WO2025246719A1 - Signal-carrier communication method based on satellite-ground backhaul link, and target satellite and target gateway - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure are a signal-carrier communication method based on a satellite-ground backhaul link, and a target satellite and a target gateway. The method comprises: on the basis of an inter-satellite link, acquiring information of an adjacent satellite of a target satellite; on the basis of an ephemeris and network configuration information, acquiring a ground gateway which can establish a communication link with the target satellite within the current time window, and generating a gateway candidate set; on the basis of the information of the adjacent satellite and the gateway candidate set, determining a target gateway which is about to establish a link with the target satellite; calculating a delay of a link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, and on the basis of the delay of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, a communication link which has been established between the adjacent satellite and the target gateway, and downlink carrier resource information, allocating a downlink carrier resource to the target gateway; and on the basis of the allocated downlink carrier resource, sending a downlink carrier signal to the target gateway.

Description

Single-carrier communication method based on satellite-to-ground backhaul link, target satellite and target gateway

Relevant publicly available cross-references

This disclosure is based on Chinese Patent Publication No. 2024106657491, filed on May 27, 2024, entitled "Single-Carrier Communication Method Based on Satellite-Ground Backhaul Link, Target Satellite and Target Gateway", and claims priority to that patent disclosure. The entire contents of that patent disclosure are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

This disclosure relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link, a target satellite, and a target gateway.

Background Technology

Currently, solutions for maintaining the continuity of low-Earth orbit satellite link services generally use frequency division multiplexing. Both the satellite and the ground gateway need to use multi-carrier communication at different frequencies, establish multi-carrier connections through multiple frequencies, and switch between carriers at different frequencies to maintain service continuity.

Maintaining service continuity through multi-carrier communication presents two main challenges: First, supporting multi-carrier signals necessitates multi-carrier channel processing on both the satellite and ground gateway sides, leading to higher equipment costs and energy consumption compared to single-carrier channels. This also increases the weight and energy consumption of satellite equipment. Second, the limited availability of satellite spectrum resources is a significant issue for satellite communication technology. Because satellites offer a much wider coverage area than terrestrial microcells and possess global mobility, their spectrum reuse rate is extremely low, resulting in very limited spectrum resources.

Summary of the Invention

This disclosure provides a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link, a target satellite, and a target gateway.

According to one embodiment of this disclosure, a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link is provided, applied to a target satellite, comprising: obtaining neighboring satellite information of the target satellite based on an inter-satellite link, wherein the neighboring satellite information includes communication link information between the neighboring satellite and a ground gateway and downlink carrier resource information; obtaining ground gateways that can establish a communication link with the target satellite in the current time window based on ephemeris and network configuration information, and generating a gateway candidate set; determining a target gateway with which a link to be established with the target satellite is to be determined based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set; calculating the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocating downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the established communication links between the neighboring satellite and the target gateway and the downlink carrier resource information; and sending a downlink carrier signal to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources.

According to one embodiment of this disclosure, a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link is provided, applied to a ground target gateway, comprising: receiving a downlink carrier signal transmitted by a target satellite according to ephemeris and local location information; obtaining neighboring gateway information of the target gateway according to communication links between ground gateways, wherein the neighboring gateway information includes communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite and uplink carrier resource information; allocating uplink carrier resources to the target satellite according to the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the established communication link information and uplink carrier resource information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite; and establishing a communication link with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources.

According to another embodiment of this disclosure, a target satellite is provided, including one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to: acquire neighboring satellite information of the target satellite based on inter-satellite links, wherein the neighboring satellite information includes communication link information between the neighboring satellite and a ground gateway and downlink carrier resource information; acquire ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite at the current time based on ephemeris and network configuration information, and generate a gateway candidate set; determine the target gateway for establishing a link based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set; calculate the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway for establishing a link, allocate downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the established communication links between the neighboring satellite and the target gateway and the downlink carrier resource information; and send a downlink carrier signal to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources.

According to another embodiment of this disclosure, a target gateway is provided, including one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to: receive downlink carrier signals transmitted by a target satellite using ephemeris and local location information; obtain neighboring gateway information of the target gateway based on communication links between ground gateways, wherein the neighboring gateway information includes communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the satellite and uplink carrier resource information; allocate uplink carrier resources to the target satellite based on the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the established communication link information and uplink carrier resource information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite; and establish a communication link with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources.

According to yet another embodiment of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, wherein a computer program is stored therein, wherein the computer program is configured to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments when it is run.

According to yet another embodiment of this disclosure, a computer program product is also provided, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

According to yet another embodiment of this disclosure, an electronic device is also provided, including a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program and the processor is configured to run the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

Attached Figure Description

Figure 1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a mobile terminal based on a single-carrier communication method using a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 is a flowchart (I) of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 3 is a flowchart (II) of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 4 is a flowchart (III) of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 5 is a scenario example diagram of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 6 is a structural block diagram of a target satellite according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 7 is a structural block diagram of a target gateway according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Implementation

The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

It should be noted that the terms "target," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and drawings of this disclosure are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence.

The methods and embodiments provided in this disclosure can be executed in mobile terminals, computer terminals, or similar computing devices, which can be located on the satellite side or the ground gateway side. Taking a computer terminal as an example, Figure 1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a computer terminal running the single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link provided in this disclosure. As shown in Figure 1, the computer terminal may include one or more (only one is shown in Figure 1) processors 102 (processor 102 may include, but is not limited to, microprocessors MCUs or programmable logic devices FPGAs, etc.) and a memory 104 configured to store data. The computer terminal may also include a transmission device 106 configured for communication functions and an input/output device 108. Those skilled in the art will understand that the structure shown in Figure 1 is only illustrative and does not limit the structure of the computer terminal. For example, the computer terminal may also include more or fewer components than shown in Figure 1, or have a different configuration than shown in Figure 1.

The memory 104 may be configured to store computer programs, such as application software programs and modules, like the computer program corresponding to the single-carrier communication method based on the satellite-to-ground backhaul link in this embodiment of the present disclosure. The processor 102 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the computer programs stored in the memory 104, thereby implementing the aforementioned method. The memory 104 may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some instances, the memory 104 may further include memory remotely located relative to the processor 102, and these remote memories can be connected to the mobile terminal via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the Internet, corporate intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

The transmission device 106 is configured to receive or send data via a network. Specific examples of the network described above may include wired or wireless networks provided by a communication provider for the computer terminal. In one example, the transmission device 106 includes a Network Interface Controller (NIC), which can connect to other network devices via a gateway to communicate with the Internet. In another example, the transmission device 106 may be a Radio Frequency (RF) module configured to communicate with the Internet wirelessly.

This embodiment provides a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link running on the aforementioned computer terminal, applied to a target satellite. Figure 2 is a flowchart (I) of the single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, the process includes the following steps:

Step S202: Obtain neighboring satellite information of the target satellite based on the inter-satellite link, wherein the neighboring satellite information includes communication link information between the neighboring satellite and the ground gateway and downlink carrier resource information.

In this embodiment, the inter-satellite link is the communication link between satellites; the communication link information between adjacent satellites and the ground gateway refers to the communication link established between adjacent satellites and the ground gateway; and the downlink carrier resource information refers to the carrier time slot resources occupied by adjacent satellites when transmitting signals to the ground gateway. The above information about the target satellite can be obtained based on the inter-satellite link.

Step S204: Based on ephemeris and network configuration information, obtain the ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window, and generate a candidate set of gateways.

In this embodiment, the ground coverage area that the target satellite can serve within the current time window can be obtained based on ephemeris data. Ground gateways within this area are then retrieved from network configuration information, and these relevant ground gateways are selected as candidate gateways for establishing connections, generating a gateway candidate set. Ephemeris data describes the satellite's orbit and is used to calculate the satellite's visibility on Earth and the time it takes to receive signals. It may include information such as the satellite's position, velocity, and acceleration. Network configuration information may include ground gateway IDs, gateway geographic locations, and satellite-gateway communication capabilities.

Step S206: Based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set, determine the target gateway for establishing a link with the target satellite.

In this embodiment, the target gateway for establishing a link with the target satellite can be determined based on the communication link information between adjacent satellites and ground gateways, downlink carrier resource information, and gateway candidate set.

Step S208: Calculate the delay of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocate downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the delay of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the communication links and downlink carrier resource information of the adjacent satellites and the target gateway.

In this embodiment, the downlink carrier resources allocated to the target gateway are the currently available downlink carrier time slots of the target satellite, and do not overlap with the downlink carrier time slots already allocated to the target gateway by neighboring satellites. The latency of the link to be established can be calculated using ephemeris and geographic location information. The established communication link information between neighboring satellites and the target gateway may include gateway ID, link latency, link type, link carrier resource allocation information, and the current candidate set of gateways for link establishment by the satellite, thus determining the target gateway for the link to be established.

Step S210: Send downlink carrier signals to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources.

Through the above steps S202-S210, communication link information and downlink carrier resource information of adjacent satellites are obtained through inter-satellite links. At the same time, based on ephemeris and network configuration information, the ground gateways that can establish links in the current time window are obtained, the delay of the link to be established is calculated, carrier resources are allocated to the ground gateways to be established, and downlink carrier signals are sent. This can solve the problems of high cost and energy consumption of satellite and ground gateway side equipment in related technologies, as well as how to make reasonable use of limited satellite spectrum resources, thereby achieving the effect of reducing equipment costs and energy consumption and improving the utilization rate of satellite spectrum resources.

This embodiment provides a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link running on the aforementioned computer terminal, applied to a ground target gateway. Figure 3 is a flowchart (II) of the single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, the process includes the following steps:

Step S302: Receive downlink carrier signals transmitted by the target satellite based on ephemeris and local location information.

In this embodiment, the target gateway detects the target satellite's signal based on ephemeris and local location information, receives downlink carrier signals, tracks and locks onto the target satellite for which the link to be established. The ephemeris describes the satellite's orbit and is used to calculate the satellite's visibility on Earth and the time of signal reception. It may include information such as the satellite's position, velocity, and acceleration. The local location information may include the latitude and longitude information of the gateway. The ground gateway detects the target satellite's signal based on the ephemeris and local location information, receives downlink carrier signals, tracks and locks onto the target satellite for which the link to be established.

Step S304: Obtain the neighboring gateway information of the target gateway based on the communication links between ground gateways. The neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite and the uplink carrier resource information.

In this embodiment, the neighboring gateway information of the target gateway can be obtained based on the Xn link between the ground gateways. The Xn link refers to the communication link between the ground gateways, which may include control and management information between the ground gateways, link information between the ground gateway and the target satellite, and uplink carrier resource information of the ground gateway. The neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite and the uplink carrier resource information.

Step S306: Based on the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information of the adjacent gateways and the target satellite, allocate uplink carrier resources to the target satellite.

In this embodiment, the uplink carrier resources allocated to the target satellite are the currently idle uplink carrier time slot resources of the target gateway, and do not overlap with the uplink carrier time slot resources allocated by the target gateway to neighboring satellites. The communication link and carrier resource information of the neighboring gateways and the target satellite can be used to calculate the delay of the link to be established. The link type can also be set according to the time slot resource situation of the communication link between the established target satellite and the target gateway, wherein the link type includes a primary link and a secondary link.

Step S308: Establish a communication link with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources.

Through the above steps S302-S308, based on ephemeris and local location information, the downlink carrier signal transmitted by the satellite is received. Through network configuration or communication links between ground gateways (inter-gateway communication protocol links), the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information between adjacent gateways and the target satellite are obtained. The link delay is calculated, uplink carrier resources are allocated, and communication links are established with the target satellite. This can solve the problems of high cost and energy consumption of satellite and ground gateway side equipment in related technologies, as well as how to make reasonable use of limited satellite spectrum resources, thereby reducing equipment costs and energy consumption and improving the utilization rate of satellite spectrum resources.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods according to the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of this disclosure, in essence or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes several instructions to cause a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods of the various embodiments of this disclosure.

Figure 4 is a flowchart (III) of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in Figure 4:

Step S401: The target satellite obtains information about neighboring satellites through inter-satellite links;

Among them, inter-satellite links are communication links between satellites, communication link information between adjacent satellites and ground gateways refers to the communication links established between adjacent satellites and ground gateways, and downlink carrier resource information refers to the carrier time slot resources occupied by adjacent satellites when sending signals to the ground gateway.

Step S402: The target satellite side obtains the ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window based on the ephemeris and network configuration information, and generates a candidate set of gateways that can establish links with the target satellite in the current time window;

The target satellite can obtain the ground coverage area that the target satellite can serve within the current time window based on ephemeris data. Based on this area, it can retrieve the ground gateways within that area from the network configuration information and use these relevant ground gateways as candidate gateways for establishing links, thus generating a gateway candidate set. Ephemeris data describes the satellite's orbit and is used to calculate the satellite's visibility on Earth and the time of signal reception. It can include information such as the satellite's position, velocity, and acceleration. The network configuration information can include ground gateway IDs, gateway geographical locations, and satellite-gateway communication capabilities.

Step S403: The target satellite side determines the target gateway with which the link to be established with the target satellite is to be determined based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set, calculates the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocates downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the link delay between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the communication links and downlink carrier resource information already established between the neighboring satellites and the target gateway, and sends downlink carrier signals to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources.

The target satellite can determine the target gateway for establishing a link with the target satellite based on communication link information between neighboring satellites and ground gateways, downlink carrier resource information, and a candidate set of gateways. Then, it sends downlink carrier signals to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources. The downlink carrier resources allocated to the target gateway are the target satellite's currently available downlink carrier time slots and do not overlap with downlink carrier time slots already allocated to the target gateway by neighboring satellites. The link delay to be established can be calculated using ephemeris and geographic location information. The established communication link information between neighboring satellites and the target gateway can include gateway ID, link delay, link type, link carrier resource allocation information, and the current candidate set of gateways available for link establishment by the satellite, thus determining the target gateway for establishing the link.

Step S404: The ground gateway receives the downlink carrier signal sent by the target satellite based on the ephemeris and local location information;

The ground gateway can detect the target satellite's signal and receive downlink carrier signals based on ephemeris and local location information, and track and lock onto the target satellite for the link to be established. Ephemeris is information describing the satellite's orbit and is used to calculate the satellite's visibility on Earth and the time of signal reception. It can include information such as the satellite's position, velocity, and acceleration. Local location information can include the gateway's latitude and longitude. The ground gateway detects the target satellite's signal, receives downlink carrier signals, and tracks and locks onto the target satellite for the link to be established based on the ephemeris and local location information.

Step S405: The ground gateway side obtains the neighboring gateway information of the target gateway based on the communication links between ground gateways;

The ground gateway can obtain the neighboring gateway information of the target gateway based on the Xn link between ground gateways. The Xn link refers to the communication link between ground gateways, which may include control and management information between ground gateways, link information between ground gateways and target satellites, and uplink carrier resource information of ground gateways. The neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between neighboring gateways and target satellites and uplink carrier resource information.

In step S406, the ground gateway allocates uplink carrier resources to the target satellite based on the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information of the adjacent gateways and the target satellite, and establishes a communication link with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources.

The uplink carrier resources allocated to the target satellite are the currently available uplink carrier time slots of the target gateway, and do not overlap with the uplink carrier time slots allocated by the target gateway to adjacent satellites. The latency of the link to be established can be calculated using the communication link and carrier resource information of adjacent gateways and the target satellite. The link type can also be set according to the time slot resource availability of the communication link between the established target satellite and the target gateway; the link type includes primary link and secondary link.

Through the embodiments disclosed herein, by utilizing uplink and downlink single-carrier channels and establishing satellite-to-ground backhaul link communication connections via inter-satellite links, gateway links, ephemeris data, network configuration information, and carrier resource information of the communication links in the backhaul link system, service continuity support for backhaul links in high-speed low-Earth orbit satellite scenarios is achieved. This reduces equipment costs and energy consumption while improving the utilization rate of satellite spectrum resources. It at least addresses the problems of high costs and energy consumption of satellite and ground gateway-side equipment in related technologies, as well as the challenge of how to rationally utilize limited satellite spectrum resources.

Figure 5 is a scenario example diagram of a single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 5, the satellite and the ground gateway (GW) support uplink and downlink single-carrier communication respectively. The direction from the satellite to the ground gateway is defined as downlink, and the direction from the ground gateway to the satellite is defined as uplink. The carrier is in time slots and can establish two communication links with two communication entities in a time-division multiplexing manner.

The following describes the processing flow of an embodiment, taking the process of establishing L3 and L4 communication links between satellite 2, GW2, and GW3 as an example;

1) Before establishing communication links between L3 and L4, Satellite 2 obtains communication link information between two adjacent satellites, Satellite 1 and Satellite 3, based on the inter-satellite link;

The L2 communication link established between satellite 1 and GW2 was obtained, and the downlink carrier used the D1, D2, D5, and D6 time slot resources on satellite 1;

The L5 communication link established between satellite 3 and GW3 was obtained, and the downlink carrier used the D5 time slot resource on satellite 3;

Based on ephemeris and network configuration information, Satellite 2 obtains that there are two ground gateways, GW2 and GW3, within the geographical area that Satellite 2 can cover at the current time. Each satellite and ground gateway can support the establishment of two communication links at the same time.

GW2 has already established an L2 communication link with neighboring satellite 1, and it can also support the establishment of a new communication link. Therefore, GW2 can serve as the ground gateway for satellite 2 to establish a link.

GW3 has already established an L5 communication link with the neighboring satellite 3, and it can also support the establishment of a new communication link. Therefore, GW3 can also serve as the ground gateway for satellite 2 to establish a link.

Satellite 2 calculates downlink resources between the target ground gateways GW2 and GW3;

The process of satellite 2 sending downlink carrier signal resource calculation to the target ground gateway GW2: Satellite 2 calculates the delay of the L3 link to be established between it and GW2 using ephemeris and GW2's geographical location information. Then, based on the L3 and L2 delays and the downlink time slot resources allocated by satellite 1 to GW2, it calculates the downlink carrier resources allocated by satellite 2 to the L3 link to be established.

Calculation requirements: The calculated time slot resources do not overlap with the downlink time slot resources allocated by satellite 1 to GW2, and are currently the idle time slot resources of satellite 2. As shown in the figure, satellite 2 allocates time slot D3 to the L3 link to send downlink carrier signals to GW2.

The process of satellite 2 sending downlink carrier signal resource calculation to the target ground gateway GW3: Satellite 2 calculates the L4 link delay to be established between it and GW3 using ephemeris and GW3's geographical location information. Then, based on the L4 and L5 delays and the downlink time slot resources allocated by satellite 3 to GW3, it calculates the downlink carrier resources allocated by satellite 2 to the L4 link.

Calculation requirements: Calculate the downlink time slot resources that do not overlap with those allocated to GW3 by satellite 3, and which are currently available time slot resources of satellite 2. As shown in the figure, calculate the D1, D2, D5, and D6 time slots that satellite 2 can allocate to the L4 link to send downlink carrier signals to GW3.

Ground gateway processing: Based on ephemeris and geographic location information, the GW2 ground gateway instructs the radio frequency end to receive the downlink carrier signal from satellite 2, receives and demodulates the downlink carrier D3 time slot signal sent by satellite 2, and obtains the communication link information between the two adjacent ground gateways GW1 and GW3 and the satellite through the Xn link. It is found that no communication link has been established between GW1, GW3 and satellite 2, indicating that satellite 2 can receive uplink signals in any time slot. Currently, the uplink time slots U1, U2, U5 and U6 of GW2 have been used for L2 links, so the available idle uplink carrier time slots of GW2 are U3 and U4. In the example, GW2 selects the idle time slot U4 to initiate the communication link establishment to satellite 2 and establishes the L3 communication link.

Based on ephemeris and geographic location information, GW3 instructs the radio frequency end to receive downlink D1, D2, D5, and D6 time slot signals from satellite 2. GW3 obtains the communication link information between GW2 and the satellite through the Xn link and finds that GW2 and satellite 2 have established an L3 communication link. Based on the L3 link delay, the delay of the L4 link to be established, and the uplink carrier time slot resources allocated by GW2 to satellite 2, GW3 calculates the uplink carrier resources allocated by GW3 to the L4 link.

Calculation requirements: The calculated resources do not overlap with the uplink carrier time slot resources allocated by GW2 to satellite 2, and are also the currently available uplink time slots of GW3;

As shown in the figure, the non-overlapping uplink carrier time slots allocated by GW2 to satellite 2 are U1, U2, U3, U5, and U6 (time slot U4 has already been used for the L3 link). Meanwhile, the L5 link between GW3 and satellite 3 uses time slot U3. Therefore, the uplink time slots U1, U2, U5, and U6 of GW3 can be used for the L4 communication link to be established with satellite 2. The L4 communication link can be established using these resources. At the same time, the link type can be set according to the time slot resources of the communication link. For example, for the two communication links L3 and L4 established by satellite 2, since L4 has more carrier resources, L4 can be set as the primary link and L3 as the secondary link.

The above processing steps establish L3 and L4 communication links between satellite 2 and ground gateways GW2 and GW3, respectively, and ensure that the uplink and downlink carrier resources between the relevant communication links do not overlap. This achieves the establishment of dual links through time-division multiplexing in a single-carrier scenario for satellite-to-ground backhaul links. Based on this communication link establishment method, the system can support applications such as seamless switching of communication links during satellite mobility.

Figure 6 is a structural block diagram of a target satellite according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The target satellite 602 is one of the satellites forming a satellite-to-ground communication system with a ground gateway. The target satellite 602 supports single-carrier communication with the ground gateway. The direction from the satellite to the ground gateway is defined as downlink, and the direction from the ground gateway to the target satellite is defined as uplink. The carrier is in time slots. The target satellite 602 can establish two communication links with, for example, two ground gateways in a time-division multiplexing manner. As shown in Figure 6, the target satellite 602 may include one or more processors 6022. These processors 6022 may be processors configured to transmit and receive data, or processors that perform data processing and calculations to implement other functions. The one or more processors 6022 perform the following operations to establish a single-carrier communication link between the target satellite 602 and the ground gateway:

Information about neighboring satellites of the target satellite is obtained based on inter-satellite links. This information includes communication link information between neighboring satellites and ground gateways, as well as downlink carrier resource information.

Based on ephemeris and network configuration information, identify the ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window and generate a candidate set of gateways;

Based on neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set, the target gateway for the link to be established is determined;

Calculate the latency of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocate downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the latency of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the communication links and downlink carrier resource information of the adjacent satellites and the target gateway.

The downlink carrier signal is sent to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources.

In one embodiment, the target satellite 602 can obtain the ground coverage range that the target satellite can serve in the current time window according to the ephemeris. Based on the ground coverage range, it can obtain the gateways within the ground coverage range from the network configuration information as candidate gateways for establishing communication links and generate a gateway candidate set.

In one embodiment, the downlink carrier resources allocated to the target gateway are the currently idle downlink carrier time slot resources of the target satellite, and do not overlap with the downlink carrier time slot resources already allocated to the target gateway by neighboring satellites.

Figure 7 is a structural block diagram of a target gateway according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The target gateway 702 may be one of multiple ground gateways forming a satellite-to-ground communication system. The target gateway 702 supports single-carrier communication with the satellite. The direction from the ground gateway to the satellite is defined as uplink, and the direction from the satellite to the ground gateway is defined as downlink. The carrier is in time slots, and the target gateway can establish two communication links with, for example, two satellites using time-division multiplexing. As shown in Figure 7, the target gateway 702 may include one or more processors 7022. These processors may be processors configured to transmit and receive data, or processors that perform data processing and calculations to implement other functions. The one or more processors 7022 perform the following operations to establish a single-carrier communication link between the target gateway 702 and the satellite:

Receive downlink carrier signals transmitted by the target satellite based on ephemeris and local location information;

The neighboring gateway information of the target gateway is obtained based on the communication links between ground gateways. The neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the satellite and the uplink carrier resource information.

Based on the latency of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information of the adjacent gateways and the target satellite, uplink carrier resources are allocated to the target satellite.

A communication link is established with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources.

In one embodiment, the target gateway 702 can detect the signal of the target satellite based on ephemeris and local location information, receive downlink carrier signals, track and lock the target satellite of the link to be established, wherein the local location information includes the latitude and longitude information of the target gateway.

In one embodiment, the uplink carrier resources allocated to the target satellite are the currently idle uplink carrier time slot resources of the target gateway, and do not overlap with the uplink carrier time slot resources allocated by the target gateway to neighboring satellites.

In one embodiment, the link type can be set according to the time slot resource availability of the communication link between the established target satellite and the target gateway, wherein the link type includes a primary link and a secondary link.

Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program configured to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments when executed.

In one exemplary embodiment, the aforementioned computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, various media capable of storing computer programs, such as a USB flash drive, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), portable hard disk, magnetic disk, or optical disk.

Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

Embodiments of this disclosure also provide an electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program and the processor being configured to run the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

In one exemplary embodiment, the electronic device may further include a transmission device and an input/output device, wherein the transmission device is connected to the processor and the input/output device is connected to the processor.

Specific examples in this embodiment can be found in the examples described in the above embodiments and exemplary implementations, and will not be repeated here.

It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of this disclosure described above can be implemented using general-purpose computing devices. They can be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices. They can be implemented using computer-executable program code, and thus can be stored in a storage device for execution by a computing device. In some cases, the steps shown or described can be performed in a different order than those presented herein, or they can be fabricated as separate integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps can be fabricated as a single integrated circuit module. Thus, this disclosure is not limited to any particular combination of hardware and software.

The above are merely preferred embodiments of this disclosure and are not intended to limit this disclosure. Various modifications and variations can be made to this disclosure by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the principles of this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

Claims (12)

A single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link, applied to a target satellite, the method comprising: The neighboring satellite information of the target satellite is obtained according to the inter-satellite link, wherein the neighboring satellite information includes the communication link information between the neighboring satellite and the ground gateway and the downlink carrier resource information; Based on ephemeris and network configuration information, identify the ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window, and generate a candidate set of gateways; Based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set, the target gateway for establishing a link with the target satellite is determined; Calculate the latency of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocate downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the latency of the link to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the communication links and downlink carrier resource information of the neighboring satellites and the target gateway. The downlink carrier signal is sent to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources. According to the method of claim 1, the step of obtaining ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window based on ephemeris and network configuration information, and generating a gateway candidate set, includes: The ground coverage area that the target satellite can serve in the current time window is obtained based on the ephemeris. Based on the ground coverage area, gateways within the ground coverage area will be selected from the network configuration information as candidate gateways for establishing communication links, and the gateway candidate set will be generated. According to the method of claim 1, the downlink carrier resources allocated to the target gateway are currently idle downlink carrier time slot resources of the target satellite, and do not overlap with the downlink carrier time slot resources already allocated to the target gateway by the neighboring satellites. A single-carrier communication method based on a satellite-to-ground backhaul link, applied to a ground target gateway, the method comprising: Receive downlink carrier signals transmitted by the target satellite based on ephemeris and local location information; The neighboring gateway information of the target gateway is obtained based on the communication links between ground gateways, wherein the neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the target satellite and uplink carrier resource information; Based on the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information of the adjacent gateways and the target satellite, uplink carrier resources are allocated to the target satellite. A communication link is established with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources. According to the method of claim 4, receiving the downlink carrier signal transmitted by the target satellite based on the ephemeris and local location information includes: Based on the ephemeris and the local location information, the signal of the target satellite is detected, and the downlink carrier signal is received. The target satellite of the link to be established is tracked and locked, wherein the local location information includes the latitude and longitude information of the target gateway. According to the method of claim 4, the uplink carrier resources allocated to the target satellite are currently idle uplink carrier time slot resources of the target gateway, and do not overlap with the uplink carrier time slot resources allocated by the target gateway to adjacent satellites. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: The link type is set according to the time slot resource situation of the established communication link between the target satellite and the target gateway, wherein the link type includes the primary link and the secondary link. A target satellite includes one or more processors, said one or more processors being configured to: The neighboring satellite information of the target satellite is obtained according to the inter-satellite link, wherein the neighboring satellite information includes the communication link information between the neighboring satellite and the ground gateway and the downlink carrier resource information; Based on ephemeris and network configuration information, identify the ground gateways that can establish communication links with the target satellite in the current time window, and generate a candidate set of gateways; Based on the neighboring satellite information and the gateway candidate set, the target gateway for the link to be established is determined; Calculate the link delay to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, and allocate downlink carrier resources to the target gateway based on the link delay to be established between the target satellite and the target gateway, as well as the communication links and downlink carrier resource information already established between the neighboring satellites and the target gateway; The downlink carrier signal is sent to the target gateway based on the allocated downlink carrier resources. A target gateway includes one or more processors, said one or more processors being configured to: Receive downlink carrier signals transmitted by the target satellite based on ephemeris and local location information; The neighboring gateway information of the target gateway is obtained based on the communication links between ground gateways, wherein the neighboring gateway information includes the communication link information between the neighboring gateway and the satellite and uplink carrier resource information; Based on the delay of the link to be established between the target gateway and the target satellite, as well as the communication link information and uplink carrier resource information of the adjacent gateways and the target satellite, uplink carrier resources are allocated to the target satellite. A communication link is established with the target satellite based on the allocated uplink carrier resources. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1 to 7. A computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. An electronic device includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.