Stephen Allen Cable

US Patent:

49378228, Jun 26, 1990

Filed:

Jun 27, 1989

Appl. No.:

7/371906

Inventors:

Daniel O. Weddle - Plano TX
Bill C. Miller - Allen TX
Melvin G. Bebee - Richardson TX
Charles D. Young - Richardson TX
Stephen W. Cable - Plano TX

Assignee:

Rockwell International Corporation - El Segundo CA

International Classification:

H04J 400

US Classification:

370124

Abstract:

An adaptive TDMA (time division multiple access) communication system is illustrated which dynamically maintains potentially different frequencies between nodes of the communication system using a process of communicating the quality of received signals between the nodes and storing this information so that an optimum frequency band can be selected whereby whenever signal quality deteriorates, an alternate frequency can be selected to provide continued communications. An embodiment of the system spans both high frequency (HF) and very high frequency (VHF) to establish the communications through atmospheric induced refractions (reflections) beyond line of sight between directly communicating nodes of the system. Further, the system uses frequency hopping both for signal transmission security and for node identification. When a node is traffic idle and also on a periodic maintenance basis, frequency bands other than the traffic frequency are analyzed for potential future use.