Stephen H Ames

US Patent:

52336263, Aug 3, 1993

Filed:

May 11, 1992

Appl. No.:

7/881134

Inventors:

Stephen A. Ames - Sunnyvale CA

Assignee:

Space Systems/Loral Inc. - Palo Alto CA

International Classification:

H04L 2730
H04L 2520
H04L 2552
H04B 717

US Classification:

375 1

Abstract:

A repeater diversity spread spectrum communication system provides substantially fade free communications between a transmitter (1) and a receiver (7). A transmitted signal is relayed through a plurality of linear communications repeaters (3-6) that produce copies of the transmitted signal, the copies each arriving through an independently fading signal path. The transmitter and/or the receiver may be mounted upon a mobile platform, and the plurality of repeaters may be terrestrial, or may be provided in satellites in low earth orbit or in geosynchronous earth orbit. The receiver processes the received signal copies to equalize them to one another in delay, frequency, and phase, and then combines the multiple received and equalized signal copies to produce a composite signal having a greatly reduced fading depth.