includes plural stochastically distributed orbiting satellites with plural antennas traversing a portion of the earth's surface divided into zones. The ground station has a unique address identifying itself and the zone where it is located. A local area network associated with the ground node includes at least one satellite that stores the identity of a satellite antenna paired with a ground station antenna to form a radio link for transmitting data onboard the satellite to the ground station. Other satellites in the local area network store the ground node address and the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna in another satellite that also has stored the ground node address. A wide area network includes at least one satellite, each of which stores the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna of another satellite that has stored the ground node zone to form at least one inter-satellite radio link. If a satellite with data onboard is not in a local area network associated with the destination ground node or a wide area network, the satellite transmits the data toward the ground node zone.