US 12,461,250 B1
System to determine antenna pointing direction
Marcos Bruno Saldanha Tavares, Bothell, WA (US)
Assigned to AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Nov. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/059,193.
Int. Cl. G01S 19/25 (2010.01); H04B 7/0426 (2017.01); H04W 64/00 (2009.01)
CPC G01S 19/258 (2013.01) [H04B 7/043 (2013.01); H04W 64/003 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A user terminal (UT) comprising:
a receiver connected to an electronically steerable phased array antenna (“antenna”); and
a first set of one or more processors executing instructions to:
determine, at a first time, first data comprising a current time and a geolocation of the UT;
determine first ephemeris data that is acquired prior to the first time and is outdated, wherein the first ephemeris data is associated with one or more satellites of a constellation of non-geostationary satellites;
determine, based on the first data and the first ephemeris data, a first predicted direction of a first satellite of the constellation relative to the UT;
determine parameter data indicative of receive antenna gain of the antenna;
responsive to determining the first predicted direction of the first satellite and the parameter data, determine a first set of sample directions relative to the first predicted direction; and
responsive to determining the first set of sample directions:
operate the antenna to direct a respective receive beam toward each of the first set of sample directions;
operate the receiver to determine second data indicative of a received signal strength of a signal received from each of the first set of sample directions; and
determine, using the parameter data and the second data, a second estimated direction of the first satellite relative to the UT using a least-square estimation algorithm.