Open wireless architecture (OWA) unified airborne and terrestrial communications architecture
10461842 ยท 2019-10-29
Inventors
Cpc classification
H04W36/00692
ELECTRICITY
H04B7/18506
ELECTRICITY
H04W36/18
ELECTRICITY
H04W36/06
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H04B7/185
ELECTRICITY
H04W84/18
ELECTRICITY
H04W36/18
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
This invention relates to an Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) unified airborne and terrestrial communications architecture providing optimal high-speed connections with open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) between aircrafts and ground cells, and between different aircrafts in Ad-Hoc or Mesh network group, to construct the multi-dimensional unified information delivery platform across the airborne networks and the terrestrial networks wherein the same OWA mobile device or OWA mobile computer can be used seamlessly and continuously both in the aircrafts and on the ground.
Claims
1. An airborne mesh network based on Open Wireless Architecture (OWA), said system comprising: a) Ground Airport as mesh gateway connecting nearby multiple aircrafts in the sky with Ground Networks through OWA connections, b) Mesh Router Aircraft (MRA) as mesh router connecting to said airport (mesh gateway) when close to said airport before landing, after takeoff or passing-by, c) Ground Cell, as ATG (Aircraft To Ground) gateway, either on ground or at the top of mountain, connecting nearby multiple aircrafts in the sky with Ground Networks through OWA connections, d) Non-Router Aircraft (NRA) as mesh client or ATG client connecting to said MRA (mesh router) or said Ground Cell (ATG gateway) when far away from said airport, e) processor and memory in said ATG client to process airborne mobile handover protocol when connecting said NRA with said Ground Cell, f) processor and memory in said mesh client to process mesh networking protocol when connecting said NRA with said airport through said MRA, and g) Aircraft Status and Connection Table (ASCT) of mesh network group, distributed to each member aircraft of said group, updating aircraft status (said NRA or said MRA) and connection information among group aircrafts, and wherein NRA connections comprise MRA-NRA mode, Relay+ATG mode and ATG Handover mode.
2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said OWA connections comprise connections by open RTTs (radio transmission technologies) and open optical communications, wherein said RTTs include Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access), SDMA (Space Division Multiplex Access), millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology and their combinations, and said optical communications include optical laser connection.
3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said airborne mobile handover protocol is based on predictable on-scheduled handover across said Ground Cells, supporting both hard handover with one ATG link for one handover and soft handover with at least two said ATG links during one handover.
4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein said ATG link is based on OWA technology wherein uplink (from ground to aircraft) and downlink (from aircraft to ground) in each said ATG link are able to use different said RTTs or said optical communications to optimize system and transmission performance, and wherein, said uplink is a broadband very high-speed link consuming more energy on ground while said downlink needs to consider energy efficiency in aircrafts.
5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said mesh networking protocol comprising: a) any said NRA turning to be said MRA when being close to said airport, either prior to landing, after takeoff or passing by, with acceptable said OWA connections between said MRA and said airport based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, b) said MRA turning back to be said NRA after being far away from said airport, with unacceptable said OWA connections between said MRA and said airport based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, c) said NRA requesting to connect to nearby best-available said MRA based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement between said NRA and said MRA, d) said MRA approving connection request by said NRA, and assigning connection bandwidth to said NRA, wherein said MRA becoming mesh router of said NRA (mesh client), and e) repeating the above steps until total number of both said NRA and said MRA reaching maximal twenty (20), the limitation of group size of said mesh network group.
6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said Aircraft Status and Connection Table comprises information on how many aircrafts (both said NRA and said MRA as group members), aircraft identifier (ID) of each said member aircraft, available MRA, available links between said NRA and said MRA, available airports connecting said MRA, in said mesh network group.
7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said mesh network group is defined as a dynamic group consisting of maximal twenty (20) member aircrafts of both said NRA and said MRA with acceptable connections between said NRA and said MRA as well as between said MRA and said airport, based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, wherein, at least one MRA is needed for said mesh network group.
8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said NRA connects to said Ground Cell or said airport in three modes: a) said MRA-NRA mode, with said MRA as mesh router and said NRA as mesh client, wherein multiple said NRAs connecting to one said MRA, and said MRA connecting to said airport as said mesh gateway, b) said Relay+ATG mode, with said NRA unable to connect to available said MRA, but to connect to next available said NRA for hop-by-hop relay connection before the last-hop of said NRA connecting to available said MRA, and in addition, said NRA connecting to available said Ground Cell through said ATG link, and c) said ATG Handover mode, with said NRA as moving ATG client and said Ground Cell as ATG gateway, wherein said NRA connecting to said Ground Networks through on-scheduled airborne mobile handover across multiple said Ground Cells during handover process.
9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the connection percentage of said MRA-NRA mode, said Relay+ATG mode and said ATG Handover mode for each said NRA depends on the calculation of signal strength, bandwidth measurement and cost effectiveness for each mode, and wherein the default priority order from high to low is said MRA-NRA mode, said Relay+ATG mode and said ATG Handover mode, but said priority order is reconfigurable and updated by said NRA.
10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each said NRA and each said MRA are equipped with OWA.Air Transceiver supporting up to 20 said OWA connections for connections between said NRA and said MRA, between said MRA and said airport and between said NRA and said Ground Cell, and said Ground Cell and said airport are equipped with OWA.Ground Transceiver supporting multiple said OWA connections to connect said NRA and said MRA.
11. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein said on-scheduled airborne mobile handover is based on the scheduled navigation route information of each aircraft as well as the scheduled and updated aircrafts' distribution map of instant service areas for said mesh network group.
12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each connection of said OWA connections is based on calculation of signal strength and bandwidth measurement as well as cost effectiveness, especially for transmission energy efficiency in aircrafts.
13. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein in case said Ground Cell is at the top of mountain, said OWA connections are also utilized to connect said Ground Cell at the top of mountain with said Ground Cell on ground wirelessly to tremendously reduce connection cost between mountain top and ground.
14. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said NRA or said MRA has on-board cache server to save web pages or other Internet contents locally in said NRA or said MRA for all in-flight users and operation of said mesh network group, and wherein if none of nearby said MRA and said ATG link are found in said mesh network group, said NRA utilizes cached in-flight data in said cache server to continue providing the best-of-effort Internet services for said in-flight users, until next said MRA or next said ATG link is found.
15. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein said mesh network group is a dynamic networking group with frequently updated group members of said NRA and said MRA adaptively reconfigured by parameters of number of member aircrafts, number of said MRAs, number of said ATG links, signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each link of said OWA connections in said mesh network group.
16. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein said MRA-NRA mode also applies to high mountain cell tower (called Mountain Cell) connected to said ground networks, wherein said NRA passing by said Mountain Cell with strong signal strength and enough connection bandwidth immediately becomes said MRA, as said mesh router, to connect with other said NRA(s), as said mesh client(s), and said MRA turns back to said NRA after being away from said Mountain Cell with unacceptable signal strength and connection bandwidth.
17. An airborne mesh networking method based on Open Wireless Architecture (OWA), said method comprising: a) organizing a dynamic mesh group of maximal twenty (20) aircrafts including Mesh Router Aircraft (MRA) and Non-Router Aircraft (NRA), wherein all of group member aircrafts are changeable and reconfigurable when said mesh group moves across different service areas, b) searching said MRA as mesh router connecting to a nearby airport (mesh gateway) when said MRA is close to said airport before landing, after takeoff or passing-by, and if found, connecting said MRA with requested said NRA in MRA-NRA mode, c) searching ATG link connecting to a ground cell (ATG gateway), and if found, connecting said NRA with said ground cell and continuing said ATG link when said NRA moving across different areas covered by multiple said ground cells with airborne mobile handover protocol in ATG Handover mode, d) connecting said NRA with next said NRA and so on through hop-by-hop relay connection until said MRA is found for connecting said NRA or until said ATG link is found for connecting said NRA, and e) reconfiguring said group member aircrafts of said mesh group while moving in the sky to ensure at least one said MRA or one said ATG link available in said mesh group.
18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein said NRA connects to ground networks in the combined modes of said MRA-NRA mode and said ATG Handover mode whenever either one is available or both are available.
19. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein all acceptable connections between said NRA and said MRA, between said NRA and other said NRA, between said MRA and said airport and between said NRA and said ground cell are determined by calculating signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each wireless connection.
20. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein said airborne mobile handover protocol is based on preloaded aircraft navigation route information as well as calculated signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each wireless connection during the course of airborne mobile handover.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) For the full understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed descriptions with the accompanying drawings in which:
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(11) Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
(12) The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some examples of the embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
(13) The present invention relates to an Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) unified airborne and terrestrial communication networks providing optimal high-speed connections with open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) between aircrafts and ground cells, and between different aircrafts in Ad-Hoc or Mesh group, to construct the multi-dimensional unified information delivery platform across the airborne networks and the terrestrial networks wherein the same OWA mobile device or OWA mobile computer can be used seamlessly and continuously both in the aircrafts and on the ground.
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(15) The moving aircrafts, equipped with OWA.Air Transceivers, connect to the Ground Cell towers with OWA.Ground Transceivers through the Airborne Mobile Handover protocol. Since the aircraft navigation routes are predictable and pre-loaded in the airborne system, and the ground cells' information is also known in advance, this airborne mobile handover is actually well planned when in flight.
(16) Furthermore, because the airborne handover is fully predictable, the associated ground cells of handover will be able to form the narrow antenna beams well in advance and prepare for handover in an optimal way to maximize the transmission throughput.
(17) In addition, the aircrafts may use space-time technologies of multiple antennas to connect the ground cells for the high-speed broadband transmission.
(18) OWA technology allows open radio transmission technologies between the ground cells and the aircrafts so that the Up-Link (from ground to aircraft) and Down-Link (from aircraft to ground) connections are always optimized.
(19) The moving aircraft, equipped with aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers, connects to other moving aircraft with aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers in an Ad-Hoc or Mesh network topology, to construct the broadband high-speed transmission channels as the Over-the-Air Information Delivery and Relay Platform.
(20) The Ad-Hoc or Mesh group comprises the aircrafts with the shortest distance and/or slowest speed between each other within certain amount of time, and the group is updated frequently at certain interval.
(21) If the moving aircraft is close to a ground airport, either after take-off, before landing or passing by, this moving aircraft, equipped with the aforementioned OWA.Air Transceiver, further connects to the assigned ground airport by separate OWA aircraft-ground links, to connect the Ad-Hoc or Mesh network with the ground backbone network and dispatch the airborne traffics to the ground network, and vice verse.
(22) Again, OWA technology allows open radio transmission technologies between the moving aircrafts of the Ad-Hoc or Mesh group, and between the moving aircraft and its assigned ground airport, to maximize the broadband high-speed transmissions over the Air Link.
(23) By utilizing the above integrated high-speed transmissions, the unified air networks (called AirNet) are established, and the bandwidth of the aircrafts with the aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers can be optimized.
(24) The Broadcast Satellite, though not required for this OWA unified AirNet, can be helpful in updating the ground cells information, ground airports information and the airborne navigation routing information, etc. But the broadband Satellite networks are also connected to the aforementioned in-flight network via the OWA.Air Transceiver(s).
(25) The ground Virtual Mobile Server (VMS) is utilized to support the OWA Mobile Cloud infrastructure where any mobile users' information in the AirNet can be synchronized in this VMS. In addition, many processing tasks including signal processing and application processing can be done in this VMS as well. Besides the main VMS server on ground, there is a sub VMS server on-board in the aircraft, connected by the OWA.Air Transceiver(s) in the aircraft.
(26) Both OWA.Air transceivers and OWA.Ground transceivers, as set forth above, support open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) in a spectrum-efficient, bandwidth-optimal and cost-effective way, wherein the RTTs include Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access), SDMA (Space Division Multiplex Access) and their combinations, etc, but not limited thereto.
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(28) Inside the aircraft cabins, the information received by aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers from the aforementioned Ground Cells or Ad-Hoc/Mesh network will be routed to the in-flight mobile users (in-flight Passengers) through the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access point, and vice verse.
(29) The aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers in the aircrafts support open radio transmission technologies (RTTs) in a spectrum-efficient and bandwidth-optimized way, wherein the RTTs include Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access), SDMA (Space Division Multiplex Access) and their combinations, but not limited thereto. The aforementioned OWA.Air Transceivers can also enable different RTTs in the Up-Link (from ground to aircrafts) and Down-Link (from aircrafts to ground) channels subject to spectrum, service and specific transmission requirements, but not limited thereto.
(30) The aforementioned OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point support the low-power and flight-safe wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or wireless personal access network (or called personal area network) (WPAN) so that the in-flight mobile users can access to the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point, as set forth above, wirelessly and seamlessly inside the aircraft cabins. The aforementioned in-flight wireless network by aforementioned WLAN and/or WPAN is fully controlled and monitored by aforementioned OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point to avoid any frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems.
(31) The Up-Link from the Ground Cells to the Aircrafts is a broadband high-speed link wherein the Ground Cells' Transceivers, as set forth above, form the narrow beams adaptively with strong transmitting powers and directional antennas (or antennas array) to connect to the associated OWA.Air Transceivers, as set forth above, to construct the very high-speed transmission link. In comparison, the Down-Link from the Aircrafts to the Ground Cells is a regular transmission link because most of the transmission traffics are in the Up-Link direction.
(32) In order to increase the transmission bandwidth and optimize the link performance in both directions (Up-Link and Down-Link), many Space-Time transmission processing technologies (such as Multiple-In Multiple-Out, but not limited thereto) can be utilized in both the OWA.Air Transceivers and the OWA.Ground Transceivers, as set forth above.
(33) The Airborne mobile handover among multiple Ground Cells is based on preloaded navigation routing information and Ground Cells information, and therefore, the aforementioned airborne connection handover is predictable and well planned. This kind of predictable and on-schedule handover can optimize the AirNet connections more effectively and more stably.
(34) The Broadcast Satellite can help broadcast useful Ground information and navigation information, etc for the Airborne networks (AirNet), and help adjust the Airborne Mobile Handover protocol as well as update the Ad-Hoc or Mesh network information with other aircrafts in the same Airborne Group.
(35) The OWA.Ground Transceiver, as set forth above, is a modified terrestrial cellular transceiver system based on OWA platform which can support any cellular radio transmission technology (RTT) including CDMA, TDMA, OFDMA and SDMA, etc, as set forth above. The aforementioned OWA.Ground Transceivers are equipped with Beam-forming technologies and/or advanced antenna array technologies to generate the strong narrow beams in connecting the airborne OWA.Air Transceivers, as set forth above, to construct the aforementioned broadband high-speed Up-Link.
(36) In the regular Down-Link from the OWA.Air Transceivers to the OWA.Ground Transceivers, as set forth above, the aforementioned OWA.Ground Transceiver increases its receiving sensibility by utilizing space-time receiving technologies such as antenna array or distributed MIMO (multiple-in multiple-out) with multiple antennas, but not limited thereto, and maximize its receiving performance across one or multiple OWA.Ground Transceivers, as set forth above.
(37) Because both the Up-Link and the Down-Link use the patented OWA transceiver technology (U.S. Pat. No. 7,522,888, Application No. 20080146178 and so on, etc), the AirNet wireless transmission performance can be optimized and the spectrum efficiency is therefore maximized, especially for the future open spectrum management strategy as well as spectrum sharing, spectrum sensing and/or spectrum recycling strategies.
(38) Based on our long-time research on wireless transmissions and seamless mobility management, no SINGLE wireless standard (or call radio transmission technologyRTT) can support both broadband high-speed transmission and seamless mobility in a commercial environment, and therefore the broadband transmission, seamless mobility and network capacity are the three contradictory elements in a SINGLE wireless RTT of commercial environment. To meet all these three requirements, we need to converge multiple wireless standards (or RTTs) on an open platform in both transmission level and system level, and therefore, the Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) technology was proposed and developed.
(39) In a commercial AirNet environment, the wireless transmission link between the aircraft and the ground cell is very high-speed, and the aircrafts move very fast. Furthermore, the aircrafts may fly over many different regions with different RTTs (or wireless standards) in the terrestrial cellular networks. Hence, the OWA technology is the best solution to converge various RTTs in an optimal way for the best wireless connections between the Aircrafts and the Ground Cells, as set forth above, to construct the open AirNet architecture which can be applied in any commercial airborne communication environment.
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(41) The OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point, as set forth above, supports the following radio transmission technologies (RTTs): 1. Standard wireless local area network (WLAN) with reduced and lowest transmitting power for in-flight application; 2. Modified wireless local area network for Airborne applications (WLAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with the airborne communication regulations and guidelines; 3. Standard wireless personal access network (WPAN) with reduced and lowest transmitting power for in-flight applications; 4. Modified wireless personal access network for Airborne applications (WPAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with the airborne communication regulations and guidelines.
(42) When the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device or Mobile Notebook is in In-Flight mode, it performs the following tasks immediately: 1. All terrestrial radio transceivers in the OWA.inFlight Mobile Device and/or Mobile Notebook are turned OFF automatically; 2. OWA.inFlight Mobile Device and/or Mobile Notebook is connected to OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point; 3. OWA.inFlight Mobile Device and/or Mobile Notebook are synchronized to the OWA Mobile Cloud VMS (Virtual Mobile Server) on the Ground. The aforementioned VMS is utilized to be the virtual secretary for the mobile users in both the terrestrial and the in-flight applications based on the OWA technology platform, and multiple OWA mobile devices can share the same VMS on the Ground, as set forth above.
(43) During In-Flight mode, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device can push any information to the aforementioned VMS, or retrieve any information from the aforementioned VMS. In this way, the OWA mobile device is fully synchronized between the terrestrial mode and the in-flight mode when the mobile users travel across the airborne networks and the terrestrial networks.
(44) By using OWA Mobile Device of unified terrestrial and in-flight modes, the mobile users can continue seamless communications from the Ground networks to the Airborne networks, and from the Airborne networks to the Ground networks. Furthermore, the OWA.inFlight Mobile Device, as set forth above, is in full compliance with the airborne regulations on safety and security, and the users (or passengers) do not have to turn off the mobile devices when on board the aircrafts.
(45) As mobile device becomes the most important communication and information equipment on the worldwide basis, the aforementioned unified terrestrial and in-flight OWA mobile device will drive this future direction in delivering the truly service-oriented information to the mobile users anywhere, anytime and with anyone.
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(47) After the users get on board in the aircraft, and the aircraft gets ready for takeoff or in flight (or by some airborne regulations, as long as the aircraft leaves the airport Gate), an In-Flight Pilot Signal will be broadcasted to all the OWA mobile devices or mobile notebooks in the aircraft cabins.
(48) If the OWA Mobile Device does not receive the aforementioned In-Flight Pilot Signal, it remains in the Terrestrial mode with the Ground cellular networks. Otherwise, the aforementioned OWA Mobile Device immediately turns off all the terrestrial radio transceivers of the device, and switch to the In-Flight Mode accordingly.
(49) When in the In-Flight mode, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device checks whether the WLAN.Air radio transmission technology (RTT), as set forth above, is available for the in-flight connection. If available, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device is set in the aforementioned WLAN.Air connection mode, otherwise, it further checks whether the WPAN.Air radio transmission technology (RTT), as set forth above, is available for the in-flight connection. If available, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device is set in the aforementioned WPAN.Air connection mode.
(50) If both the WLAN.Air and WPAN.Air RTTs, as set forth above, are not available for the in-flight connection, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device further searches the standard WLAN radio transmission technology (RTT) or standard WPAN radio transmission technology (RTT). If either of them is available, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device first reduces its radio transmitting power of the aforementioned RTT to the minimal level, then connects to the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point, as set forth above, in the aforementioned RTT connection mode.
(51) If all the WLAN.Air, WPAN.Air, WLAN, WPAN RTTs, as set forth above, are not available for the in-flight connection, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device also supports the wireline connection mode by plugging into the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point, as set forth above, through a networking cable or other forms of wiring in the aircraft.
(52) If all of the aforementioned connections are failed, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device will restart the access control again from the beginning.
(53) It is emphasized that, as long as the aircraft leaves the airport Gate (in flight, taxing, taking-off, landing), the In-Flight Pilot Signal, as set forth above, remains ON and continues broadcasting to all the OWA mobile devices or mobile notebooks in the aircraft cabins. Therefore, the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device maintains in the In-Flight Mode all the time.
(54) Only after the aircraft returns back and stop completely to the airport Gate, the aforementioned In-Flight Pilot Signal can be turned off, and so the aforementioned OWA.inFlight Mobile Device can be switched back to the Terrestrial mode for the ground cellular networks.
(55) Based on different airborne regulations and rulings in different regions, the time to release or turn-off the aforementioned In-Flight Pilot Signal may vary. However, for airborne safety consideration, we strongly suggest to turn off the aforementioned In-Flight Pilot Signal after completely returning to the airport gate.
(56) The search order of the connection modes between the OWA.inFlight Mobile Device and the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point, as set forth above, can be re-configured or re-set by the mobile users or the aircrafts. By default, the search order is by WLAN.Air, WPAN.Air, WLAN, WPAN, Wireline, as set forth above.
(57) The aforementioned WLAN.Air and WPAN.Air are the completely safest modes for the In-Flight connection. The aforementioned WLAN and WPAN modes must turn the radio transmitting power to be the lowest possible in compliance with the airborne regulations, and must be fully monitored at all times for the In-Flight connection.
(58) The aforementioned OWA.onBoard Wireless Router and Access Point manages and monitors the aforementioned flight-safe RTTs to ensure there is no frequency interference with the aircraft communication and navigation systems.
(59) The aforementioned In-Flight Pilot Signal is broadcasted to the OWA Mobile Device through a separate broadcasting channel by certain short-distance radio broadcasting technology in the airborne cabins or aircrafts.
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(61) The aforementioned OWA.Air (OWA.Air Transceiver and its controller) loads the aircraft navigation routing information and the Ground Cells information. Then, the aforementioned OWA.Air detects the current and next Ground Cells for the airborne mobility handover control based on the detection of signal strengths received from the Ground Cells and the updated Ground Cells' sequence by pre-loaded or updated Ground Cells information. When the moving aircraft is ready for handover, the aforementioned OWA.Air transceivers connect and handover among the detected Ground Cells accordingly. After this handover is completed, the aforementioned OWA.Air updates the Ground Cells information for the next handover to come, and repeats the above steps again.
(62) Because the airborne mobility handover is predictable and fully on-schedule, both the Up-Link (from ground to aircraft) and Down-Link (from aircraft to ground) connections of the Airborne Networks can be seamless and lossless during the handover period.
(63) Furthermore, by utilizing advanced space-time transmitting and receiving technologies (such as space diversity, antenna arrays, smart antennas and Multiple-In Multiple-Out antenna technologies, but not limited thereto) in OWA.Air Transceivers and/or OWA.Ground Transceivers, as set forth above, the aforementioned Up-Link and Down-Link connection bandwidth can be maximized and optimized which absolutely improves the airborne network performance.
(64) Furthermore, the OWA.Ground Transceivers, as set forth above, actively and adaptively send strong narrow beams to the associated OWA.Air Transceivers, as set forth above, based on the advanced antenna beam-forming technology, to ensure the broadband high-speed connections in the aforementioned Up-Link channels.
(65) Again, OWA technology allows open radio transmission technologies between the ground cells and the aircrafts so that the Up-Link (from ground to aircraft) and Down-Link (from aircraft to ground) are always optimized.
(66) Further, OWA technology enables same or different radio transmission technologies (RTTs) in Up-Link and Down-Link, as set forth above, to maximize the transmission efficiency and performance in different commercial environments because in some regions the wireless spectrum availability in each link may be different, and the available RTTs in each link may also be different, but not limited thereto.
(67) In addition, in order to combat and overcome the Doppler effect (or Doppler shift) and/or transmission delay for the fast moving aircrafts, the aforementioned OWA.Ground Transceivers can perform additional transmission processing by using antenna calibration technology and/or signal processing technology on the ground. 2. Connection Between OWA.Air and OWA.Air in Different Aircrafts
(68) The aforementioned OWA.Air (OWA.Air Transceiver and its controller) in one aircraft loads the Airborne Group (Ad-Hoc or Mesh network Group) information and the Ground Airports information, where the aforementioned Airborne Group comprises the aircrafts with the shortest distance and/or slowest speed between each other within certain amount of time, and the group is updated frequently at certain interval. The aforementioned OWA.Air in one aircraft then requests the aforementioned Group member(s) for Ad-Hoc network connection or mesh network connection based on the different airborne networks topology in different regions. The aforementioned OWA.Air keeps sending such request until it is accepted by one new Group Member, as set forth above.
(69) Then, the aforementioned OWA.Air in one aircraft connects the aforementioned new Group Member for Ad-Hoc or Mesh network connection.
(70) If the moving aircraft is close to a ground airport, either after take-off, before landing or passing by, this moving aircraft, equipped with the aforementioned OWA.Air Transceiver, further connects to the assigned ground airport by separate OWA aircraft-ground links, to connect the Ad-Hoc or Mesh network with the ground backbone network and dispatch the airborne traffics to the ground network, and vice verse.
(71) Again, OWA technology allows open radio transmission technologies between the moving aircrafts of the Ad-Hoc or Mesh group, and between the moving aircraft and its assigned ground airport, to maximize the broadband high-speed transmissions over the Air Link.
(72) The aforementioned airborne Ad-Hoc or Mesh networks with OWA.Air Transceivers, as set forth above, provide an optimal way to construct the Over-the-Air high-speed information delivery and information relay platform for the airborne communication networks which can also be utilized to build the next generation network or Internet technology fully converging the terrestrial and airborne communication networks in an open and unified infrastructure.
(73) The OWA.Air Transceivers can also connect to broadband Satellite networks for Internet access.
(74) By utilizing the aforementioned integrated high-speed transmissions with different network topology, the unified airborne networks (called AirNet) are established, and the connection bandwidth of the aircrafts with the ground backbone network can be optimized.
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(76) A method to optimize in-flight wireless networks and services based on open wireless architecture (OWA) mobile cloud infrastructure comprises the following steps: a) connecting OWA Mobile Device or OWA-enabled Mobile Device to OWA.onBoard Wireless Router which is an in-flight wireless router or access point, through OWA.onBoard RTTs (radio transmission technology) which is In-Flight RTTs, b) connecting the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router to Virtual Mobile Server onBoard Server (VMS.onBoard Server) which is an in-flight mobile cloud server), c) synchronizing the VMS.onBoard Server with OWA.VMS on Ground (main Mobile Cloud Server) whenever wireless connection is available, via OWA.Air Transceiver(s) in aircraft, d) offering best-of-effort in-light applications and services to users of in-flight community through the in-flight wireless networks, and wherein, the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router is turned ON or OFF by In-Flight Pilot Signal, and the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router is optimized by OWA RTT Optimization.
(77) The OWA.onBoard RTTs or the In-Flight RTTs comprise: a) standard wireless local area network (WLAN) with reduced and lowest possible transmitting power for airborne in-flight connection, fully monitored and controlled at all times by the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router to avoid frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems, b) modified wireless local area network for airborne in-flight connection (WLAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with the airborne communication regulations and guidelines, c) standard wireless personal access network or personal area network (WPAN) with reduced and lowest possible transmitting power for airborne in-flight connection, fully monitored and controlled at all times by the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router to avoid frequency interference with any aviation communication and navigation systems, and d) modified wireless personal access network or personal area network for airborne in-flight connection (WPAN.Air) which is completely in compliance with the airborne communication regulations and guidelines.
(78) The OWA Mobile Device (or OWA-enabled Mobile Device) connecting to the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router for In-Flight mode comprises: a) the OWA Mobile Device immediately turning off all of its terrestrial radio transceivers and switching to the In-Flight mode automatically when receiving an In-Flight Pilot Signal of the aircraft through a separate in-flight broadcasting channel in the aircraft cabins, b) the OWA Mobile Device being connected to the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router through the In-Flight RTTs, and c) the OWA Mobile Device being synchronized to the VMS.onBoard Server, and being able to push any information, contents or applications to the VMS.onBoard Server or retrieve any information, contents or applications from the VMS.onBoard Server.
(79) The OWA RTT Optimization comprises: a) the OWA Mobile Device (or OWA-enabled Mobile Device) remaining in Terrestrial mode with Ground networks if the OWA Mobile Device not receiving the In-Flight Pilot Signal in aircraft cabins, b) the OWA Mobile Device immediately turning off its terrestrial radio transceivers, switching to the In-Flight Mode accordingly after receiving the In-Flight Pilot Signal in aircraft cabins, and the OWA Mobile Device becoming an OWA.inFlight Mobile Device for in-flight wireless connection, c) the OWA Mobile Device searching whether the WLAN.Air RTT is available for the in-flight wireless networks, and the OWA Mobile Device being connected in the WLAN.Air connection mode if the WLAN.Air RTT is available, otherwise, the OWA Mobile Device further searching whether the WPAN.Air RTT is available for the in-flight wireless networks, and the OWA Mobile Device being connected in the WPAN.Air connection mode if the WPAN.Air RTT is available, d) the OWA Mobile Device further searching the WLAN RTT or the WPAN RTT if both the WLAN.Air RTT and the WPAN.Air RTT are not available for the in-flight wireless networks, and the OWA Mobile Device first reducing its radio transmitting power to the minimal level, then connecting to the in-flight wireless networks in the WLAN or the WPAN connection mode if either the WLAN RTT or the WPAN RTT is available, and e) the OWA Mobile Device also supporting wireline connection mode by plugging into the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router through a networking cable or other forms of wiring in the aircraft.
(80) Search order of connection modes between the OWA Mobile Device and the OWA.onBoard Wireless Router is re-configured or re-set by mobile users or aircrafts wherein by default, the search order is by the WLAN.Air, the WPAN.Air, the WLAN, the WPAN and the wireline connection.
(81) The WLAN.Air and the WPAN.Air are the safest modes for In-Flight connection, networking and services, completely in compliance with airborne communication regulations and guidelines.
(82) The OWA.Air Transceiver connects to Ground Cell(s) of Ground Networks, other the OWA.Air Transceiver in Ad-Hoc or mesh network group, Broadband Satellite Networks, and/or Ground Airport Networks for Internet Access.
(83) The in-flight community includes passengers of same flight and neighborhood flights of same the Ad-Hoc or mesh network group.
(84) The users can push interesting applications, services and contents to the VMS.onBoard Server for sharing with other the users, and the users can pop interesting applications, services and contents shared by other the users from the VMS.onBoard Server.
(85) The VMS.onBoard Server is an in-flight mobile cloud server, extended from the OWA.VMS which is a main mobile cloud server on ground.
(86) The in-flight applications and services comprise: a) in-flight social networking, b) in-flight video sharing, c) in-flight business conferencing, d) in-flight interactive gaming, e) in-flight shopping mall, f) in-flight audio and video library, g) in-flight safety and security, h) in-flight VIP (very important person) services, and
wherein, the in-flight social networking service and application includes displaying and updating of elements of passenger's photo, seat number, nickname and content windows comprising messaging, posting, pictures and videos, as well as linking to or synchronizing with passenger's terrestrial social networking platforms including Facebook, LinkedIN and Google plus.
(87) The OWA-enabled Mobile Device is an existing mobile device with external OWA module attached to the existing mobile device wherein the external OWA module facilitates completely switching from the terrestrial mode to the in-flight mode by the In-Flight Pilot Signal, and completely turning off the terrestrial radio transceiver in the in-flight mode, and the external OWA module further enables the existing mobile device to fully support the In-Flight RTTs including the WLAN.Air, the WPAN.Air, the WLAN and the WPAN.
(88) The In-Flight Pilot Signal remains ON and continues broadcasting to all the OWA Mobile Devices in the aircraft cabins to maintain the In-Flight mode as long as the aircraft leaves airport Gate (in flight, taxing, taking-off, landing), and the In-Flight Pilot Signal can be turned off only after the aircraft returns to and stops completely at airport Gate to enable the OWA Mobile Device switch back to the Terrestrial Mode with the ground network, wherein the time to release or turn-off the In-Flight Pilot Signal may vary based on different airborne regulations and rulings in different regions, and in most situations, the In-Flight Pilot Signal is turned off only after the aircrafts return to Airport Gates.
(89) The In-Flight Pilot Signal will automatically switch the OWA Mobile Device from the Terrestrial mode to the In-Flight mode completely, so that the OWA Mobile Device does not have to power off or manually switch to the in-flight mode when on board the aircrafts.
(90) The VMS.onBoard Server is also utilized to be a virtual secretary for mobile user with the OWA Mobile Device in the In-Flight mode, and multiple the OWA Mobile Devices can share same the VMS.onBoard Server.
(91) The OWA Mobile Device allows allocating multiple air interfaces into an external air interface card and mobile users change wireless standards by updating the air interface card without having to change the OWA mobile device.
(92) Each OWA.Air Transceiver is capable to support one or multiple connections to either the OWA.Ground Transceiver, the ground network, the ground airport network, the broadband Satellite network, or to other the OWA.Air Transceiver in other aircraft of the ad-hoc or mesh network group.
(93) Each aircraft is equipped with one or multiple the OWA.Air Transceivers for constructing broadband unified airborne and terrestrial networks for high-quality in-flight applications and services.
(94) The external OWA module can be in the form of memory card, USB (Universal Serial Bus) card, any portable interface card, or being embedded in or integrated into a protection case of the existing mobile device.
(95) The external OWA module has functions of turning off terrestrial cellular radio transceiver of the existing mobile device and controlling transceivers of WLAN and WPAN in the existing mobile device to meet system requirements of the In-Flight RTTs including the WLAN.Air, the WPAN.Air, the WLAN and the WPAN.
(96) The In-Flight Pilot Signal is utilized to control the users' radio transceivers and the In-Flight RTTs for the OWA mobile devices, the OWA-enabled mobile devices and the OWA.onBoard wireless router, as set forth above.
(97)
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(101) Here, the aforementioned ATG link simply means both uplink (from ground to aircraft) and downlink (from aircraft to ground) between aircrafts and ground cells, unless otherwise specified.
(102) Because the ATG link is based on OWA connection, the aforementioned uplink and downlink can utilize different RTTs or independent RTTs in the uplink and downlink, in order to optimize the system and transmission performance for both aircrafts and ground cells.
(103) In summary, the aforementioned
(104) An airborne mesh network based on Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) comprises: a) Ground Airport as mesh gateway connecting nearby multiple aircrafts in the sky with Ground Networks through OWA connections, b) Mesh Router Aircraft (MRA) as mesh router connecting to the airport (mesh gateway) when close to the airport before landing, after takeoff or passing-by, c) Ground Cell, as ATG (Aircraft To Ground) gateway, either on ground or at the top of mountain, connecting nearby multiple aircrafts in the sky with Ground Networks through OWA connections, d) Non-Router Aircraft (NRA) as mesh client or ATG client connecting to the MRA (mesh router) or the Ground Cell (ATG gateway) when far away from the airport, e) processor and memory in the ATG client to process airborne mobile handover protocol when connecting the NRA with the Ground Cell, f) processor and memory in the mesh client to process mesh networking protocol when connecting the NRA with the airport through the MRA, and g) Aircraft Status and Connection Table (ASCT) of mesh network group, distributed to each member aircraft of the group, updating aircraft status (the NRA or the MRA) and connection information among group aircrafts.
(105) The OWA connections comprise connections by open RTTs (radio transmission technologies) and open optical communications, wherein the RTTs include Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access), SDMA (Space Division Multiplex Access), millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology and their combinations, and the optical communications include optical laser connection.
(106) The airborne mobile handover protocol is based on predictable on-scheduled handover across the Ground Cells, supporting both hard handover with one ATG link for one handover and soft handover with at least two the ATG links during one handover.
(107) The ATG link is based on OWA technology wherein uplink (from ground to aircraft) and downlink (from aircraft to ground) in each the ATG link are able to use different the RTTs or the optical communications to optimize system and transmission performance, and wherein, the uplink is a broadband very high-speed link consuming more energy on ground while the downlink needs to consider energy efficiency in aircrafts.
(108) The mesh networking protocol comprises: a) the NRA turning to be the MRA when being close to the airport, either prior to landing, after takeoff or passing by, with acceptable the OWA connections between the MRA and the airport based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, b) the MRA turning back to be the NRA after being far away from the airport, with unacceptable OWA connections between the MRA and the airport based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, c) the NRA requesting to connect to nearby best-available the MRA based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement between the NRA and the MRA, d) the MRA approving connection request by the NRA, and assigning connection bandwidth to the NRA, wherein the MRA becoming mesh router of the NRA (mesh client), and e) repeating the above steps until total number of both the NRA and the MRA reaching maximal twenty (20), the limitation of group size of the mesh network group.
(109) The Aircraft Status and Connection Table comprises information on how many aircrafts (both the NRA and the MRA as group members), aircraft identifier (ID) of each the member aircraft, available MRA, available links between the NRA and the MRA, available airports connecting the MRA, in the mesh network group.
(110) The mesh network group is defined as a dynamic group consisting of maximal twenty (20) member aircrafts of both the NRA and the MRA with acceptable connections between the NRA and the MRA as well as between the MRA and the airport, based on signal strength and bandwidth measurement, wherein, at least one MRA is needed for the mesh network group.
(111) The NRA connects to the Ground Cell or the airport in three modes: a) MRA-NRA mode, with the MRA as mesh router and the NRA as mesh client, wherein multiple the NRAs connecting to one the MRA, and the MRA connecting to the airport as the mesh gateway, b) Relay+ATG mode, with the NRA unable to connect to available the MRA, but to connect to next available the NRA for hop-by-hop relay connection before the last-hop of the NRA connecting to available the MRA, and in addition, the NRA connecting to available the Ground Cell through the ATG link, and c) ATG Handover mode, with the NRA as moving ATG client and the Ground Cell as ATG gateway, wherein the NRA connecting to the Ground Networks through on-scheduled airborne mobile handover across multiple the Ground Cells during handover process.
(112) The connection percentage of the MRA-NRA mode, the Relay+ATG mode and the ATG Handover mode for each the NRA depends on the calculation of signal strength, bandwidth measurement and cost effectiveness for each mode, and wherein the default priority order from high to low is the MRA-NRA mode, the Relay+ATG mode and the ATG Handover mode, but the priority order is reconfigurable and updated by the NRA.
(113) Each the NRA and each the MRA are equipped with OWA.Air Transceiver supporting up to 20 the OWA connections for connections between the NRA and the MRA, between the MRA and the airport and between the NRA and the Ground Cell, and the Ground Cell and the airport are equipped with OWA.Ground Transceiver supporting multiple the OWA connections to connect the NRA and the MRA.
(114) The on-scheduled airborne mobile handover is based on the scheduled navigation route information of each aircraft as well as the scheduled and updated aircrafts' distribution map of instant service areas for the mesh network group.
(115) Each connection of the OWA connections is based on calculation of signal strength and bandwidth measurement as well as cost effectiveness, especially for transmission energy efficiency in aircrafts.
(116) In case the Ground Cell is at the top of mountain, the OWA connections are also utilized to connect the Ground Cell at the top of mountain with the Ground Cell on ground wirelessly to tremendously reduce connection cost between mountain top and ground.
(117) The NRA or the MRA has on-board cache server to save web pages or other Internet contents locally in the NRA or the MRA for all in-flight users and operation of the mesh network group, and wherein if none of nearby the MRA and the ATG link are found in the mesh network group, the NRA utilizes cached in-flight data in the cache server to continue providing the best-of-effort Internet services for the in-flight users, until next the MRA or next the ATG link is found.
(118) The mesh network group is a dynamic networking group with frequently updated group members of the NRA and the MRA adaptively reconfigured by parameters of number of member aircrafts, number of the MRAs, number of the ATG links, signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each link of the OWA connections in the mesh network group.
(119) The MRA-NRA mode also applies to high mountain cell tower (called Mountain Cell) connected to the ground networks, wherein the NRA passing by the Mountain Cell with strong signal strength and enough connection bandwidth immediately becomes the MRA, as the mesh router, to connect with other the NRA(s), as the mesh client(s), and the MRA turns back to the NRA after being away from the Mountain Cell with unacceptable signal strength and connection bandwidth.
(120) An airborne mesh networking method based on Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) comprises: a) organizing a dynamic mesh group of maximal twenty (20) aircrafts including Mesh Router Aircraft (MRA) and Non-Router Aircraft (NRA), wherein all of group member aircrafts are changeable and reconfigurable when the mesh group moves across different service areas, b) searching the MRA as mesh router connecting to a nearby airport (mesh gateway) when the MRA is close to the airport before landing, after takeoff or passing-by, and if found, connecting the MRA with requested NRA in MRA-NRA mode, c) searching ATG link connecting to a ground cell (ATG gateway), and if found, connecting the NRA with the ground cell and continuing the ATG link when the NRA moving across different areas covered by multiple the ground cells with airborne mobile handover protocol in ATG Handover mode, d) connecting the NRA with next the NRA and so on through hop-by-hop relay connection until the MRA is found for connecting the NRA or until the ATG link is found for connecting the NRA, and e) reconfiguring the group member aircrafts of the mesh group while moving in the sky to ensure at least one the MRA or one the ATG link available in the mesh group.
(121) The NRA connects to ground networks in the combined modes of the MRA-NRA mode and the ATG Handover mode whenever either one is available or both are available.
(122) All acceptable connections between the NRA and the MRA, between the NRA and other the NRA, between the MRA and the airport and between the NRA and the ground cell are determined by calculating signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each wireless connection.
(123) The airborne mobile handover protocol is based on preloaded aircraft navigation route information as well as calculated signal strength and bandwidth measurement of each wireless connection during the course of airborne mobile handover.
(124) Since many modifications, variations and changes in detail can be made to the described preferred embodiment of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
(125) Furthermore, many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific examples of the embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.