SIMPLIFIED INTER-SATELLITE LINK COMMUNICATIONS USING ORBITAL PLANE CROSSING TO OPTIMIZE INTER-SATELLITE DATA TRANSFERS

摘要

In a method and apparatus for inter-satellite communications, transmissions between a satellite and neighboring satellites that share an orbital plane occur via an aft antenna or a forward antenna and transmissions between the satellite and neighboring satellites that do not share an orbital plane occur via the aft antenna or the forward antenna timed during orbital plane crossings. This occurs even if the total path length and number of links is higher than inter-satellite communications that use side-to-side transfers.