MXPA97009604A - Optically entrecruciated communication system (oc - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a two-way optical communication switching system, useful for a single elevated platform, said optical communication switching system capable of switching a large number of broadband amplitude channels, comprising: a raised platform for housing said optical communications switching system, a receiving antenna system for receiving a first set of N beams, each serving said first set of N beams to M clients, an atopic electrical modulator to form a first set of N optical channels from the respective ones of said N beams, a frequency separator for diffusing each of said first set of N optical channels in a dimension to create a first set of NXM optical channel elements, a concatenator of beam separating images for duplicating said first set of NXM elements of optical channels to create a second set substantially i NXM channel elements, said first set of NXM optical channel elements adjacent to said second set of NXM optical channel elements to form a double virtual installation having NX2M diagonal optical and M-channel elements, each of said M diagonal M elements comprising of optical channel, a diagonal optical combiner for combining said M optical channel elements for each of said diagonal Ms in N optical outputs to form a second set of N beams, and a transmission antenna system for transmitting said second set of N beams, giving service each one to M clients simultaneously

Description

SYSTEM. OF OPTICALLY INTERRUPTED COMMUNICATION (OCCS) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to communications systems that use elevated platforms (for example, satellites, orbiting or fixed vehicles, airborne platforms, towers, etc.) for, among other things, a switched delay and , in particular, for the proportion of a completely interactive, fully switched, high channel capacity, variable bandwidth communications network operating from a single elevated platform. The inventive system is an optically cross-linked communication system (OCCS). DESCRIPTION OF RELATED MATTER Elevated platforms have been used for radio frequency (RF) communication for years. For example, cellular telephone systems, the Basic Telephone Exchange Radio System (BETRS), Personal Communication Systems (PCS), Geostationary and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites, Television and Broadcasting Radio (TV). They are located in our society. In contrast, high-bandwidth systems (typically 1 MHz) have generally been limited to distributive systems (ie, TV, Direct Broadcast Systems, including DSS, C and Ku band satellite TV systems) or they have limited to t-to-t interactive links of great bandwidth between a few ts (typically 2), thereby limiting access to a few selected users. A typical example is a high-bandwidth t-by-t access system, in which a user in Europe communicates with a user in the United States (US) through a satellite placed over the Atlantic Ocean. The zone of calda of one of the satellite beams covers the European user and the zone of calda of a second beam gives coverage to the American user. These high-bandwidth applications exist but are currently limited to a few communication channels. Some recent "wireless" system designs (for example, LEO systems such as Iridium, Teledesic, and Globalstar) promise complete global interactivity, but only ensure voice capacity and other narrow band characteristics, while costing thousands of millions of dollars implement them. Typical communication systems have been limited by low bandwidth (typically 10 KHz, sufficient to support 4.8 kilobits / second kb / sec up to 64 kb / sec) because only low band amplitude systems can be switched completely to serve a large number of clients in a completely interactive way. An interesting example of a competent communications system is the American telephone system - a "cable-connected" system. It serves 130 million lines with channels of 64 kb / sec (approximately 10 KHz or less in bandwidth) fully interactive (switched). This is assumed on 20,000 buildings to implement the switching component of the system, and about $ 200 billion in additional costs for cables, poles, buildings, etc., to implement the components "connected by system cable". It would be desirable to provide a communications system (or other systems that serve a number of users) that would operate from a single elevated platform that could handle a large number of clients, providing each with variable bandwidth service (wide). or narrow, depending on user demands), switched, fully interactive. The implementation of such a system will require a high-performance, low-weight, low-cost switch capable of handling digital or analog waveforms and a variety of multiple access schemes.

That the present inventor is aware, the application of acoustic-optical devices has not been identified, such as "Bragg Cells", and unique optical switching to provide high capacity, high bandwidth communications systems from a single elevated platform. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to create a low-cost, low-weight, high-performance switch capable of handling digital or analog waveforms, and a variety of multiple access schemes, as an integral component of a communication system housed in a raised platform, which does not suffer from the disadvantages described above. A specific object of the invention is to provide a system that combines large numbers of antenna beams (for example, 10 to 4,000), each covering a different geographical sector, and a novel optical processing and switching system, which uses Cell Technology Bragg. (The terms "beam" and "sector" serve the same purpose of the present invention: both refer to geographically distinct service areas covered by the radiation pattern of one or more antennas). By focusing the optical channels, derived from the various beams, in an optically coupled Bragg cell, the frequency content of the optical channels can be spatially separated into a plurality of individual frequency bands. By appropriately dividing (ie, duplicating or reproducing) the spatially separated optical channels to create a duplicate set of spatially separated optical channels and recombining the two spatially separated sets of optical channels along the diagonals, each incoming beam entering the system Switching can access each output beam that leaves the switching system by initially selecting the appropriate uplink frequency. (The uplink frequency is merely the transmission frequency of the originating terminal that attempts to establish communications with a destination terminal through the switching system). This could, for example, allow the total simultaneous switching of one million 1 MHz signals (ie, compressed, full-motion, wide-band video) to a large number of users; thus producing, from a satellite, a fully interactive video network capable of supporting the same customer base as the total American telephone system. A further object of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to provide a switch capable of handling broad channel band amplitudes. The bandwidth achieved by this invention will allow 100 times the bandwidth assigned to each user of the expensive LEO systems, and manages over 100 times the number of simultaneous users on a high platform than those handled by the LEO system with as many as 66 to 840 satellites. A further object of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to provide a low-cost, low-cost switching system as an integral part of a wireless communication system. Since the inventive system requires only one elevated platform, the cost of the inventive system is relatively low relative to comparable systems such as LEO satellites that require 10 of the satellites or cellular telephone networks that require 1000 of the communication towers. The primary internal components of the present invention include a 1 X N Laser diode installation, a 1 X N detector installation, a "Bragg Cell" room and a few selected lenses and mirrors. This allows a reduction in the weight of the system by only a few pounds for the basic switching mechanism, thereby making the switching component applicable for use in a variety of elevated platforms, including satellites, orbiting or fixed vehicles, airborne platforms, towers , etc. An additional object of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to accommodate a large number of antenna beams, each of which serves users in different geographic sectors, where each beam serves a number of users. The OCCS accommodates, for example, from 10 to 4,000 simultaneous beams (the baseline design being 1,000 from a geostationary satellite, for coverage of an area the size of the United States). Since the coverage (ie, the zone of calda) of each beam does not overlap appreciably, it is possible to reuse the full spectrum in each beam if the beams are properly separated (including, but not limited to, isolation by polarization and spatial isolation). It is possible to manage 1000 clients per beam (1 MHz / channel in a total bandwidth of 1000 MHz) allowing simultaneous total use by approximately 1 million customers. Limiting the total number of clients per beam by the multiple access scheme and the bandwidth requirements of each user. Although the present invention is compatible with a wide variety of bandwidth allocation and multiple access schemes, this invention is neither limited, nor required, nor is it improved by the use of any particular waveform protocol.

A further object of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to switch, for example, the one million input channels to the one million output channels. As mentioned above, the current telephone system requires over 20,000 buildings to switch the same number of audio channels of much lower bandwidth. In addition, the present invention switches the same number of video channels of higher bandwidths (e.g., 1 MHz) into a rather small elevated platform (e.g., a satellite). A further object of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to use components that are commonly available. The devices necessary to carry out the switching function in the present invention (i.e., a 1 XN Laser diode installation, a 1 XN sensing facility, a Bragg Cell, and lenses and mirrors of different focus) are all commonly available. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each customer's land base unit selects a frequency corresponding to a frequency assigned to the party with which it wishes to communicate (i.e., selects or codes the frequency). The terrestrial base terminal will then transmit a signal to that part at the selected frequency. The antenna on the elevated platform that serves this user will receive the signal transmitted within its beam, as well as all other simultaneous users who communicate through the same antenna beam. On the elevated platform, each beam, which contains all the frequencies, is used to modulate a Laser diode, which then radiates a "Bragg Cell", an acousto-optic material activated actively, such as quartz. An optical signal will either be reflected off or pass through the acousto-optic material and refracted at different angles for different frequencies. In addition, the frequency bands within each optical channel will diffuse spatially, depending on their modulation frequency. Each discrete frequency band, spatially diffused, creates an optical channel element. The energy received from each of the other beams is similarly converted into optical channels and simultaneously focused on a separate portion of the Bragg cell, whereby each optical channel becomes a set of discrete optical channel elements . The Bragg Cell effectively resolves broadband optical channels into multiple optical channels that have separate frequencies. After collimation by a lens and splitting the beam to create two sets of substantially identical optical channel elements, the optical channel elements collapse along a 45 degree diagonal to an on-line (1 XN) installation. Detector diodes such that each detector diode combines a series of unique frequencies from each input beam. In this way, by selecting the appropriate uplink frequency, the output channel is accessed automatically and communication is achieved. The return path follows the same steps to achieve two-way communication. Special optical or electrical paths can be added to redirect a greater portion of a few input beam frequencies back to the same output beam since local calls will be more likely than calls to any other beam area. These intra-beam trajectories essentially derive the switching components and are routed directly to the switch output for later transmission to the proposed geographical sector. It is also within the intention of the invention to add special circuitry as necessary to break some or all of the additional channels on 100 audio channels, or to combine a number of channels (eg, 6) for television transmission of high definition (HDTV). further, the switching components can be complemented as necessary with additional circuitry to meet the specific demands of the communities served by the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1A is a general view of the preferred embodiment of the invention used as an optically coupled communication system (OCCS) for use with a single satellite. Figure IB is a general view of a second embodiment of the invention used as an OCCS for use with a single tower. Figure 2 shows the details of the optical and electrical processing used in the OCCS. Figures 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D describe the approach used for frequency classification and cyclic recombination for each channel per beam. Figures 4A, 4B, and 4C show the manner in which frequency classification and cyclic recombination were achieved for the three cases, M = N; M > N; Y M < N. Figure 5 describes a "double jump" capability of random switching added to the first or second embodiment of the invention, or any other modality that uses frequency bands to distinguish users from geographic sectors separately. Figure 6 describes an intra-beam communication path for "local" signaling that derives the switching processing. Figures 7A, 7B and 7C are various variants for creating a multi-beam antenna design according to the invention. Figure 8 describes a multi-platform elevated system that achieves improved sector isolation by the user terminal employing a set of directional antennas. Figure 9 is a general view of a third embodiment of an electrically switched system that can be used on any elevated platform, including a satellite or a tower. Figure 10 describes the switching matrix that defines those frequencies received from a particular input antenna, which are then electrically connected to a particular output antenna. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1A illustrates an OCCS using a satellite as the main elevated platform (eg, geostationary mean earth orbit, or LEO) according to the present invention, in which N beams 2 with M are shown simultaneous clients 1 per beam. It should be clear that the present invention can be housed in a similar manner in other elevated platforms including fixed platforms, airborne platforms, towers, etc. These M clients would be only a small fraction of the total potential users in each of the N-2 beams. However, since only approximately 1% of the clients use a two-way communication system at the same time (average in the EU), these M simultaneous users could represent as many as 100 XM clients or potential terminals for interactive video, each having a small antenna, a transceiver, a video camera and a video display screen. In addition, depending on whether a multiple access waveform according to the invention disclosed herein is used, the simultaneous user capacity would be increased in proportion to the efficiency of the multiple access scheme. For example, the M clients described here could in fact support 100 million concurrent users, where each of the 1000 beams supports 1000 users using a multiple access waveform that has a capacity of 100 users per frequency subband directed; although the present invention does not depend on any particular multiple access scheme. However, it would be clear to one skilled in the art that the invention disclosed herein would be complementary to many other facets of a larger communication system, including, for example, a new multiple access scheme or a commercial application of waveforms having products of bandwidth of long time. The simultaneous M clients (where M is from 20 to 4,000 - typically 1000) would use some lossless video compression to compress each signal to a 1 MHz bandwidth (or digital equivalent), for a total of 1000 signals in one typical implementation. Those 1000 signals, each having a bandwidth of 1 MHz, are assigned to a specific code (i.e., they are encoded by frequency) to discriminate one from the next. The total bandwidth of the beam occupies between .5 GHz and 1 GHz, depending on the specific parameters of the waveform such as modulation, error detection and correction coding, waveform protocol, and multiple access scheme. An originating terminal establishes communications with a destination terminal by transmitting a signal within one of the N parallel receiving beams (typically N = 1000) created by the multiple beam receiving antenna system 3 on a geostationary satellite (not shown). The OCCS will then direct the signal to the destination terminal according to the description herein. Once communication is established between the originating terminal and the destination terminal, two-way communications can occur when completing a similar inverse path. In the satellite, the 1000 beams received by the receiving antenna system 3, each containing 1000 simultaneous users of full bandwidth, are transmitted along N electrical channels 4. These channels are appropriately sub-conveyed by the reception antenna system 3, if necessary, to support the electric to optical modulator 5. An example of which is a 1 XN laser diode installation (eg, typical fiber optic actuators), but any installation of light modulation device, which then forms N optical channels 6, one per receiving beam. The N optical channels 6, each containing signals from M users 1 are passed to a frequency separator 7. The frequency separator 7 separates each of the signals coming from the M users 1 on each of the N optical channels 6 to create NxM optical channels 8. The NxM optical channels 8 are connected to a Beam Separator Imaging Concatenator 9 which duplicates the NxM channels to create Nx2M optical channels 10 (i.e., optical channel elements), each of which it can be seen as an optical channel element. The selected Nx2M optical channels 10 (ie, the selected optical channel elements) are cyclically recombined (redirected and grouped) in a Digital Optical Combiner 11 according to their proposed geographical destination. The optical output channels 12 are then converted into N electrical channels (signals) 14 through a multi-beam former 13 (eg, a diode detector array). The N electrical channels (signals) 14 are then used, after appropriate amplification and frequency offset, used to power a transmission antenna system 15 comprising N transmit antennas. Clearly, the multi-beam former 13 and the N electrical channels 14 could be included within the transmission antenna system 15. Similarly, the N optical output channels 12, the multi-beam former 13 and the N electrical channels 14 could increasing the diagonal optical combiner 11. Figure IB is a general view of the second preferred embodiment. This is the same system shown in Figure 1A, but the elevated platform is a tower, not a satellite. The M individual clients 1 per beam (or sector, the terms are used synonymously herein) are located within specific angular sectors 16. The operation is exactly as described in Figure 1A. Adjacent sectors must be isolated from each other, either by frequency offset, by polarization (for example, linear or circular), by code, or by terminal antenna directionality (each isolation approach will be described later in greater detail). The internal processing of the OCCS is shown in detail with reference to Figure 2, Figures 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D and Figures 4A, 4B and 4C. In the preferred embodiment, the reception antennas 100, as part of a receiving antenna system, receive the frequency-coded signals that service the M clients 1, approximately 1000 per beam (N beams in total) and convert the energy electromagnetic received in N electrical channels 4. These N electrical channels 4, and the M signals resident within each of the channels, are converted to the appropriate frequency by means of the actuator 105 which drives an installation of 1 XN 110 Laser Diode. N optical channels 6 are the output of the laser diode 1 XN 110 installation, see figure 3A, where each of the N optical channels 6 maintains the M signals that were resident within the N electrical channels 4. Figure 2 and Figures 3A, 3B 3C and 3D show the preferred mode of M = N. (Other cases where M is not equal to N will work properly and are described in more detail below). It is preferred to have M = N since in both cases the inputs and outputs can use the same antennas through a frequency diplexer (frequency diplexers are known in the art of antenna circuitry as a means to isolate energy from reception and transmission in transceiver applications). Each of the N optical outputs 6 of the installation 110 is passed through a cylindrical focusing lens 115 then through a collimation lens 120, and are reflected off or pass through a Bragg Cell 125 (an acoustic-optical device that is commonly available and known in the art) having an appropriate acoustic actuator 130 (placed on the appropriate surface of the Bragg Cell) 125). The Bragg Cell 125 is an acousto-optic device that, when activated, incorporates spatially periodic, optical index perturbations propagated within the Bragg Cell medium. Each optical channel, having bandwidth frequency components comprising the M signals, interacts with the disturbances in such a way that the M signals are spatially separated, by their frequency content. In turn, each of the N optical channels is converted into M optical channels, broadcast in one dimension, and all N optical channels are converted into N X M optical channels. Spatial diffusion occurs because bands of different frequencies within the optical energy will each interact differently as they pass through the Bragg 125 cell. The higher frequency optical energy will be reflected at a slightly different angle to the optical energy that It has a lower frequency. The Bragg Cell 125 creates secondary optical diffraction grating lobes from the broadband light that passes through them. The diffraction grating lobes are sensitive to the frequency at an angle: the second lobes of the diffraction grating at higher frequencies will propagate at a less acute angle than the second lobes of the diffraction grating at lower frequencies. According to the above, the signals from the M users per beam are diffused optically in a plane whose orientation is orthogonal to the direction of propagation of the N channels. Because the signals for each of the M clients were coded with a different frequency, each of the M signals per optical channel will emerge from the Bragg Cell 125 at slightly different angles 135 and creating a total of NXM optical channels 8. A Once the NXM optical channels 8 have spread sufficiently, they are formed into parallel optical beams by a collimation lens 140. Once collimated, the resulting discrete beams form NXM optical channel elements 159. These optical channel elements 159 are passed through. through / are reflected out of a half mirror beam splitter 145 and are reflected out of a full mirror 150 in order to create two virtual installations side by side - a "double virtual installation". This double virtual installation 155, as shown in Figure 3B, contains frequencies fi a f N and fi a f N (remembering that in the preferred mode M = N) repeated for each of the N original beams. In this way, the double virtual installation 155 contains a total of NX2M (or NX2N as shown) optical channel elements 159, two substantially identical sets of the NXM optical channels 8 arising from the Bragg 125 cell. This double virtual installation 155 is "virtual" since it only exists in space and does not need to be focused or reflect on any surface. The NX2M optical channel elements 159 of the dual virtual installation 155 are selectively passed through a cylindrical focusing lens 160. Since the cylindrical focusing lens 160 is oriented at 45 degrees, with respect to both rows 156 and columns 157 of the virtual installation 155, only the optical channel elements 159 are combined within each of the diagonal M 158 of the dual virtual installation 155 (ie, selective focus). In addition, the cylindrical focusing lenses add together only those optical channel elements 159 that reside within the same diagonal 158 in the virtual double array 155. As shown in FIG. 3C, the outputs of the cylindrical focusing lenses 160 contain a frequency band (corresponding to one of the original M users 1 in a specific beam) from each of the original N beams 2. This is the essence of the inventive switching system: fi of beam 1 is combined with f2 of beam 2, etc., without the need to move the channels to the baseband and without any processing in the switching system. In addition, the originating terminal (i.e., one of the user terminals) and the destination terminal (another user terminal) include all the requisite control choices for appropriately directing the signals through the switching system. In fact, the terminals merely need to decide the uplink frequency in order to effectively switch to the appropriate destination beam / sector. OCCS optical and electronic devices housed in the elevated platform do not require electronic control devices or electronic control core devices to switch the signals: the originating terminal affects the switching by choosing the frequency (uplink) transmission appropriate In addition, users determine how they will address each other in a unique way: the switch does not play a role in deciphering addresses. Each of the N outputs 12 of the cylindrical focusing lens 160 is focused on a corresponding detector of 1 XN row of detectors 165. The output of each detector then contains all frequencies from fi to fN, but originated each frequency from a different input beam as shown in Figure 3D. Each of the N electrical outputs (14 not shown in Figure 2) from the N detectors are moved to the appropriate transmission band, amplified by the actuator 170 and used to drive a corresponding transmission antenna 175 whose beams give each service to M simultaneous clients. In this way, any customer served within any of the beams can contact any other client in any beam by simply selecting the appropriate transmission frequency (ie, uplink). The receiving client merely monitors the energy within the receiving client's beam for a particular frequency band, subband, code, preamble or other protocol means that has been uniquely assigned to the receiving client. Once detected, the two parties can initiate a full interactive video communication. Figures 4A, 4B and 4C show the manner in which internal processing and terminal coding is carried out in each of the three possible size combinations of M and N: M = N, Figure 4A; M >; N, Figure 4B; and M < N, figure 4C. As shown in Figure 4A, if M = N, then any subband (i.e., any of the frequency bands comprising the N subbands) in any beam (of the N beams) can be linked to any beam of output, and in this way, enable a side-by-side switching matrix from NXN to NX N. However, if M > N, as shown in Figure 4B, there are more M user signals per beam, which means that there are more M sub-bands per beam than you do, that is, N beams. In this case, the OCCS generates M outputs, as shown. Each output is a combination of three subbands from the three input beams. By extension, this could be used as a distribution scheme where a smaller number of source channels (say, 10,000) could be switched to any of the 1 million clients. The case of M > N addresses a major problem in "video dial tone" applications, where the distribution system has limited ability to distribute entertainment information interactively, even to multiple destination terminals. On the other hand, additional transmit antennas (ie, M antennas) are required to support each output. For those applications where M < N, as shown in Figure 4C, there are fewer M entries, subbands per beam, than N beams. However, the OCCS will generate M outputs as shown. Each output will have only 3 subbands that are selectable from three of the four input beams. This is similar to a selection process where a small number of outputs is generated from a large input potential. In a slightly more complex embodiment, a "double hop" capability may be added in which at least one intermediate terminal would be used (i.e., a user terminal is at least capable of transmitting, receiving, and encoding signals that are to be addressed through the OCCS) as an intelligent repeater. With reference to Figure 5, the intermediate terminal would be used when, for example, Terminal A 400 in Sector J (an originating terminal) attempted to establish communications with Terminal B 410, in Sector K (a destination terminal). , but channel 401 within the beam serving Terminal A 400, fM 401 is busy; thus blocking communications between Terminal A 400 and Terminal B 410. In normal operations, Terminal A 400 communicates directly with Terminal B 410 when directing signals through the switching system housed in the elevated platform. In the case of blocking, Terminal A 400 would detect that channel 401 is busy, using the channel detection circuitry of Terminal A 450 (for example, using any of the many well-known energy detection circuits), and would re-encode the signal (e.g., changing the uplink frequency by using a predetermined encoding scheme) so that the recoded signal would be redirected through a channel 402 in a sector (e.g., Sector L 420) that He was not completely busy. The re-encoded signal would then be routed through a remote intermediate terminal or transceiver (either ground-based or housed on a raised platform), to Terminal C 430 located in Sector L. Terminal C 430 then detects the signal to address and re-encode, for a second time, the signal destined to Terminal B 410 and transmit the signal in the appropriate channel, fq 403, to Terminal B 410, through Sector K 20K. In this way, if the link coming from the J th beam towards the K th beam will be in use, one could go from the J th beam towards the transceiver in the L th beam and from the L th beam towards the K th beam - a "double jump". The intermediate terminal can be a terrestrial base terminal or a terminal housed in a raised platform. This "double jump" capability allows random switching when any of the channels within a beam is busy or blocked. It should be expected that those beams that serve densely populated urban areas will be the most likely to experience blockage. Conversely, beams that serve remote rural regions will be blocked to a much lesser degree and, therefore, would be good candidates for the intermediate terminals needed to support the "double jump" of the system, random switching capacity. Other configurations could be used to support the "double jump". For example, this could be done with dedicated transponders scattered in many lightly charged beams or one could design all the client units to accommodate this service when that unit is not in normal use. Figure 6 describes a slightly more complex implementation where the switching portion of the OCCS (i.e. elements 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in Figure 6) are derived by a set of K single-frequency intra-beam signals, while the additional M signals, which reside in each of the N electrical channels 4 are finally passed to the optical switching portion of the OCCS. The intra-beam signals are extracted by K frequency selection filters 500 from the N electrical channels 4 and pass directly to the N electrical output channels 14, which are connected to the transmission antenna system 15. This characteristic allows the system to accommodate a large number of "local calls", without increasing the demand on the resources of the switching system. In other words, this allows non-switched communications within a beam or sector. The selective frequency derivative circuitry 500 is placed between the N electrical channels 4 (input) and the N electrical channels 14 (output). The branch circuitry 500 isolates each set of K single frequency signals from the M additional signals in each of the N electrical channels 4, using conventional bandpass filter technology. All the energy in the N electrical channels 4 is finally passed to the primary switching processing functions for inter-beam switching. Each of the N optical output channels 12 from the primary processing switching functions is connected to the circuitry to convert the N optical output channels 12 into N electrical channels 14 (e.g., a set of diode detectors). The N electrical channels 14 are then combined with the K single frequency signals emitted from the shunt circuitry 500. The N output channels 14, which now contain the K intra-beam signals and the M signals between "switched" beams they are then passed to the transmission antenna system 15 for transmission. Figures 7A and 7B show two ways to create multiple antenna beams from a single antenna, where each beam can be oriented to serve different geographical sectors. Figure 7A shows a standard multi-feed curved reflector design, commonly called a "Gregorian" multiple feed beam antenna. In that antenna, a series of real RF feeds 21 are located in the focal plane of a curved reflector 22 in order to create a series of beams 23 that would cover a large area (for example, the United States). Figure 7B shows a Luneburg RF lens, a technique using a dielectric sphere 24 having a variable dielectric constant as a function of radii, in order to focus any parallel beam towards a point on the far side of the sphere. If M feeds were located in the appropriate places 25, M beams 23 would be created that would cover the desired area. The two previous antenna multiple beam techniques are well known to technicians of ordinary experience in this technological field and no longer need to be detailed here. Figure 7C describes a third approach for providing multiple antenna beams, each of which serves a different geographic sector. This third approach is particularly well suited for the second preferred embodiment of the invention, elevated ground-based platforms, such as a communications tower, including towers used for another purpose such as a radio broadcast tower or active TV. A ring of reflecting antennas 27, between 3 and 500, preferably 20, is mounted on a tower 26 in such a way as to cover the sequential angular sectors 28. Each antenna is directional and has a main beam 29 that faces a geographical sector different. It would be clear to someone of ordinary skill in the art that a plurality of more expensive multi-beam antennas could be used in place of any subset of reflecting antennas. The adjacent angular sectors 28 are spatially separated, but can be further separated from each other by the use of alternating polarization 30 or by the use of separate and distinct frequency bands 31. The circular polarization preferably alternating or linear (vertical and horizontal) 30 can be used to isolate each beam from its nearest neighbor. For example, by using an arbitrary numbering scheme, even-numbered antennas would use RHC (right-hand circular polarization), while odd-numbered antennas would use LHC (left-hand circular polarization). Frequency separation between adjacent sectors can be used in combination with polarization isolation or an independent isolation technique. For example, it would be preferable for sector 1 to receive in the band fi and transmit in band f2 while sector 2 could receive in band f2 and transmit in fi 31. An alternative frequency separation approach would be for sector 1 to receive and transmit in the fi band and the nearest surrounding sectors receive and transmit in f2, where fi and f2 do not overlap. Of course, this is an inefficient use of bandwidth. An additional alternative to promote isolation between beams or sectors would be to assign codes to individual users. The interference of the adjacent beam / sector would then be suppressed in the receiving detection circuitry, as in the case with various systems using signals with products of bandwidth of long duration. The probability of exhausting the number of available codes is a limitation with this approach. A further alternative to improve isolation between sectors is described with reference to Figure 8. This approach to improving isolation requires the use of multiple overhead platforms and directional client terminal antennas. The raised platform 700 transmits and receives within a plurality of sectors / beams, one of which is shown as Sector / Beam # 1 715. A second elevated platform 705 transmits and receives within a plurality of sectors / beams that cover the same general geographic area as the first elevated platform 700, one of which is shown as Sector / Beam # 2 720. Sector / Beam # 1 715, and Sector / Beam # 2 720 can cover bands of the same frequency and still not interfere. The reason they do not interfere is because the client terminal (eg, 710) uses a directional antenna that captures only one of the raised platforms 700 within its main lobe 725. The Sector / Beam # 1 715 and the Sector / Beam # 2 720 will overlap substantially considering that they are separated appropriately (eg, approximately 4 ° for geostationary satellites and approximately 5 miles for towers). This isolation approach can be further improved with the use of frequency separation and / or polarization isolation. Figure 9 and Figure 10 illustrate another embodiment of the invention in which an electrical device equivalent to the optically coupled communication switch is used. The electrical emissions from the antenna system (for example, a set of N antennas), correspond to individual emissions from individual antennas and the corresponding beams. The signals contained within each beam come from M users covered by the beam, each signal being distinguished by the frequency band FYM. The electrical emissions are appropriately amplified by a low noise amplifier 205 (which is part of the antenna system) and then passed through a bank of frequency selective M (bandpass) filter 210. Other channeling techniques can be used. suitable such as a channel receiver. The bank of M frequency selective filters 210 electrically isolates the M signals, based on their frequency content. Each signal is then routed through electrically conductive wires 212 or other means used to carry electrical communication signals (e.g., optical fibers, optical channels, RF repeaters, etc.) to one of a set of N totalization devices 215, which are well known in the art. Each signal is directed according to the wiring matrix shown in Figure 8 and will be explained by an example below. According to figure 8, each totalization device 215 contains a frequency, fi a fM, from each of the antenna beams.; any source terminal in any beam can pass its signal to any output beam as long as that user selects the appropriate uplink frequency. In addition, since the output of each totalization device is electrically connected to one of the antenna inputs, through components of the transmission antenna system including a mixing circuit 220 driven by a local oscillator (LO) 225 and a amplifier 230, the user can transmit a signal to any other user in any sector by originally selecting the appropriate transmission frequency. As an example, referring to Figure 8, if a user in the sector covered by the antenna 1 wishes to communicate with a user located in the sector covered by the antenna 3, the user would transmit a signal in the corresponding frequency band to Í3, ?, as indicated by the channel element enclosed in a circle in FIG. 8. The "double jump" random switching capability can be added to this embodiment of the invention in the same manner as described by addition to the modes of the invention described above. Once again, the "double jump" capability requires the use of an additional remote terminal that can redirect the signals through a different sector. Similarly, inter-beam signaling can be achieved in the same manner as described for the optical communication switched system. In particular, the K frequency selective filters can be added to the filter bank 210 to extract all signals between beams. These "local signals" can then be transmitted directly by the dedicated transmission antenna to service that particular sector. Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, various changes and modifications within the scope and spirit of the invention will be apparent to those of work experience in this technological field. In this way, the invention should be considered limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (38)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and therefore the property described in the following claims is claimed as property. A two-way optical communications switching system, useful for a single elevated platform, said optical communications switching system capable of switching a large number of broadband amplitude channels, comprising: a raised platform for housing said Optical communications switching system; a receiving antenna system for receiving a first set of N beams, each serving said first set of N beams to M clients; an electrical to optical modulator for forming a first set of N optical channels from the respective ones of said N beams; a frequency separator for diffusing each of said first set of N optical channels in one dimension to create a first set of NXM optical channel elements; a concatenator of beam splitter images for duplicating said first set of NXM optical channel elements to create a second substantially identical set of NXM optical channel elements, said first set of NXM optical channel elements adjacent to said second set of NXM elements of optical channel for forming a double virtual installation having NX2M optical channel and M diagonal elements, each of said diagonal M comprising optical channel elements; a diagonal optical combiner for combining said M optical channel elements for each of said diagonal Ms in N optical outputs to form a second set of N beams; and a transmission antenna system for transmitting said second set of N beams, each serving M customers simultaneously. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said frequency separator includes a Bragg cell. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that it further comprises a source terminal and a destination terminal, said originating terminal directing signals through said optical communication switching system to establish communication with said destination terminal, including said originating terminal and said destination terminal electronic control devices for directing signals through said optical communications switching system. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that the signals are broadband amplitude signals. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that said signals include a plurality of signals within each useful sub-band to serve additional clients. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said frequency separator further comprises: a collimation lens positioned between said Bragg Cell and said beam separator image concatenator, said collimation lens for collimating said NXM optical channel elements. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said beam separator image concatenator includes, a beam splitter for separating each of said first set of NXM optical channel elements to form said second set of NXM optical channel elements, and a regular mirror placed between said beam splitter and said dual virtual installation, said mirror regular to reflect said second set of NXM optical channel elements to create a first virtual installation of NXM adjacent to a second virtual installation of NXM, said first embodiment comprising virtual installation of NXM and said second virtual installation of NXM said double virtual installation. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said diagonal optical combiner includes a cylindrical focusing lens positioned between said dual virtual installation and said transmission antenna system, said cylindrical focusing lenses for combining said M optical channel elements of said M diagonal to form N optical output channels, said diagonal optical combiner further including a multi-beam former for converting said N optical output channels into said second set of N beams. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said elevated platform is a satellite, 10. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said elevated platform is a terrestrial base tower. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that it further includes a source terminal, a destination terminal, and an intermediate terminal, said source terminal re-encoding a signal to direct it through said intermediate terminal to said destination terminal in the case that a particular channel is selected that is selected in accordance with a predetermined coding scheme. The system according to claim 11, characterized in that said origin terminal includes detection circuitry for detecting a busy channel and re-encoding said signals with a predetermined code when said busy channel is detected, and said intermediate terminal including detection means for detecting said predetermined code and redirecting said coded signals with said predetermined code. The system according to claim 11, characterized in that said intermediate terminal is a raised platform. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said broadband amplitude channels are video services distributed in one way, selectable by said M clients. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said receiving antenna system and said transmission antenna system include a set of directional antennas, said antennas employing alternating polarization to improve the isolation. 16. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said N beams are further separated by the use of frequency separation between the adjacent ones of said N beams. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said beams are further separated by the use of at least one second elevated platform, said elevated platform covering said second platform elevated on sectors of the isolation layer, a terminal of origin and a destination terminal, each of the terminals employing a directional antenna that spatially isolates one of said elevated platform or said second elevated platform. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises: branch circuitry for extracting a set of intra-beam signals selected from said first set of N beams, said intra-beam signals directed directly towards said second set of N beams for transmission by said transmission antenna system. 19. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the alternators of said N beams alternate a transmission frequency and a reception frequency to improve the isolation of beams. 20. A two-way communication switching system, useful for a single elevated platform, said communication switching system capable of switching a large number of broadband amplitude channels, comprising: a receiving antenna system for receiving a first set of N beams, serving each of said first set of N beams to M clients; an elevated platform for housing said communication switching system; a bank of frequency selective filters to form a first set of N channels from the receivers of said N beams, each of said first set of N M channels having signals, separated each of said M signals by frequency; a set of totalization devices for forming a second set of N channels, each of the M channels comprising signals, each of said M signals coming from a section of said first set of N channels; address means for directing said M signals from each of said first set of N channels to said totalization means; and a transmission antenna system for covering said N channels in said second set of N beams and transmitting said second set of N beams serving M clients simultaneously. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that it also comprises a source terminal and a destination terminal, said originating terminal directing signals through said communications switching system to establish communication with said destination terminal, including said terminal. of origin and said destination terminal electronic control devices for directing signals through said communications switching system. 22. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that the signals are broadband amplitude signals. 23. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said receiving antenna system and said transmission antenna system comprises a set of directional antennas each of the antennas having beams oriented to serve different geographical sectors. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said signals include a plurality of signals within each useful sub-band to serve additional clients. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said origin terminal includes detection circuitry for detecting a busy channel and re-encoding said signals with a predetermined code when said busy channel is detected, and said intermediate terminal including detection means for detecting said predetermined code and redirecting said coded signals with said predetermined code. 26. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said elevated platform is a satellite. 27. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said elevated platform is a terrestrial base tower. The system according to claim 21, characterized in that said beams are further separated by the use of at least one second elevated platform, said elevated platform and said second elevated platform having overlapping sectors, a terminal of origin and a terminal of destination , each of the terminals employing a directional antenna that spatially isolates one of said elevated platform or said second elevated platform. 29. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that said beams are further isolated by alternating polarized energy used in the alternating said beams. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that said beams are further isolated by the use of frequency separation between the adjacent ones of said beams. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that said broadband amplitude channels are video services distributed through a channel, selectable by said M clients. 32. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that it also includes a source terminal, a destination terminal and an intermediate terminal, said source terminal re-encoding a signal to direct it through said intermediate terminal to said destination terminal in said terminal. the case that a particular channel is selected that is selected according to a predetermined coding scheme. 33. The system according to claim 32, characterized in that said intermediate terminal is a raised platform. 34. The system according to claim 20, characterized in that it further comprises: derivation circuitry for extracting a set of intra-beam signals selected from said first set of N beams, said intra-beam signals directed directly towards said second set of Ns. You make for its transmission by said transmission antenna system. 35. A two-way optical communication switching system, useful for a single elevated platform, said optical communications switching system capable of switching a large number of broadband amplitude channels, comprising: a raised platform for housing said Optical communications switching system; means for receiving a first set of N beams, each serving said first set of N beams to M clients; optical channel formation means for forming a first set of N optical channels from the receivers of said N beams, diffusion means for diffusing each of said first set of N optical channels in one dimension to create a first set of NXM optical channel elements; duplicate means of NXM optical channel elements to duplicate said first set of NXM optical channel elements in order to create a second substantially identical set of NXM optical channel elements, said first set of NXM optical channel elements and said second set of NXM optical channel elements placed to form a double virtual installation having NX2M optical channel elements and diagonal M, each of said M diagonal M elements comprising optical channel; selective focusing means for combining said M optical channel elements for each of said diagonal Ms with a second set of N beams; and transmission means for transmitting said second set of N beams, each one serving M clients simultaneously. 36. The system according to claim 35, characterized in that said diffusion means include a Bragg cell. 37. The system according to claim 36, characterized in that it further comprises a source terminal and a destination terminal, said originating terminal directing signals through said optical communication switching system to establish communication with said destination terminal, including said originating terminal and said destination terminal electronic control devices for directing signals through said optical communications switching system. 38. A method for simultaneously switching broadband signals from a first set of M users in each of a first set of N beams to any of a second set of M users, each in a second set of N beams, comprising the stages of: receiving a first set of N beams, giving each of said N beams to M clients; converting each of said N beams of electromagnetic energy into N electrical channels; converting said N electrical channels into a first set of N optical channels; focus said N optical channels; colliding said first set of N optical channels; focusing said N optical channels on a Bragg Cell; converting said N optical channels into NxM optical channels; colliding said NxM optical channels; duplicating said NxM optical channels to form a double virtual installation having Nx2M optical channel elements and diagonal M, each of said diagonal M having optical channel elements; combining said M optical channel elements of each of said diagonal M; forming a second set of N beams from the combined M optical channel elements of said diagonal M; and transmitting said second set of N beams to serve a second set of M clients in each of said N beams. SUMMARY An optically based communication system, housed in a raised platform (eg, a satellite, a tower or other platform that has a substantial superiority point) that uses multiple spatially diverse receiver and transmitter beams, which are crossed optically coupled to completely reuse the spectrum and that will create a fully switched, high capacity, high bandwidth, fully interactive communication system. The elevated platform (ie, satellite, orbiting or fixed vehicles, airborne platforms, towers, etc.) reuse their allocated bandwidth in each of the multiple beams (or sectors) (N). Beams are formed by either optical or RF means. The specific users in each beam are separated in frequency then spatially by the use of an optical "Bragg Cell". The separated signals are then duplicated by means of a mirror and a complete mirror and are recombined optically. to create broadcasts that are unique combinations of frequencies from each complete set of input beams. The recombined signals are then shifted to the transmission band and multiple beams (N) are retransmitted therethrough. The whole communication system then becomes a single elevated platform that can completely switch over a network of high channel capacity, of high bandwidth.