| ASTRIUM LIMITED Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120017247 | CONTENT BROADCASTING - The invention provides a content broadcasting system comprising a communications satellite and a satellite control arrangement for controlling the communications satellite to transmit a satellite broadcast signal. The satellite control arrangement is arranged to control the satellite to transmit the satellite broadcast signal to a first geographical area during a first time interval and to transmit the satellite broadcast signal to a second geographical area during a second time interval. The broadcast signal is not transmitted to the first geographical area during at least the second time interval and the broadcast signal is not transmitted to the second geographical area during at least the first time interval. This enables broadcast content to be provided to a large geographical area, while increasing the radio frequency spectrum efficiency of the system and minimising the continuous power consumption of the satellite required for the broadcast. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20110256759 | CONNECTOR - A connector includes an outer connection element and an inner connection element. One of the outer connection element and inner connection element includes a plurality of fingers extending at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the connector. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110254641 | MULTI-BAND FILTER - A multi-band filter is disclosed which includes an input manifold; an output manifold; and a plurality of filters connected in parallel between the input manifold and output manifold. The filters have a first section proximal to the input manifold which is matched to the input manifold and a second section proximal to the output manifold which is matched to the output manifold. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110215887 | WAVEGUIDE - A waveguide is provided that includes an elongate dielectric inner region, and an electrically conducting outer region spaced apart from the dielectric inner region. The dielectric inner region may be arranged to be flexible, and in some examples may be formed from powdered dielectric contained in a polymer tube or matrix, or in other examples may be formed from a plurality of segments. In some examples of the waveguide, each segment may be formed to have lenticular end faces, and may be formed from sintered BaTi | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110187477 | APPARATUS FOR FILTERING AN INPUT SIGNAL - A device is disclosed for filtering an input signal, by splitting the input signal into a plurality of signals. A plurality of first and second filters are arranged to filter one of the plurality of signals. The filtered plurality of signals are combined into a filtered output signal. Each one of the plurality of signals can be filtered by one of the plurality of first filter and one of the plurality of second filters. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110181466 | RECEIVER AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATING SATELLITE SIGNALS - A receiver is configured to authenticate received satellite signals having a carrier wave carrying positioning data. The receiver includes a processor arrangement configured to analyze the carrier wave to determine an apparent acceleration between the satellite and receiver. The processor arrangement is also configured to compare the apparent acceleration between the satellite and receiver with a threshold value to determine if the satellite signal is authentic. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110110401 | MODULAR DIGITAL PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE PAYLOADS - A telecommunications satellite payload processing system having one or more identical generic integrated processor modules is provided. The number of integrated processor modules can be selected in accordance with the antenna and bandwidth characteristics of a specified mission uplink and downlink in relation to the characteristics of the integrated processor module. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110074628 | POSITIONING SYSTEM - A positioning system ( | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110074627 | POSITIONING SYSTEM - A positioning system ( | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110062335 | DETECTING ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION - According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising a sensor for detecting electromagnetic radiation from an object, focussing means arranged to focus said electromagnetic radiation onto the sensor, and a configurable element disposed between the focussing means and the sensor. The configurable element is switchable between a plurality of configurations, each configuration providing a different transfer function between the object and the sensor. As the configurable element is located between the focussing means and the sensor, the transfer function associated with each configuration contains information from both the Fourier and image domains, allowing a high resolution image to be reconstructed. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110018758 | ANTENNA FEED ASSEMBLY - An antenna feed assembly is provided which includes at least two elongate feed chains lying adjacent one another. Each feed chain is adapted to transmit or receive electromagnetic radiation between itself and the antenna along a longitudinal feed axis thereof via a transmit/receive element. The feed chains are held in fixed lateral relationship to one another by first and second mountings spaced apart axially of the feed chains. The transmit/receive elements extend axially from the first mounting towards the antenna and the second mounting is positioned on a side of the first mounting remote from the antenna. The first mounting has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion in the lateral direction than the second mounting whereby translational movement of each transmit/receive element in the lateral direction owing to temperature change of the assembly will be reduced. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20100319270 | EXTENDABLE STRUCTURE - An extendable structure which may be used in space-based applications, for example forming the body of a telescope. The structure is movable between a stowed configuration and an extended configuration, and comprises a plurality of walls arranged to give a polygonal cross-section in the extended configuration. Each wall comprises a plurality of repeating units which are connected by a plurality of hinges. Each repeating unit itself comprises a plurality of sections connected by pluralities of first and second hinges, and in the extended configuration, each of the first hinges lies between two second hinges with the second hinges having axes which are inclined with respect to the first hinge axis. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100297977 | FILTERING COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS WITHIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - A method is disclosed for filtering communications channels in a telecommunications satellite to remove large unwanted interfering signals, which includes monitoring channels of an uplink signal by stepping across a channel with a first analog agile filter having a narrow bandwidth in relation to the channel, and at each step monitoring the signal within the channel step, in order to determine the presence of interfering signals, and configuring a second analog agile filter having an adjustable band stop function to block the interfering signals. The uplink signal has first and second signal paths for the uplink signal, and the method includes demultiplexing the channels of the uplink signal onto separate lines in the first path, carrying out the band stop function within the second signal path, and replacing with the remaining filtered part of the channel, by a switching operation, the demultiplexed version of the channel. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100285761 | FILTERING COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS WITHIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - A variable bandwidth filter for use in filtering signal channels in a telecommunication satellite between uplink and downlink beams, and having a reduced amount of phase noise, includes a first mixer for translating the frequency of an input signal by a first predetermined frequency value, a first filter for defining one edge of the variable bandwidth, a second mixer for translating the frequency of the input signal by a second predetermined frequency value, a second filter for defining another edge of the variable bandwidth, and further mixer for translating the frequency of the input signal by a further predetermined frequency value, and wherein first and second local oscillator frequencies are applied to the first mixer, the second mixer and the further mixer such that each frequency translation of the input signal in one direction has a counterpart translation of corresponding value in the opposite direction. | 11-11-2010 |
| 20100271121 | MULTIPORT AMPLIFIERS IN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - In order to maintain isolation of signals within a multiport amplifier of a communications satellite and to reduce cross-talk components, by monitoring communications signals passing through the multiport amplifier, output signals of the multiport amplifier are sensed and downconverted to baseband, and applied to an emulator mechanism of the multiport amplifier. The emulator mechanism comprises a reverse matrix of the multiport amplifier, which recovers the input signals of the multiport amplifier together with cross-talk components, and a digital signal processor which carries out a frequency analysis of the cross-talk components by means of an EFT, and employs a digital model of the multiport amplifier to determine the state of the multiport amplifier which gives rise to such cross-talk components. The digital signal processor may be located at a ground station to which communication is made via a telemetry link. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100265123 | RADAR SYSTEM - A radar system is disclosed for forming a scanning receive beam from signals received by a phased array having a plurality of sub arrays. An exemplary radar system includes a plurality of phase units each configured to receive a signal from one or more sub arrays. Each phase unit includes a waveform generator configured to generate an analog waveform having a frequency corresponding to a time-varying phase shift. Each waveform generator is arranged to digitally generate the analog waveform, and output a comparison of the received signal with the waveform, incorporating the time-varying phase shift. The system further includes a combining unit configured to combine the outputs from the plurality of phase units to form a scanning receive beam. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100259433 | Signal Processing System - A digital signal processor that is required to process a large number of narrowband analog input or output signals. Analog processing is performed to combine multiple analog signals together (with non-overlapping frequency bands) into a composite signal which is fed to a single analog to digital converter. These signals come from different sources and would in a conventional implementation use individual converters. Analog signal processing is used outside of the digital signal processor and digital processing is used inside to enable the original analog signals to be reconstructed in the digital domain in the same format as if individual converters have been used. A similar technique can be applied to digital to analog conversion interfaces where a digital combining operation is performed to combine digital sub-band signals into a single composite signal, prior to input to a single digital-to-analog (DAC) converter for conversion to the analog domain and subsequently to an analog splitter device for separation into a plurality of analog signals. Hence, the technique can be implemented in both transmitter and receiver systems. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100232350 | INTERFERENCE REMOVAL - Apparatus for a satellite communication system, comprising: a processor arrangement to monitor a plurality of frequency channels demultiplexed from a signal comprising one or more carriers, identify at least one frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels comprising interference and remove the at least one identified frequency channel before the one or more carriers are reformed. By removing the frequency channels comprising interference, the signal-to-noise ratio of a carrier can be improved. Also, if the interference occurs within a carrier, the carrier is usable as long as the removed frequency channels are considerably narrower than the carrier. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100221997 | Active interference suppression in a satellite communication system - The invention relates to active interference suppression in a satellite communication system, particularly but not exclusively to an apparatus and method for using active interference suppression in order to suppress co-channel interference between user signals in the communication system. The communication system includes a receive or transmit antenna having a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element associated with a respective antenna element signal. The method includes the steps of calculating complex weighting values for one or more of a plurality of beam signals, adjusting the beam signals in accordance with the calculated complex weighting values and cancelling co-channel interference in at least one of the beam signals using the one or more adjusted derived beam signals to provide an interference suppressed output signal. The complex weighting values can be calculated based on a constant modulus algorithm. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100220646 | COMPENSATION APPARATUS - There is provided an apparatus for a satellite communication system comprising: a processor to determine at least one out of a phase offset for a frequency channel of a plurality of frequency channels demultiplexed from a carrier to compensate for group delay variation within the carrier and a gain offset for the frequency channel to compensate for gain variation within the carrier, wherein the processor is further configured to apply the at least one out of the determined phase offset and gain offset to the frequency channel before the carrier is reformed from said plurality of frequency channels. The invention therefore provides a way of digitally compensating for any undesired gain and group delay introduced by, for example, analogue components such as filters in the satellite communication system. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100218044 | REMOTE TESTING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method and system of supporting and testing equipment distant from the support system are provided. The method includes the steps of forming a communications link between the equipment and the support system, using the support system to measure performance of the equipment and to provide a set of performance data, providing library data relating to the equipment, comparing the performance data with the library data and analysing the compared data whereby to provide a performance diagnosis of the equipment, all in a substantially continuous real time operation. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100214017 | TUNING MULTIPORT AMPLIFIERS - A method of tuning a multiport amplifier and a multiport amplifier are provided. The multiport amplifier comprises an even number of microwave power amplifiers arranged in parallel, a series of input ports and a series of output ports, the input ports being connected to the amplifiers by a series of input hybrids and the output ports being connected to the amplifiers by a series of output hybrids, whereby an input signal at any given input port is amplified by all amplifiers, and then recombined into an output signal at a given output port. The method includes the steps of matching each amplifier in a pair of adjacent amplifiers to the other to an extent which is greater than matching between non paired amplifiers while still being able to ensure acceptable signal isolation between all output ports. This method of tuning results in an MPA well suited to the requirements of certain frequency re-use schemes and which has a significantly reduced set-up and test time. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100172437 | Signal pre-processor for an amplifying system - A signal pre-processor, for at least partially correcting non-linear performance of a high power amplifier (“HPA”), operates on an over-sampled signal in complex form in the digital domain. By converting the over-sampled signal to amplitude values, the pre-processor is enabled to apply correction values, based on the amplitude values, which correction values incorporate both amplitude and phase correction in respect of distortion generated in the HPA. The use of an over-sampled signal allows out-of-band correction values to be applied to correct out-of-band distortion arising in the signal processing path, for instance in the linearization process itself. The out-of-band distortion can otherwise alias back in-band, creating noise at the HPA. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100164782 | Calibration apparatus and method - There is provided an apparatus for calibrating a multi-beam satellite system comprising a beam forming network providing a plurality of signal paths, the apparatus comprising a calibration processor for determining the phase and amplitude shift of a test path of the plurality of signal paths by correlating a calibration tone extracted from the test path with a reference calibration signal, the calibration processor being configured to determine the phase and amplitude shifts of the test path for at least two calibration tones of at least two different frequencies. The apparatus also comprises means for applying a correction based on the determined phase and amplitude shift to the test path in the beam forming network. The two calibration tones of at least two different frequencies may be calibration tones injected at two different frequencies but also calibration tones translated into two different frequencies by the beam forming network. The invention allows a phase and amplitude shift for any path through the beam forming network to be calculated for any frequency in an operational frequency range of the multi-beam satellite system and corrections to be applied to form or interpret the required downlink or uplink beams of the multi-beam satellite system. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100148860 | Multiport amplifier adjustment - The invention provides a method and apparatus for applying test signals to a multiport amplifier (MPA) and a method, apparatus and system for determining parameter adjustments for an MPA. Applying test signals to an MPA is performed so as to provide an output signal indicative of parameter adjustments for the MPA, the multiport amplifier arrangement comprising an input network, an amplifier unit and an output network, where the method includes providing a test signal directly to a point in the multiport amplifier arrangement between an output of the input network and an input of the amplifier unit. The method of determining parameter adjustments for a multiport amplifier arrangement includes receiving first and second output signals associated with an output of the multiport amplifier arrangement, the first output signal corresponding to a first signal path through the multiport amplifier arrangement and the second output signal corresponding to a second signal path through the multiport amplifier arrangement and determining parameter adjustments based on the first and second output signals. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100123621 | Active interference suppression in a satellite communication system - The invention relates to active interference suppression in a satellite communication system, particularly but not exclusively to an apparatus and method for using active interference suppression in order to suppress co-channel interference between user signals in the communication system. The communication system includes a receive or transmit antenna having a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element associated with a respective antenna element signal. The method includes the steps of calculating complex weighting values for one or more of a plurality of beam signals, adjusting the beam signals in accordance with the calculated complex weighting values and cancelling co-channel interference in at least one of the beam signals using the one or more adjusted derived beam signals to provide an interference suppressed output signal. The complex weighting values can be calculated based on a constant modulus algorithm. | 05-20-2010 |
| 20100085266 | APPARATUS FOR AN ANTENNA SYSTEM - An apparatus for an antenna system comprising one or more blades for splitting the electromagnetic field received by an antenna into a plurality of sections corresponding to separate beams and redirecting said plurality of sections for detection by a plurality of detectors. The apparatus may comprise a plurality of blades for splitting the field into successively smaller and smaller portions. The plurality of detectors can be positioned outside the focal region of the antenna system. The apparatus may further comprise focusing means for focusing the sections of the field onto another blade or a detector. There is also provided an antenna system comprising a plurality of feed horns for producing a plurality of beams; and a plurality of elements for redirecting said beams towards a focal region of the antenna system so as to form a group of closely packed beams for transmission by the antenna system. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100019093 | Payload modules - A plurality of sufficient closely-packed functional units which are interconnected to form a non-planar payload module assembly | 01-28-2010 |
| 20090316898 | RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION - A method and apparatus for obtaining, while on a spacecraft, a random number and hence a secure cryptographic key. The method includes the steps of providing, on the spacecraft, a device capable of producing random information when subject to random space phenomena, obtaining the random information and producing a random number therefrom and using an algorithm to establish the secure key. The apparatus includes a random access memory which experiences bit-flips when struck by radiation such as cosmic rays. Changes in the RAM bits are propagated using a linear feedback shift register. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20090051587 | Synthetic aperture radar - A method of operating synthetic aperture radar in a low PRF mode, comprising generating a stream of radar pulses, imposing onto said stream a predetermined modulation of the Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF), directing said stream to a target area, and processing received pulses, comprising separating the received pulses as a sequence of sets, and superposing received radar pulses of said sets, whereby to enhance the central received lobe and to attenuate side lobes. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20080278236 | Rf Power Amplifiers - A Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA) for powering a single element of a multi-element antenna, the SSPA comprising: | 11-13-2008 |
