Apparatus and methods to provide communications to aerial platforms

Abstract

Apparatus, systems and methods for the provision of high data rate and high throughput communications link for drones, in a bandwidth efficient manner. One set of embodiments describe apparatus and methods to mitigate interference from other systems when using the unlicensed radio frequency bands such as the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands. Apparatus and methods are also described to enable association of the drone radio sub-system with an “optimal” cell site, such as when the drone uses a directional antenna beam to maximize system throughput. Configurations of a mechanically steerable directional antenna aperture are also disclosed. Other embodiments describe systems and methods to mitigate excessive amounts of interference, and to provide a reliable communications link for signaling and other mission-critical messages.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Apparatus to provide broadband access to a drone, comprising:
 a cell radio sub-system configured to transmit and/or receive signals to one or more aerial platforms via a cell antenna sub-system;   the cell antenna sub-system configured to form at least one directional beam; and   wherein the cell radio sub-system is further configured to:
 partition a frequency band into one or more sub-frequency channels; 
 partition at least one of the one or more sub-frequency channels into one or more data channels; and 
 associate a first aerial platform to a first data channel of the one or more data channels. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more data channels occupy a number of time slots and at least one of the one or more sub-frequency channels. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein a subset of the one or more data channels are allocated for shared data traffic that may be arbitrarily allocated to one or more applications or users. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein a subset of the one or more data channels are allocated for dedicated data traffic that is allocated to a specific application or user. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein a subset of the one or more data channels are allocated for a random access channel for data transmission without an explicit bandwidth reservation. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cell radio sub-system is configured to transmit announcement messages via a first directional beam. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the cell radio sub-system is further configured to receive association messages from the first aerial platform via a second directional beam. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the second directional beam is wider than the first directional beam. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one directional beam can be dynamically adjusted to compensate for changing channel conditions. 
     
     
         10 . A method for receiving broadband access at a drone, comprising:
 steering a beam toward a specific cell site of the network of cell sites based at least on a drone position coordinate, and a specific position coordinate of the specific cell site;   searching for announcement messages sent from the specific cell site;   determining a frequency band of the specific cell site, the frequency band comprising one or more sub-frequency channels partitioned into one or more data channels; and   when a received announcement message for the specific cell site satisfies an association criteria, transmitting an association message on an uplink channel of the specific cell site.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the association criteria comprises a minimum signal quality associated with the frequency band. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the association criteria comprises a higher signal quality associated with the frequency band compared to a signal quality associated with another cell site. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising determining at least one channel assignment for the uplink channel via the received announcement message. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the transmitting the association message on the uplink channel of the specific cell site comprises a number of transmissions. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the number of transmissions is based on the number of uplink sub-beams used by the specific cell site. 
     
     
         16 . A drone apparatus, comprising:
 a drone radio sub-system configured to transmit and/or receive signals to one or more ground terminals via a drone antenna sub-system;   a drone antenna sub-system configured to steer a directional radio frequency beam;   wherein the drone radio sub-system is configured to:
 determine a frequency band of a specific cell site, the frequency band comprising one or more sub-frequency channels partitioned into one or more data channels; 
 steer the directional radio frequency beam toward the specific cell site; and 
 associate with the specific cell site. 
   
     
     
         17 . The drone radio sub-system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more data channels comprise at least shared data traffic that may be arbitrarily allocated to one or more applications or users. 
     
     
         18 . The drone radio sub-system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more data channels comprise at least dedicated data traffic that is allocated to a specific application or user. 
     
     
         19 . The drone radio sub-system of  claim 16 , wherein the frequency band comprises an unlicensed frequency band. 
     
     
         20 . The drone radio sub-system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more data channels are each allocated one or more time slots and one or more sub-frequency channels.