text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jul 6, 2010
|Filing date
|May 1, 2006
|Priority date
|Mar 6, 1992
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Joseph M. Cruz, Harold Grant Saroka, Ivica Kostanic, Anand K. Chari
|Original Assignee
|Aircell Llc
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (20), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (15), Classifications (32), Legal Events (10)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/241,109 filed Sep. 30, 2003 and titled "System For Managing Call Handoffs Between An Aircraft And Multiple Cell Sites, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/730,329 filed Dec. 7, 2003 and titled "System for Integrating an Airborne Wireless Cellular Network with Terrestrial Wireless Cellular Networks and the Public Switched Telephone Network," which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/686,923 filed Oct. 11, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,935 issued Sep. 7, 2004 titled "Aircraft-Based Network for Wireless Subscriber Stations," which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/379,825 filed Aug. 24, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,180 issued Jun. 18, 2002 and titled "Ubiquitous Subscriber Station," which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/960,183 filed Oct. 9, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,539 issued Aug. 22, 2000 and titled "Non-Terrestrial Subscriber Station," which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/709,417 filed Sept. 6, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,346 issued Mar. 2, 1999 and titled "Multi-Dimensional Mobile Cellular Communication Network," which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/027,333 filed Mar. 8, 1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,762 issued Aug. 22, 1995 and titled "Method and Apparatus for Reducing Interference Among Cellular Telephone Signals" and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/847,920 filed March 6, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,656 issued Sept. 17, 1996 and titled "Mobile Communications."
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cellular communications and, in particular, to a system that enables wireless subscriber stations that are located in an aircraft to receive consistent wireless communication services in both the terrestrial (ground-based) and non-terrestrial (airborne) regions via the management of call handoffs among cells as the aircraft traverses the coverage area of these cells.
2. Problem
It is a problem in the field of wireless communications to efficiently and continuously meet the communications requirements of multiple aircraft as the aircraft fly their routes and approach/depart airports.
A typical air-to-ground cellular communications network consists of a number of ground stations, each of which provides a radio frequency coverage area in a predetermined volume of space radially arranged around the cell site transmitting antenna, using an antenna pattern which is insensitive to the reception of ground-originating or ground reflected signals and which antenna pattern is transmissive only in a skyward direction. The ground stations are geographically distributed, generally following a cellular network layout. The coverage area of each ground station is substantially contiguous with that of neighboring sites, so that the composite coverage of all of the ground stations in the cellular communications network generally provides coverage over the targeted area. Ground stations may provide either a single cell of coverage using transceiver(s) associated with a single transmit and receive antenna system or multiple cells of coverage, each with associated transceivers and transmit and receive antennas. The advantage of the latter arrangement, with multiple cells per ground station is to allow provision of increased call handling capacity in the coverage area of that ground station.
There are limitations on the total radio frequency spectrum available, and therefore limitations on the total available call handling capacity in any single cell. As a wireless communications device moves from the coverage area of one cell into the coverage area of a contiguous cell, the communications from that wireless communications device are handed over from the first cell to the second cell. This requires that there be adequate available call handling capacity in the second cell to support the new load represented by this wireless communications device. Call handoffs that entail a single wireless communications device do not create large transient loads on a cell. However, in an air-to-ground system, the number of presently active cellular calls within an aircraft may represent a large fraction of the call handling capacity of a terrestrial air-to-ground cell. In addition, aircraft arrivals and departures from the coverage area of a cell are infrequent. With the small number of aircraft that can be served by a cell and long average transit times for aircraft within a cell, there must be a large allowance of idle capacity to serve aircraft which may arrive before the presently served aircraft leave the cell and free up call handling capacity within the cell.
There is therefore a need for an improved method of managing the air-to-ground cellular communications from aircraft in order to provide increased communications capacity while meeting service objectives. The management of call handoffs among cells as the aircraft traverses the coverage area of these cells is critical to meeting the communications requirements of multiple aircraft as the aircraft fly their routes and approach/depart airports.
The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved in the field by the present system for managing call handoffs between an aircraft and multiple cell sites, termed "handoff management system" herein. The handoff management system maximizes the communications capacity available from terrestrial air-to-ground cellular networks, while also integrating communications capabilities from satellite air-to-ground cellular networks and terrestrial cellular communications networks.
The communications capacity is maximized by dynamically allocating communications from the aircraft over multiple communications channels to multiple cells of the terrestrial air-to-ground cellular network, and to satellite air-to-ground cellular networks and terrestrial mobile networks. This approach effectively provides an increase in the call handling capacity available to any aircraft and permits a gradual transition of communications from one cell to the next cell, rather than requiring an abrupt handover of all traffic from the aircraft from one cell to the next cell. In addition, the handoff management system allocates the communications with the aircraft as a function of the various types of communications (data, voice, control data) to optimize the allocation of types of communications by considering the characteristics of the serving network including: cost, bandwidth, signal delay, transmission technology, and the like, against the requirements of the call traffic.
Terrestrial air-to-ground cellular networks are generally optimized to provide service to aircraft which are either flying at cruising altitudes, or which are in arrival or departure patterns from an airport. Such networks may not be able to provide adequate communications service while the aircraft is on the ground without compromising the quality or call handling capacity provided to aircraft in the air. Therefore, it may be preferable to provide communications service to the aircraft using an alternative network while the aircraft is on the ground or near the ground. To achieve these goals, the handoff management system communicates with multiple networks, including: terrestrial air-to-ground cellular networks, satellite air-to-ground cellular networks, and terrestrial networks to select the most appropriate communications capability, based upon multiple factors including the availability, economics, and performance capabilities of the various networks for which the aircraft has appropriate access equipment. In addition, the handoff management system simultaneously utilizes more than one of the available communications capabilities, with the portion of the communications directed to each network being determined by the performance requirement of the traffic contained in that portion of the communications. This is accomplished by providing communications services to an aircraft using an "outer network" comprising base stations and switching equipment, and an "inner network" which provides transport capabilities between the outer network elements located onboard the aircraft, and the terrestrially located outer network elements. The inner network provides a broadband bidirectional air-to-ground channel which carries all subscriber traffic, signaling and administrative data relating to the provision of services in the aircraft (also termed "feature set data"), typically using multiple virtual channels for each of the subscriber traffic and the signaling and administrative data.
In this manner, the handoff management system maximizes the capacity available from terrestrial air-to-ground systems, while also integrating communications capabilities from satellite air-to-ground systems and terrestrial cellular communications systems.
Cellular wireless communication systems provide the service of connecting wireless communication customers, each having a wireless subscriber device (or wired subscriber device, such as a connection to a Local Area Network on the aircraft), to both land-based customers who are served by the common carrier public telephone network as well as other wireless communication customers. In such a system, if the traffic is circuit switched, all incoming and outgoing calls are routed through Mobile Telephone Switching Offices (MTSOs), each of which is connected to a plurality of cell sites, which communicate with wireless subscriber devices located in the areas covered by the cell sites.
The terms "cell site" and "cell" are sometimes loosely used in the literature, and the term "cell site" generally denotes the locus at which the transmitter and receiver apparatus is located, while the term "cell" generally denotes the region of space which is served by a particular transmitter-receiver pair which is installed at a cell site. The particular technology used to implement the communications between wireless subscriber devices and the transmitter-receiver pairs as well as the nature of the data transferred there between, be it voice, video, telemetry, computer data, and the like, are not limitations to the system which is described herein, since a novel system concept is disclosed, versus a specific technologically limited implementation of an existing system concept. Therefore, the term "cellular" as it is used herein denotes a communication system which operates on the basis of dividing space into a plurality of volumetric sections or cells, and managing communications between wireless subscriber devices located in the cells and the associated transmitter-receiver pairs located at the cell site for each of these cells.
Air-to-Ground Cellular Network
The Air-to-Ground cellular network 2 shown in
Alternatively, the Air-to-Ground cellular network 2 could be achieved through a wireless satellite connection where radio frequency links are established between the aircraft and a satellite and between the satellite and the Ground-Based Communication Network respectively. These satellites could be geosynchronous (appears to be stationary from an earth reference point) or moving, as is the case for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Examples of satellites include but are not limited to: Geosynchronous Ku Band satellites, DBS satellites (Direct Broadcast Satellite), the Iridium system, the Globalstar system and the Inmarsat system. In the case of specialized satellites, such as those used for Direct Broadcast Satellite, the link is typically unidirectional, that is from the satellite to the receiving platform, in this case an aircraft. In such a system, a link transmitting unidirectionally from the aircraft is needed to make the communication bidirectional. This link could be satellite or ground-based wireless in nature as previously described. Last, other means for communicating to aircraft include broad or wide area links such as HF (High Frequency) radio and more unique systems such as troposcatter architectures.
In this manner, true feature set transparency is achieved for the wireless communication devices located on the aircraft. The Air-to-Ground cellular network 2 can be viewed as the conduit through which the subscriber traffic as well as the network feature set data is transported between the traditional Ground-Based Communication Network 1 and the Aircraft in-Cabin Network 3. The Air-to-Ground cellular network 2 can be implemented as a single radio frequency link or multiple radio frequency links, with a portion of the signals being routed over different types of links, such as the Air-to-Ground Link and the Satellite Link. Thus, there is a significant amount of flexibility in the implementation of this system, using the various components and architectural concepts disclosed herein.
The overall network architecture of the handoff management system consists of an Inner Network which works with an Outer Network. The Outer Network contains the architectural elements that are specific to the services and features provided to the aircraft passengers, crew and various aircraft systems. The Inner Network serves to provide transport services between the airborne and terrestrial elements of the Outer Network. The various network elements of the Outer Network are functionally similar to those that would/could be used to provide an entirely terrestrial service capability, with some adaptations required to be suitable for air-to-ground purposes. This allows the Outer Network elements to be entirely compatible with passenger and crew devices that are compliant with existing terrestrial standards. Similarly, the Outer Network elements which interface to various other networks (voice and data switches, VLR/HLRs, signaling equipment, etc.) are largely indistinguishable from network elements performing similar functions for terrestrial applications.
The Inner and Outer Networks interface digitally, in the preferred embodiment using IP protocols. The Inner Network, in order to establish priorities for transport of data relating to various services, must only be "aware" of the service quality metrics and relative importance of the various sorts of communications traffic to/from the Outer Network. Voice traffic, for instance, has lower tolerance to latency and jitter than data traffic to a PDA and communications that are security related may have higher priority than any other communications. The communications requirements of a particular service are determined by the Inner Network in a conventional manner, such as: i) determined by the physical ports used for interconnecting network elements, ii) identified by data embedded in IP data packet header, or iii) communicated over signaling channels.
An aircraft may be equipped to be served by a variety of Inner Network communications alternatives. For example, a terrestrial air-to-ground system 101 can be the primary air-to-ground communications capability. Some aircraft could be equipped with multiple terrestrial air-to-ground systems to permit provision of services from multiple sources. Satellite air-to-ground cellular network 102 communications capabilities may also be provided, and provide transport services when terrestrial air-to-ground cellular networks are unavailable, or when an alternative service capability is desired to reduce the load on the terrestrial air-to-ground service. An additional alternative maybe terrestrial cellular networks 103, which may used to provide services to aircraft that are located on the ground, or, with any appropriate network modifications, may provide service to airborne aircraft.
Terrestrial Air-to-Ground Cellular Networks
Terrestrial air-to-ground cellular networks are generally designed using many of the same architectural features as terrestrial cellular communications networks. A network of ground stations is designed to provide overlapping coverage, so that the overall network is capable of providing service throughout the network, utilizing handoffs as an aircraft moves between the coverage areas of adjacent cells. Ground station antenna systems maybe designed using directional antennas, each equipped with a transceiver or set of transceivers, in order to provide distinct coverage cells, much as similar arrangements are utilized in terrestrial cellular communication systems.
The coverage capability of a ground station is primarily limited by the geometry of the radio path between the ground station antennas and the aircraft antennas, relative to the earth's curvature. The relationship between the distance to the radio horizon (D) as a function of the altitude of the aircraft antenna (ha) and the elevation of the ground station antenna (hd) is given by:
D=√{square root over (2h a)}+√{square root over (2h g)}
Since the aircraft altitude is orders of magnitude greater than the ground station elevation, this is often simplified to:
D=√{square root over (2h a)}
This relationship is illustrated in
As in terrestrial cellular systems, an idealized ground station layout is a hexagonal grid, as shown in
S={square root over (3)}D
or 244 miles. Commercial aircraft generally are only below an altitude of 10,000 feet while departing from or approaching an airport. For these reasons, 10,000 feet is often selected as a design altitude for complete air-to-ground coverage. It maybe noted that aircraft have coverage at lower altitudes when they are closer to a serving ground station, and for this reason it is reasonable to locate ground stations close to airports in order to provide coverage for approach and departure routes. Where additional air-to-ground communications capacity is required, ground station density may be increased, to reduce the number of aircraft that are served by each ground station.
The use of directional antennas allows ground stations to be "sectored", creating multiple coverage cells per ground station. This is another alternative that increases network capacity, and is often the more economical of the two alternatives. A network layout that provides 3 cells per ground station is shown in
In the present description, the common air interface technology for a terrestrial air-to-ground system provides one carrier for the forward link between the ground station and the aircraft, and one carrier for the reverse link between the aircraft and the ground station. The same pair of carriers maybe re-used in every cell, thus avoiding the need to develop a frequency re-use plan to achieve acceptable interference levels.
Aircraft Antennas
However, as noted earlier, many aircraft will be flying at altitudes that have clear paths to multiple ground stations. Communications from the aircraft to a serving ground station therefore also reach other ground stations, where they reduce the capacity and/or performance of those non-serving ground stations. Similarly, communications from non-serving ground stations with clear paths to the aircraft interfere with reception of the signals from the serving ground station. Such impacts can be avoided if aircraft are equipped with steerable antennas that maybe controlled to be oriented towards a particular ground station while having significantly attenuated communications capabilities with other ground stations. Such antennas maybe mechanically steerable, or may be electronically steerable. Electronically steerable antennas consist of an array of simpler antennas, each with an associated phase shifter and attenuator. By controlling the phase and magnitude of the signal from/to each antenna element, the shape and orientation of the antenna pattern can be controlled.
Aircraft are equipped with steerable antennas, which maybe controlled to be oriented towards a particular ground station. Multiple steerable antennas maybe used to allow simultaneous communications with multiple ground stations. Each steerable antenna and associated transceivers can independently establish communications with a corresponding ground station, and
Satellite Air-to-Ground Cellular Networks
There are a variety of satellite networks which are capable of providing satellite air-to-ground communications services. A satellite in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO satellite) is able to cover a large portion of the earth's service as shown in
The present handoff management system contemplates the installation of one or more satellite air-to-ground communication systems on an aircraft. Satellite air-to-ground communication systems which offer relatively low capacity often use fixed antenna system mounted on top of the aircraft, while those with greater capacity use some form of steerable antenna mounted on the upper surfaces of aircraft. These antennas maybe electrically steerable arrays, mechanically steered antennas, or antennas which use a combination of technologies. The satellite tracking capabilities are generally built into the satellite air-to-ground equipment for the aircraft, and for the purposes of this description, each satellite system equipped may be considered as a radio transceiver system with an available capacity (which capacity may vary from time to time depending upon a variety of factors including the geographic location of the aircraft).
Terrestrial Mobile Networks
There are a number of types of terrestrial cellular networks that could be used to provide communication services to an aircraft on the ground, thus allowing air-to-ground communication services (terrestrial or satellite) to be dedicated to serving airborne aircraft. The most obvious alternatives include "conventional" cellular or PCS systems. However, a wide variety of technologies and frequency bands could be appropriate; the basic requirements are that the service can be made available in a substantial portion of airports to be served, and that the service be able to provide adequate bandwidth in an airport-operating environment.
Typical Aircraft Air-To-Ground Communication System
All transceiver elements interface to the Aircraft Communications Controller 721. The Aircraft Communications Controller 721 in turn interfaces to the various Outer Network elements providing services to the passengers, crew and aircraft systems. These elements could include, without limitation, one or more CDMA base stations 731, one or more GSM base stations, one or more Wi-Fi wireless access points 733, Ethernet Network Interfaces 734 and/or one or more aircraft system sensors 735. The Aircraft Communications Controller 721 provides local control of the operation of all such elements, activating and de-activating them in accordance with administrative commands received over air-to-ground links, or in accordance with locally generated requirements. As part of the overall control capability, the Aircraft Communications Controller 721 controls the level of access to any particular service by exerting control over the capacity available for such service. For instance, a GSM base station with an inherent capacity to handle 7 simultaneous voice calls might have three active calls, and might be instructed by the Aircraft Communications Controller 721 to generate an "all channel busy" indication if a fourth access attempt is made.
In situations where the terrestrial air-to-ground systems are compatible with terrestrial cellular technologies, it is possible to also connect terrestrial base stations 808 to the ground station controller 816 utilized by the terrestrial air-to-ground cellular network ground stations 804-806, using a communications facility 809. In such cases, the ground station controller 816 is comparable in capabilities to a terrestrial cellular base station controller due to the common technologies used.
Terrestrial mobile networks, each consisting of a multiple base station 812-814 connected to base station controllers 819 via communications facilities 815 maybe utilized to provide coverage for aircraft on the ground at selected airports. In general, each airport would be served by a separate terrestrial network, and would be connected via a communications facility 818 to the Ground Communications Controller 820.
The Ground Communications Controller 820 is a central aggregation/disaggregation point for all communications between the Outer Network elements aboard the aircraft and terrestrial Outer Network elements. Communications between each airborne Inner Network element and the appropriate switching subsystem are provided, thereby providing a full range of services to passengers, crew and aircraft systems. That is, communications of the one or more CDMA base stations aboard any aircraft are connected to the CDMA switching subsystem 830, via communications links 840 allowing voice and data communications and network signaling to be connected to external networks 851, 852 as required. Similarly, communications of GSM, Wi-Fi and private or proprietary systems are connected with the appropriate common switching subsystems 831-834, allowing connections to external networks 851, 852 as required. In this context, the term "switching subsystem" is considered to include any billing, administration, vertical services or similar capabilities that are typically associated with providing services with each different type of network.
Signal Flow in the Handoff Management System
All communications from all aircraft transceivers are routed through their corresponding ground-based transceiver element—earth station 930 for the satellite air-to-ground cellular network 102 and ground-based base stations 931, 932, 933 for the terrestrial air-to-ground cellular network 101. Ground-based base stations 931-933 are connected to a ground station control systems 934, which, along with the earth stations 930 (and corresponding base station control systems for terrestrial cellular networks), are in turn connected to the Ground Communications Controller 912.
Communications protocols utilized between the Aircraft Communications Controllers 910, 911 and the Ground Communications Controller 912 provide identification of the source and destination for all communications. The header information in one or more of the protocols within the Internet Protocol suite can be used to provide this capability. These protocols are used to assure that communications between the airborne Outer Network elements are routed to the appropriate terrestrial Outer Network elements. In this manner, communications of the GSM base station aboard an aircraft maybe routed to/from the GSM switching subsystem 940, CDMA base station communications are routed to/from the CDMA switching subsystem 941, and other voice and data signals routed to/from their respective switching subsystems 942, 943.
Embedded in the communications between the various Outer Network elements are substantial administrative and signaling data that are defined within the standards for the technologies (GSM, CDMA, etc.) that are provisioned. In utilizing equipment designed and constructed to those standards, additional ancillary controls maybe required for operations and/or maintenance of the equipment. Similarly, Inner Network Elements such as the transceivers may require ancillary controls that are not readily available within the technical standards of the equipment adopted for use for air-to-ground links. As illustrated in
Dynamic control of the Ground Station Control System 934, by means of another O&M link allows the Ground Communications Controller 912 to dynamically configure the communications channels between ground stations and terrestrial air to ground transceivers in order to allocate ground station capacity to various aircraft as required. Communications between the various Aircraft Communications Controllers 910, 911 and the Ground Communications Controllers 912, in the form of Control Data, allow the exchange of status information, databases and commands required to provide overall Control System capabilities. The Ground Communications Controller 912 can dynamically change the load among the transceivers on an aircraft, with the load carried by terrestrial air-to-ground transceiver 921 in Aircraft 1being completely different than load carried by terrestrial air-to-ground transceiver 922 in Aircraft 1.
The load distribution can be by type of traffic: voice, data, multi-media and the Ground Communications Controller 912 manages the multidimensional communication space, considering the many factors noted above. Similarly, the traffic load emanating from an aircraft can be dynamically allocated among the various air-to-ground cellular networks: terrestrial air-to-ground cellular network 101, satellite air-to-ground cellular network 102, and terrestrial cellular network 103. The Ground Communications Controller 912 typically communicates with multiple aircraft, and thus, multiple Aircraft Communications Controllers 910, 911 as shown in
Aircraft Activation of Handoff Management System
The operational configuration of the various networks of the Outer Network that are providing services onboard the aircraft maybe required to be restricted, depending upon the status of the aircraft. As an example, services to wireless devices maybe required to be restricted below certain altitudes, in order to avoid interference impacts to terrestrial systems. Or the radio frequency channels that maybe utilized by the in-cabin base stations maybe dependent upon the location of the aircraft. Alternatively, the available capacity on the air-to-ground transport networks may require that the capacity of certain services be modified to avoid degradation of service. The operational configuration each of the aircraft services networks is controlled by the control capabilities of the Ground Communications Controller 912 and the Aircraft Communications Controller 910. The Ground Communications Controller 912 at step 1109 downloads data representing the control requirements for the operational configurations, other than those that are derived from transport network constraints. The Aircraft Communications Controller 910, based upon those control requirements and current aircraft status and position updates, controls the aircraft network configurations at step 1110. The Ground Communications Controller 912, in response to the cycling of an update timer 111, periodically updates of the position and status of the aircraft at step 1112, generates configuration updates 1113, transmits them to the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 and the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 then applies them to the aircraft networks.
Handoff Management
Once the aircraft system has been activated and initialized, the control systems smoothly integrate the capabilities of the various available networks. The Aircraft Communications Controller 910 provides control of the communications capabilities onboard the aircraft. The Aircraft Communications Controller 910 also collects the status of all on-board air-to-ground systems and the location and velocity of the aircraft, and communicates such data to the Ground Communications Controller 912. The Ground Communications Controller 912 collects and processes the information from all active Aircraft Communications Controllers 910, analyzes such information in conjunction with additional data that is available to it, calculates the desired Inner Network configuration, calculates any additional restrictions required on aircraft configurations, identifies changes to Inner Network configuration, and implements those changes in conjunction with the Aircraft Communications Controller 910.
TABLE 1 Demand by aircraft Demand Service type Aircraft 1 . . . Aircraft i . . . Aircraft n 1-Cont Data D11 D1i D1n 2-Voice 1 D21 D2i D2n 3-Voice 2 D31 D3i D3n 4-Data 1 D41 D4i D4n 5-Data 2 D51 D5i D5n
Control Data (Cont Data in table) represents the data communications between the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 and the Ground Communications Controller 912 and, under most circumstances, would represent data with the highest priority. Voice 1 and Voice 2, and Data 1 and Data 2 represent data with different delivery priorities. In concept, the number of service types can be expanded to whatever degree is necessary to differentiate between different service requirements.
The Ground Communications Controller 912 has available a database containing the locations of all terrestrial air-to-ground ground stations, as well as their configurations and operational status. Computational algorithms resident in the Ground Communications Controller 912 calculate, based upon the aircraft location and the configuration of aircraft and ground station transceivers and antennas, the service levels that proximate air-to-ground cells are able to provide to the aircraft at step 1206.
The Ground Communications Controller 912 at step 1207 calculates the signal levels on antennas systems oriented towards each of the three candidate serving cells, by considering the transmitted power of the ground station, the antenna pattern of the ground station antenna, the free space path loss between the aircraft and the ground station and the antenna pattern of the aircraft antenna. (This process may be extended to terrestrial mobile base stations if the aircraft is within the permissible range of such services.) Alternatively, if aircraft are equipped with search receivers as previously described, signal strengths maybe determined more directly. CDMA 1x-RTT provides a technique whereby each mobile unit periodically checks the signal levels available from each site on a "neighbor list" of nearby cells. This mechanism can be readily adopted by downloading neighbor lists and uploading measurement reports from the airborne transceivers. However, since conventional CDMA 1x-RTT systems are based upon the use of non-beam-forming antennas, modifications must be made to assure that the measurements for each neighbor correspond to the signal received when the neighbor is within the main beam of the aircraft antenna. In this manner, measurement reports received reflect the transmitted power of the ground station, the antenna pattern of the ground station antenna, and the free space path loss between the aircraft and the ground station, and only require that the measured value be adjusted to reflect the antenna discrimination towards the transmitting cell when the aircraft antenna is oriented towards each of the candidate serving cells.
Once the receive signal levels from all cells are determined for each of the antenna orientations which correspond to the orientations for each of the candidate serving cells, the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) maybe calculated for each candidate cell. The Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio level, for an EV-DO implementation, determines the forward link data rate which maybe obtained from the associated cell. Each of the current voice and data requirements from aircraft may then be expressed as a portion of the available forward link capacity from each candidate serving cell at step 1208. Each of the voice and data requirements may also be expressed as a percentage of the available satellite capacity at step 1209 (or, in the case of multiple satellite system availability, as a percentage of each available satellite system capacity.) For a single aircraft i considering a single candidate server j, we would have:
Rij ∝ SINRij
where Rij is the data rate that can be obtained for SINRij. The value of Rij can be determined from a lookup table that reflects the characteristics of system in use.
Each type of network service has a value assigned for each type of service, reflecting the relative service revenues, network costs and technical preferences for service delivery as determined at step 1210. An example of such a value system is shown in Table 2 below.
TABLE 2 Relative values of communications delivered via alternative networks Value Service type Sat Mob Terr. ATG Terr. Mob 1-Cont Data 83 97 100 2-Voice 1 63 77 80 3-Voice 2 43 57 60 4-Data 1 13 25 28 5-Data 2 2 9 12
In this case, the relative values reflects that Control Data is the most important service, that voice services are most suitably delivered via terrestrial services, and have higher value than data services. The relative values also reflect a lower service cost for mobile services than air-to-ground services. This concept maybe expanded to an unlimited number of service types, and can also be extended to networks and/or sub-networks to provide any desired level of granularity. These relative values can then be applied at step 1211 to each of the candidate serving links for the aircraft, that there is a value Vkij which represents the per unit value of service k delivered to aircraft i via link j.
As further shown in the flow chart of
where fkij is the fraction of the capacity of the jth cell allocated to proving service k on aircraft i.
Determining the absolutely optimal configuration of assignments could be performed by assessing every possible combination of alternative connections between aircraft and serving transport networks and selecting the combination that had the maximum overall value. However, the computational complexity of such an approach becomes impractical as the number or aircraft, ground stations, cell sites and satellite systems in a typical implementation are considered. Various optimization methodologies and algorithms are readily available to those skilled in the art to allow sufficiently useful results to be achieved with a reasonable level of computational complexity.
A linear programing technique maybe used to visualize on means to accomplish such an optimization. Linear programming is a technique which seeks to optimize (maximize or minimize) an objective, subject to a set of constraints. In this case the objective function which is to be optimized would represents the aggregate value of all service types for all aircraft, based upon the communications links used, or:
This objective must be optimized in accordance with the constraints on the total capacity of each cell:
This assures that the fractions of capacity assigned to various aircraft and services do not exceed the total capacity available. And the constraint
fkij≧0 ∀k,i,j
assures that all values of the variable fkij are achievable values.
This rather straight forward (although potentially large) linear programing problem can be readily solved using the Simplex Method. Many alternative optimization approaches maybe used, including those which support integer solutions or non-linear relationships, and which may support faster analysis, and/or more efficient solutions.
The analysis presented above represents only the forward link communications requirements. A very similar analysis is required for the reverse link. A reasonable first approximation is that aircraft, due to the directional antenna, are capable of communicating with a particular cell without causing interference with adjoining cells, that the reverse link is not limited by maximum mobile transmit power capabilities, and that the fraction of reverse link capacity used is directly proportional to the communications bandwidth supplied. The nominal cell capacity maybe considered to be the capacity corresponding to a 6 dB rise above thermal noise, thereby leaving some margin for modeling inaccuracies.
The assignments resulting from the optimization process are compared to the existing assignments and the changes in channel assignments are identified at step 1213. As the distribution of aircraft changes, it may be possible that the overall Inner Network capacity available to some aircraft will not be adequate to provide the bandwidth targeted in the second step of this process. While customer data transactions are somewhat "elastic", and able to continue at a lower rate, customer voice traffic is relatively "inelastic". In order to best manage such situations, it is useful to control the in-cabin systems in order to minimize customer-affecting issues. The Ground Communications Controller 912 compares the bandwidth available to the aircraft and the current configuration of the in-cabin systems, and determines changes that should be executed by the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 at step 1214 and identifying aircraft network configurations at step 1215. As examples, the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 may be instructed to reduce the available capacity of one or more base stations, in order to prevent additional call originations or to throttle demand, or the vocoder rates may be reduced, to reduce the bandwidth required to support each active call. In the event that all such options to reduce bandwidth requirements are not sufficient to allow all calls to be maintained, the cabin systems may be directed to selectively "drop" calls, with those having the lowest grade of service objective being dropped first. Such instructions to reduce capacity requirements would be later revised when additional capacity becomes available.
Upon completion of the network analysis and bandwidth analysis, all change requirements are communicated to the Aircraft Communications Controller 910 at step 1216, and stored in memory at step 1218 to initiate the required changes to Inner and Outer Network configurations. This entire optimization process is periodically repeated, as driven by the operation of timer at step 1217, which reinitiates process step 1202 upon expiration of the timer cycle.
A further enhancement to the optimization process is to utilize each aircraft's velocity information (i.e. the aircraft's heading, speed and rate of change in altitude) to predict the change of position expected in the position of the aircraft, over some number of timer intervals. This predictive information can be used to further refine the network assignment process, allowing channels to be selected which be utilized for a greater duration than might be the case with an optimization process that considers the aircraft in only a static position. In the preferred embodiment, each candidate path is evaluated to determine its state in the future, and the optimization cost factors for paths that are not a best server at the end of the predictive timeframe is increase in a manner that makes their assignment less likely than alternative paths that remain for the duration of the timeframe. While the scale of coverage differs significantly for satellite systems, terrestrial air-to-ground systems and terrestrial cellular systems, the methodology for predicting future aircraft position and analyzing the RF paths that be available from that position are similar for all of them.
Each type of communications traffic is assigned a different priority level or class of service, and each network is characterized in terms of its performance capabilities, utilizing common IP network routing protocols and practices. The capacity of each available communications link assigned to the aircraft is communicated between the Ground Communications Controller 912 and the Aircraft Communications Controllers 910, 911 as part of the new channel assignments communications of step 1218. Routing policies in the various communications controllers 910, 911, 912 assure that the various types of communications (voice, data, control data, etc.) are routed over an appropriate network. As communications channels are reconfigured, these routing capabilities will automatically redirect communications over the newly configured assignments.
The new channel assignments communicated in step 18 will include timing information so that all channel re-assignments are completed in a non-conflicting manner.
Aircraft Position Communication Scenarios
The present handoff management system allows maintaining an optimal configuration of communications connections between aircraft and terrestrial air-to-ground ground stations, satellite air-to-ground cellular networks and terrestrial cellular base stations. Further, it provides control mechanisms to allow prioritization of certain types of traffic to assure that, in the event of insufficient total capacity to meet the offered load of communication requirements to an aircraft; the available capacity is assigned to the highest priority requirement.
|Cited Patent
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|Publication date
|Oct 7, 1991
|May 18, 1993
|Gte Airfone, Inc.
|Communication system having multiple base stations and multiple mobile units
|Jul 10, 1992
|Jul 11, 1995
|Rimer; Neil A.
|System for locating and communicating with mobile vehicles
|Mar 11, 1994
|Sep 10, 1996
|Motorola, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for predictive operation of a communication system
|Nov 10, 1993
|Dec 31, 1996
|Motorola, Inc.
|Satellite cellular network resource management method and apparatus
|May 2, 1995
|Jul 22, 1997
|Mobile Telecommunication Technologies
|Ground-to-air telephone calling system and related method for establishing a telephone link between a ground-based caller and a passenger on board an aircraft
|Jan 19, 1996
|Apr 14, 1998
|Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ)
|Adaptive mobile station presence verification
|Mar 2, 1995
|May 19, 1998
|Fujitsu Limited
|Mobile communication system with a load balancing feature
|Jul 28, 1997
|Sep 21, 1999
|Motorola, Inc.
|Multiple-user communication unit and method for operating in a satellite communication system
|Feb 18, 1998
|Dec 28, 1999
|Highwaymaster Communications, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for call delivery to a mobile unit
|Oct 4, 2000
|Feb 10, 2004
|Ddi Corporation
|Mobile communication system for forecasting communication traffic
|Sep 28, 2001
|Oct 24, 2002
|Matthieu Borel
|Method for selecting a ground station within an aeronautical telecommunications network
|Mar 7, 2003
|Oct 14, 2004
|Moriguchi Ken-Ichi
|Communication device and communication system
|Sep 10, 2003
|Mar 10, 2005
|Arinc, Incorporated
|Mobile airborne high-speed broadband communications systems and methods
|Aug 6, 2004
|Mar 31, 2005
|Baiada R. Michael
|Method and system for tactical gate management by aviation entities
|Jul 19, 2005
|Oct 12, 2006
|The Boeing Company
|Soft handoff method and apparatus for mobile vehicles using directional antennas
|Jul 24, 2006
|Jan 25, 2007
|Aircell, Inc.
|System for integrating an airborne wireless cellular network with terrestrial wireless cellular networks and the public switched telephone network
|Nov 6, 2006
|May 17, 2007
|Honeywell International Inc.
|In-flight communications system
|Sep 5, 2007
|Feb 14, 2008
|Harris Corporation
|System and method of transmitting data from an aircraft
|Nov 17, 2008
|Mar 26, 2009
|The Boeing Company
|Method and apparatus for bi-directional data services and live television programming to mobile platforms
|Dec 6, 2005
|Sep 2, 2008
|At&T Mobility Ii, Llc
|High bandwidth delivery and internet access for airborne passengers
|Casewell, I.E.; "The Provision of GSM Cellular Radio Environments With Passenger Aircraft Operating Over Europe"; IEEE Fifth International Conference; Dec. 11-14, 1989; pp. 172-176.
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jun 24, 2011
|Mar 18, 2014
|Qualcomm Incorporated
|High data rate aircraft to ground communication antenna system
|Nov 7, 2013
|Mar 17, 2015
|Iwao Fujisaki
|Mar 25, 2014
|Nov 24, 2015
|Gogo Llc
|Data delivery to devices on vehicles using multiple forward links
|May 30, 2014
|Jan 5, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Systems and methods for two-part electronic device registration
|Jun 24, 2011
|Mar 22, 2016
|Qualcomm Incorporated
|Real-time calibration of an air to ground communication system
|Jul 16, 2012
|Apr 19, 2016
|Qualcomm Incorporated
|Interference mitigation techniques for air to ground systems
|Mar 25, 2014
|Apr 26, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Optimizing usage of modems for data delivery to devices on vehicles
|Mar 25, 2014
|Jun 14, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Hybrid communications for devices on vehicles
|Jun 17, 2014
|Aug 2, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Multiple modem communication system and method for a mobile platform
|May 30, 2014
|Oct 11, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Systems and methods for configuring an electronic device for cellular-based communications
|May 30, 2014
|Nov 22, 2016
|Gogo Llc
|Systems and methods for facilitating communications originating from a non-terrestrial network
|Mar 25, 2014
|Feb 21, 2017
|Gogo Llc
|Adaptive modulation in a hybrid vehicle communication system
|May 10, 2016
|Mar 7, 2017
|Gogo Llc
|Hybrid communications for devices on vehicles
|Oct 6, 2015
|Apr 25, 2017
|Gogo Llc
|Data delivery to devices on vehicles using multiple forward links
|Jun 24, 2011
|Aug 9, 2012
|Qualcomm Incorporated
|Ground station antenna array for air to ground communication system
|U.S. Classification
|455/431, 455/12.1
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Feb 5, 2007
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Under 30 Minutes2
Tequila-Soaked Sorbet
This ultra-quick dessert is reminiscent of a frozen margarita. Lemon sorbet is jazzed up with a splash of tequila, then sprinkled with finely grated lime zest.
- Prep:
- Total Time:
- Servings: 4
Source: Martha Stewart Living, April 2006
- 1 pint lemon sorbet
- 1/4 cup best-quality tequila
- Finely grated zest of 2 limes
Using an ice cream scoop, spoon 2 scoops of sorbet into each of 4 glasses. Drizzle 1 tablespoon tequila over sorbet in each glass, and sprinkle with lime zest. Serve immediately.

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View other listings in Mulgrave, Springvale, Noble Park, Dandenong, Dandenong North.
Online 9 months ago
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My name is Jason, I was born in Australia. I am a down to earth, understanding and accepting person of all cultures. I am friendly and easy to work with or live around, I mind my own business and allow others there privacy. I am studying personal training and love health and fitness.
Jason Steynen is also interested in Teaming-Up and starting a new share house.
All people looking in Melbourne or more in Mulgrave, Springvale, Noble Park, Dandenong, Dandenong North


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Brown Act shadows Faulconer's plan for June election and run for governor
The mayor's inner Soccer City sanctum and Summer Stephan's courtship of county supes
Matt Potter 2:35 p.m., May 22
Shredding the waves--James Van Wormer at Avalanche, Ocean Beach
Image posted by casandiego1
November 11, 2010
This little Piscean shredder has been everywhere in search of waves: Indonesia, Mexico and always Avalanche early in the morning
Matt Potter 2:35 p.m., May 22
Mike Madriaga 1:45 p.m., May 22
Ian Anderson 11 a.m., May 22
Julie Stalmer 9:30 a.m., May 22
Sheila Pell 8:30 a.m., May 22
Jessica Devnani 8:08 p.m., May 21
Various Authors 6:12 p.m., May 21
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What does "ad hoc" mean in English?
Ad hoc is used in English to mean impromptu, improvised, temporary, something not planned in advance or created for one specific purpose, as in an "ad hoc meeting." The literal translation from Lat...
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What does"que"mean in English?
"Que" is a pronoun in Spanish that translates to a number of English words, including "that," "which," "what," "who" and "than." The popular Spanish phrase, "que pasa?" means "what's new?".Referenc...
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What does ese mean in English?
The Spanish word "ese" literally means "that one." Mexican Americans commonly used it in slang form to mean homeboy, man, dude, guy or fellow Latino. For example, "Que pasa ese?" means "What's up, ...
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What does"TGV"mean in english?
TGV stands for Train a Grande Vitesse, which translates into English as "high-speed train," according to EU Rail. The TGV is the high-speed train service that serves the country of France.Reference...
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What does aloha mean in English?
Aloha literally means "the breath of life" and comes from "alo" (which has several meanings including presence and face) and "ha" (which means breath). Aloha has a variety of meanings, including lo...
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Charles Douglas EvansLASIK - Laser Eye Surgery
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text:
I saw this post off Tumblr by black-and-gold-blues, and I thought "Well hey! This is a great idea," so the idea of this work goes entirely to them! Thank you!
"So I think someone needs to write Cinderella as a fangirl.
Her stepsisters go to the ball and she's like, "Cool, now I can catch up on Supernatural."
But then her fairy godmother wants her to socialize.
So she goes to the ball wearing sneakers, and it turns out the prince is a closet-fanboy. So when he sees them, he says, "I like your shoelaces," and she says, "Thanks, I stole them from the president," and he freaks out.
And when she leaves without giving him her name, he just goes around the kingdom telling all the fair madiens he likes their shoelaces until he finds the girl who knows."
Your wish will be granted...


text:
Mercury Wheels S1 Disc Road Wheelset Parts Road Wheels
Mercury Wheels S1 Disc Road Wheelset. Ride endless training miles, win the city limit sprints, explore dirt roads, or slice through the muck at your favorite 'cross race with the Mercury Wheels S1 Disc road wheelset. With alloy rims 24mm wide and 25mm deep, this wheelset will handle the lightest of road tires to the knobbiest of 'cross tires. A 28 spoke, two cross lacing pattern featuring the exemplary Sapim Race butted spokes makes for a laterally stiff wheel with just enough pliancy to give a calmer and more sure footed ride through the rough stuff. The Mercury aluminum hubs are super smooth rolling, designed for 6 bolt disc rotors, and are set up for thru axles front and rear.
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For years a proposed film adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations by one of Britain's best-loved authors languished in production limbo. The script had even been given the back-handed compliment of an inclusion on an annual list of the best British scripts that could not get made.
But David Nicholls, the writer behind the bestseller One Day, itself being made into a forthcoming film starring Anne Hathaway, has struck production gold. The writer has teamed up with the producer Stephen Woolley and the director Mike Newell, who worked on Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco, to form a team extremely confident of their success. The movie will play a central role in a year-round celebration of Dickens's bicentenary in 2012, co-organised by the capital's strategic film agency, Film London.
"I began working on the script with Stephen two years ago and finally it looks possible," Nicholls said. "We are talking to actors at the moment and it all seems to be OK." Nicholls said the script was a quirk-free adaptation which was faithful to the original book, if sped up for the big screen to move "with a greater sense of urgency" and be "more of a thriller at the end".
In 2009, the script appeared on the "Brit list", an annual poll of the best unproduced movie screenplays on the British market, as voted by British industry insiders. The list is a version of Hollywood's "Black list", an influential survey circulated among the film industry every Christmas.
At the top of 2009's Brit list was George Kay's Good Luck Anthony Belcher, written as a starring vehicle for James Corden, though the movie website imbd.com still classifies that work as "in development".
Great Expectations is one of cinema's most tackled stories, directed by David Lean in 1948's black-and-white adaptation, subsequently nominated and winning Academy Awards. "The book is obviously written in a number of episodes, with a movie that is more difficult, but there will be nothing wacky, no concepts," Nicholls said. "It already works so well."
Woolley and Nicholls collaborated on the 2007 film And When Did You Last See Your Father, starring Jim Broadbent and Juliet Stevenson.
"I have a good track record of taking projects like this forward," Woolley said. "I normally make one film a year and this will be one of them." Woolley's last film was 2010's Made in Dagenham.
Dickens 2012 will see a BBC Dickens season featuring new dramas and documentaries. The British Film Institute is also planning a huge retrospective.
In development
* The first "Brit list" of best un-produced film screenplays was circulated in 2007 by an agent polling 40 industry insiders. Top of that list was Peter Straughan's The Men Who Stare at Goats and Jack Thorne's The Scouting Book for Boys, both of which have been made into films.
* Last year's list, released in November, was topped by Jonathan Stern and Jamie Minoprio's Sex Education, which has since been attached to director Misha Manson-Smith. The script was followed by Skins scribe Ben Schiffer's Cheerleaders, occupying second place.
* The most recent Hollywood "Black List" was topped by Wes Jones's College Republicans, the true story of George W Bush's former adviser Karl Rove's bid to become College Republican chairman.
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text:
Robespierre was the leader of the group that made kings have no more power.
Prussian forces came to Paris and became enemies with people that were against the revolution.
Start of the French Revolution: 1789
Third estate declared itself the National Assembly
king and the upper state people are brought down
French citizen suffer from hunger -> become angry and stated riots
Jack 9
Austrian and Prussia came into France and invaded on August 19,1792.
New node
Begin of the Revolution
John 7
A war and the downfall of the king
July 15th 1789: King Louis orders forign regiments to leave Paris
August 24th 1789: National Assembly passes the Declaration of the Rights of Man
October 5th 1789: Storms of women march to city hall demanding bread
Invasion of Tuileries- June 20
October 6th 1789: Fishwomen storm Versailles, and force the royal family to move to Paris
By Peter Kim


text:
Guest reviews
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based on 79 reviews
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Featuring an outdoor swimming pool, this family run hotel offers good-value accommodation. Located near the port, some rooms feature picturesque sea views from their balconies. Decorated with minimalist furnishings, each room at Pension Irene has air conditioning and a TV. The outdoor pool has sun loungers along with a poolside bar. Other leisure activities include boat excursions and day trips which can be organized by the staff. Pension Irene is 329 feet away from the beach. The main shopping venues and seafood restaurants of Chora are 2,625 feet away.


text: NEW YORK, Nov. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BXMT) (the "Company") today announced that, in connection with the Company's underwritten public offering of 5.25% convertible senior notes due 2018 (the "Notes"), the underwriters have exercised in full their option to purchase an additional $22.5 million in aggregate principal amount of Notes. The issuance of the additional $22.5 million principal amount of Notes closed on November 27, 2013. The full exercise of the option to purchase additional Notes brings the total aggregate principal amount of Notes sold in the offering to $172.5 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to originate and purchase additional commercial mortgage loans and other target assets and investments consistent with its investment strategies and investment guidelines, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo Securities acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. Blackstone Capital Markets acted as co-manager. The offering was made pursuant to the Company's currently effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering of these securities was made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement, copies of which may be obtained by contacting: Citigroup, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, tel: 800-831-9146; BofA Merrill Lynch, 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attn: Prospectus Department or email email@example.com; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, tel: 1-866-803-9204; or Wells Fargo Securities, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 375 Park Avenue, New York, New York, 10152, at (800) 326-5897 or email a request to email@example.com. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.


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Getting it done.
June is a tricky time for us at Blithewold. Just when the crowds have started to wane from Spring's glorious show, summer arrives and a whole new set of eyes are on the property. Not … Read more.
Not all is a washout
(Originally this post should have ran last week, but was never loaded. Oops!) As you most likely saw in Kris' post last week, Washout, things around the grounds have been quite a mess. We have been … Read more.
Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!
At a time when we are getting in full swing for our opening, I somehow have managed to get a quick vacation planned for this coming week. While I am looking forward to the relaxation … Read more.
Forget the Groundhog
While Punxsutawney Phil may have declared that we are in for another 6 weeks of winter, and we've seen two winter blitzes of snow this week, we shouldn't stop thinking Spring! Wonderful warm spring, with fresh smelling … Read more.
A New Year, A New Garden
I am so excited to welcome a new author – a fresh voice – to this blog! Dan Christina, assistant grounds manager and vegetable gardener has a deeper connection to Blithewold than most can boast. … Read more.
The bare minimum
When the cicadas start buzzing early in the morning we know we're in for a scorcher. With temps in the 90's, high humidity and ground level ozone levels that were predicted to "approach or exceed … Read more.
Cool veg
In the last post I mentioned that Gail and I just picked more vegetables for the East Bay Food Pantry. It's no accident that we still have veg to pick. Back in the middle of … Read more.
Harvest hurrah
It's a challenge to keep a vegetable garden productive and handsome into the fall. Cool nights set back and do in the hot season crops like cucumbers, beans and summer squash. Tomatoes are slowing down … Read more.
A perfect partnership
Ever since Dick, our vegetable gardener extraordinaire, first joined his wife Mary in the Blithewold gardens, we've had more produce than we know what to do with. (Dick orders the vegetable seeds, starts them, plants … Read more.
Expected surprises
I've always wondered a little at the seeming redundancy of the phrase "unexpected surprise". But I think I get it now. I came back from vacation fully anticipating certain changes and was still caught off … Read more.
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~The Knowledge~ pg 2
She picked up the flint and steel he had left next to the pit and went to work striking sparks to end the element's slumber. "What happened to me?" she ventured hoping he could help fill in the blanks as fuzzy memories came back to her.
He grunted from his perch before forming a coherent answer. "I know nothing of enchantment but what I have experienced since starting this journey."
"Why do you call it enchantment?"
"You slept on your feet," was his blunt reply. When she looked at him expectantly for more, he continued. "The sky was in your eyes and you would not be roused. It was not a natural sleep." Fiora nodded though it didn't mean she understood what it meant. "What did it seem like to you?" he asked without looking at her.
The first flames began to stretch their limbs in her tinder nest and she took the moments of coaxing it fully awake to think about how to answer. "It was a dream," she decided, lifting a hand to rub her neck at half a returning memory. The tenderness beneath her fingertips made her wince. "…a very real dream."
She caught him staring at her with a scowl and dropped her hands back to the work of building the tepee higher as she tried to explain it. "The wind – when it speaks to me, it's like I can see without eyes. Images of things that are happening around me flicker in my mind." She paused for an illustration letting the wind whisper his posture to her though she wished she hadn't. With a quiet voice she pointed out what she noticed. "Like the way the corner of your mouth is twitching… because you're upset with me. I'm sorry, Civyl. The delay mu-"
"Stop it!" he snapped and her startled eyes found his volatile face now lit with the wavering light of the growing fire. With a huff he turned his anger away before adding a firm request. "Do not apologize to me." Fiora didn't understand his vicious mood swings or the reasons behind them but she nodded anyway.


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By Gingivere the Shadowreaver
Disclaimer: I do not own any character in Soul Calibur II. Talim, Yunsung, Yoshimitsu, Seung Mina, and all other characters are copyrighted to Namco, unless otherwise stated. This story should not be stolen or redistributed, otherwise I'd get upset and cry.
Author's Note: God… this is too darn late…
Chapter Four
When Talim saw the sign for the village, she was more than relieved. She had spent most of the time running, hoping to get to the village before nightfall. She seemed lucky and the wind seemed to be more than willing to guide her, as she stood outside the gates, taking only a moment to catch her breath.
Amen to be out of those woods, she thought, giving it another look as she tried to steady her breaths. The darkness seemed to have a lasting hold in there, forever night, and twice as freaky. She couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't alone in those woods, and it wasn't just the normal woodland creatures.
Now, she turned away from the city, to look at the village ahead of her. Somehow, in its entire primitive outlook in the normal society, it only seemed to be home for her. Still, despite the beauty in it, she tried to ignore that fact, rushing into its open gates and not even waving to the guards that eyed her.
They didn't seem to bothered by her presence, actually, even as they noticed the one elbow blade that she had in her hands. What could a young girl do?
"Hey, it's you, from the forest!"
She stopped, looking up and spotting the man that looked familiar. That's right, he was there from earlier today! He wore bandages on his hands and around his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed alright, as he rushed to greet her. Now she stopped, taking a breather as he approached her, "Thank heavens you're alright…"
Talim gave him a smile, despite the sweat that ran down her face. She dared not open up to him, to let him know how afraid she was in those woods. "I came as fast as I could… tell me, is Yoshimitsu alright?"
"Of course, of course…" The kindly man smiled, as others in the village began to stop and stare. Talim could see their baggy clothing, though they did not bother her too much. But those stares… why did they stare at her like this? Was it her clothing? She couldn't ponder on it for too long, as the man got her attention again, "He collapsed shortly after bringing me here… he's in one of our finest cabins resting right now, though… but he should be fine."
"Oh… thank of Wind Deity then that he got here on time!" Talim proclaimed, falling to her knees as they could not hold her up anymore. Instantly, the man was at her side, and she tried so hard to stand again, only to fail. Was she really that tired?! "I'll be alright… I'm just a little exhausted, sir…"
However, she must have looked really bad, for the man to show such concern. "A little? No, please, let me help you… it's the least I can do!"
"Thierry, who is she?" Someone asked, and the woman scuffled out into the streets, to eye the scene. The minute she laid eyes on Talim, her eyes sparkled, and she rushed to the young Wind Priestess, using her apron to wipe away the sweat and dirt. "Oh dear me, what was a little girl like you doing out in those woods?! Did those thieves hurt you, my dear? Are you hungry?"
How could Talim answer any of these? Even her own MOTHER didn't coddle her like this! She looked up at this woman with big, bright eyes, trying to find where to start. The woman, however, didn't give her a chance, as she was kind enough to help the poor girl to her feet. "Come inside, dearie! We'll clean you up and give you something nice and warm to eat; you're nothing but skin and bones!"
And Talim knew not to decline, yet she wondered how she could even begin to thank her. "T-thank you, ma'am…"
Still, her mind lingered on Yoshimitsu, but she said nothing, merely accepting the offer with as much gratitude as her tired body could muster. Perhaps the world wasn't all that bad… and she smiled, thankful to at least be in a small, welcoming village for once.
"Mind telling me why we're in a bar again?"
Seung Mina almost ignored the question, as she entered without any concern that the restaurant was nearly empty. It was far too early in the day for the usual crowd to be there, she noted, and she was thankful to see several seats and tables still available. She grabbed the closest to the door, taking her seat and waiting for Yunsung to do the same.
The youth just gave her a look, and she sighed, "We're stopping here to eat; it's not just a bar. Now be a good boy and listen to your elders."
"Fine… but it's still wasting time." He took a seat, kicking the chair in his normal, cocky manner and sitting on it before it could fall over. Seung Mina smiled, and Yunsung instantly noticed that, "What?!"
"Just realizing how much I missed your antics at the Dojo, that's all." She replied, that smile almost transfixed onto her own youthful face. Yunsung mentally smiled as well, realizing that he had missed that face as well. But still… he turned away, and Seung Mina instantly saw through it, "We're not wasting time; just resting and getting some food in our body. One should never travel on an empty stomach…"
He just nodded, as he crossed his arms and said nothing until the waiter put down the menus and left again. Yunsung took a glance at it and grimaced, realizing he didn't even recognize the text… "Right."
"Speaking of which, how often do you eat? You look a lot slimmer; could it be that you finally lost all your baby fat?"
"What was that?!" Yunsung glared at her, but she only continued to laugh. Her playful nature seemed to irk him, as he merely folded his hands and looked away and gave a huff. "Immature."
The doorbell chimed, and Yunsung and Seung Mina took a glance at the figure that had walked in. By the look on Seung Mina's face, it was obvious that they both knew each other. Yunsung could not help but stare, a slight smile rising on his face as she stopped, her rather healthy size DD jiggling for a second before pausing like the rest of her body. Her slanted eyes narrowed, as Seung Mina muttered her name, "Taki…"
"Hwang Seung Mina…" The woman named Taki replied, and Yunsung took the moment to remove his eyes from her breasts to look at the rest of her body. She wore a skin tight red suit, an odd design on one leg, though Yunsung didn't care for it too much. Her hair was long, sleek, and black, tied back into a ponytail to keep it off of her obviously Asian face, which when it was not bent with anger, it seemed so perfect. Damn! "I thought you returned home…"
Yes, they obviously knew each other, as Taki stood at their table now, arms crossed, making her boobs more pronounced. It took everything and more for Yunsung to stop staring, but eventually, Seung Mina kicked him from underneath the table, as she spoke to Taki. "Returned and back again… I had to retrieve my friend here."
Taki now noticed Yunsung, as the boy rubbed his shin. She merely rose an eyebrow, then looked back at the red head. "I see he has White Storm with him… is he the one you sent out to retrieve the Sword of Salvation?"
"Technically, no…" Seung Mina smiled, leaning against the palm of her hand as she sent Yunsung a look, to silence him. He hated it, but he obeyed, not really wanting a fight to break out so soon. "But nevertheless, here we are, embarking on, yet, another journey to retrieve it."
Now Taki grinned, and, surprisingly, she sat down to join them. She was very lady-like, despite her tough appearance. "I see… well, you're wasting your time if you think that sword will help you."
Angered, Yunsung growled, slamming his hand on the table and making their cups bounce, though it did not seem to affect the female ninja whatsoever. "I will get that sword, and it WILL help protect my country!"
"Yunsung, shut up."
Seung Mina snapped, and Yunsung reluctantly obeyed. He glared at Taki, though, as she merely kept her smile. Her voice was a lot softer now, as she explained herself, "What I meant to say is that the sword is evil, boy. All those who have touched it have witnessed nothing but insanity and horror… a bright and charming young boy like you would do better fighting in the war with the White Storm than with such a cursed weapon."
Yunsung didn't really know how to take that, so he said nothing, merely crossing his own arms and falling quickly out of love with her. And Seung Mina spoke up, trying to act civilized to make up for the moody behavior of her friend. "Then why are you after it so much?"
"I have my own reasons… but I do not intend to use it against anyone else, if it makes you feel any better." Taki closed her dark eyes, her smile quite rare. She waited until the people around them continued with their conversation, before she spoke up, addressing Yunsung once more. "I couldn't help but eavesdrop on your conversation… I'm here because I heard you speaking of a past encounter with a demon, correct?"
The Korean boy nodded, speaking with slight venom as he thought about it, "Yeah… I ran into two. One was wrapped in bandages and the other was this freakish thing with a weird arm… man, if I ever seen them again, I'll hold nothing back!"
Taki's glare silenced him once more, as she did not wish to draw attention to themselves. "I'm sure you wouldn't… and as well as you shouldn't. I know the first one… his name is Voldo. He's been after the sword for quite some time now…"
"I thought he sounded familiar," Seung Mina proclaimed. "And the second? He sounds awfully familiar too…"
"Which arm, you say, looked odd?" Taki asked, as Yunsung tried to recollect. "And what did it look like? Was it a wooden arm, or was it more monstrous looking?"
Yunsung narrowed his eyes, "Not wooden… but… when I woke up, there was small pieces of wood on the ground. The hand I remembered look like it would have fit on a monster rather than a human being."
It was as if she was waiting to hear that, as Taki nodded, "Nightmare. He has a simple name and a simple purpose… you're lucky to have survived."
"Not… really." Yunsung thought, wanting to say what happened to Talim, but losing his nerves. Taki waited for him to explain himself, and Seung Mina knew what he was going to say, as he backed down. "So that's their names, eh… well, when I find them, they'll be sorry they messed with me."
"Don't get cocky, boy… as I said, you are quite the lucky one to live after an encounter with those two." Taki stated, leaning back in her chair. "Why did they attack you? Did you have something they wanted?"
He shook his head, now deciding to tell her of Talim. "No… but the girl did. Talim… don't think you heard of her, though…"
"No… she's someone I have not bothered to meet. What did she have?"
He shrugged, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pouch, to see what was inside. When he opened it and shook it a little, a small, black and red shard plopped out on his hand, and the minute he touched it, he could feel a strange aura overcome him, forcing him to drop it on the table. Taki's eyes shot open with a glare, as Seung Mina gasped, "That's a fragment of Soul Edge!"
"A sword of demonic powers… probably the sword that you're after," Taki stated, reaching to grab the shard. However, Yunsung did not allow her to take it, as he quickly swiped it away, holding it close. She glared at him, "It would be best if you didn't mess with that, boy… you don't know what it can do."
Yunsung hissed, "I know what it can do… this stupid little shard is what caused an innocent girl to die! And you want it?!"
Seung Mina spoke up, "Yunsung, don't make a scene!"
"Shut up, Mina!" Yunsung retaliated, regaining some of his old vigor as he sent his glare back to the seemingly calm ninja. "I don't know why a little girl like her would have had this, but those two demons attacked her because of it!"
And Taki, speaking in such a clever form, easily angered the boy. "And though you speak of her as a friend, how is it that you could not protect her?"
Now Yunsung's eyes were lit with fire, but still, Taki seemed unconcerned, if anything, highly amused, as she broke off into laughter. Yunsung instantly rose to his feet, but whether it was lucky for him or for Taki, Seung Mina intervened. "Hey, now that's hitting below the belt…"
"Fine then, I will ask another question, and you must answer me, boy…" Taki's apology was odd, but to Yunsung, this didn't really get him by surprise at all. After all, her race was at war with his… he merely spat, sitting back down but still clinging to the shard and the pouch that had belonged to Talim. "What are you plan on doing with that shard, boy? What use is it to you now?"
The best kind of reply would have been for him to ask the same question, or perhaps to tell her that it was truly none of her business. However, his wits were not with him, and he ran on impulse, and to Seung Mina, and to Taki though she would have never have admitted it, the reply came from his heart. "This shard lured them to her… and it will lure them to me so that I can kill them. After that… I don't know, but I will have my revenge!"
Neither one could deny his reasons, and much to his surprise, neither one of them nagged or belittled him. In fact, Taki's smile seemed more towards him, though perhaps it was her pride that was holding her back. However, she seemed to have lost interests in badgering him, as she nodded and then looked to Seung Mina. "The plan will work… I have a feeling that one of those two is pretty close. I won't take the shard, but I will warn you both to be on your guard…"
"We wouldn't want to be caught otherwise," Seung Mina quickly said, more to entice her into leaving than anything else. She didn't want Yunsung to blow up again, and Taki wasn't going to make things better, though now it seemed a bit calmer. She nodded, as the ninja rose to leave without even ordering a drink or anything. Before she could go, though, Seung Mina stopped her, "Wait, when you were asking about one of the attackers, you mentioned someone with a wooden arm…"
Taki blinked, as if to recall the moment, "Yes… why do you wish to know now?"
As Yunsung seemed to have lost all interests in the conversation, the daughter of Hwang asked, "What about him? Yunsung said he found a few pieces of wood… do you think he was involved?"
"Not much is known about him, some even say he's not even human, but I have heard of him. He's something that I wouldn't want to associate myself with…" Taki stately flatly, as if she didn't care at all. Neither one questioned why, as she finished her explanation before leaving completely. "His name is Yoshimitsu, and he has a wooden arm because he is the only surviving member of the Manji Clan. He, too, is after the Sword, at least the last time I checked."
And with that, she was gone. The two Koreans looked at each other, and Yunsung's expression seemed grave, as he looked down at the horrid shard in his hands. And Seung Mina sighed, picking up the menu and looking at the odd words and trying to make sense of them as well. She hummed to herself, pondering what was yet to come. "Hm… this is certainly getting interesting…"
The ceiling was made completely out of wood, Yoshimitsu noticed, and from the looks of it, it seemed ready to fall apart. He dared not look anywhere else to see how poor this man's family truly was, and of course, a house in itself was a luxury. At least they were very luck to still have that…
He didn't know how long he had been asleep, really… he did see sunlight creeping in through the open window… THAT at least told him it had to be late afternoon. That and the usual pattern of the insects told him that dusk was on its way…
The masked ninja wasn't sure if there was anyone in the room with him, and he could not help but give a relieved sigh. He wondered… if that girl was alright.
And, as his good hand slipped down, to press against the dry bandages, he wondered if he could ever tell her the truth? The wound seemed fine… and it had healed itself faster than he had expected it to. Still, he hated to have to cut himself, to cover up his last mistake. The truth… wasn't something that he thought she could take right now. She been through enough as it was…
Listening to the rather eccentric insects outside was oddly calming to him, as he tried to sleep again. It seemed hard, as he could not get his mind off of current events. Why were Voldo and Nightmare after the girl? What could she possibly have that they would want? And, more importantly, as he finally moved his masked head somehow, to look outside the window, did she still have it?
He knew if she did and she came here… then this village would be in trouble soon. And that meant only one thing…
Rising from the bed, he was surprised how light his head felt, and he feared that he was still wounded, until he noticed his helmet resting on the table next to him. He gave a chuckle, quickly grasping it and placing it on his head, and subconsciously, his hand ventured towards his hip, to grab his sword. When his good hand touched nothing, he sighed, "My sword… idiot."
No sooner had he rose, the door swung open, and, like any normal person would have done, he leapt back into bed, trying to fake sleep. Of course, when he DID this, the man was already halfway inside the building, and he wore a confused, yet bright smile, as Yoshimitsu stared at him. "Sir, are… are you ready to go already?!"
The masked ninja did not blink, or at least the villager couldn't see it, as his red eyes shone brightly. How could he say yes and not feel guilty for it? After all, this man had returned the favor it seemed… sometimes acting as everyone's hero was a little bit of a problem. "As much as I thank you for your hospitality, I must go."
"Sir, won't you at least stay the night? What about your wound?"
Wondering if he would have to cut himself again, Yoshimitsu replied, as he sat up, his smile so welcoming, despite how it was plastered there. "All wounds heal with time, some quicker than others!"
That man, however, was not willing to let him go, as he rushed to Yoshimitsu's side, forcing him to lay down as he went to look at the wound. He had no heart to push his concern away, so he allowed him to undo the bandages to see that there was no wound there… only a scar from what Voldo left a few days before. The man was baffled, as he asked, "Sir… you came here this morning, dripping with blood… how can that be?!"
"Naturally faster healer, if I say so myself! Look at my hand… good as new!" Yoshimitsu joked, giving his wooden arm a pluck and trying to cover up any suspicion. He was lucky, as the man showed nothing but relief, and now, Yoshimitsu tried again to get out of the house, as he sat up again. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I must be on my way!"
"Please! At least stay the night…"
The night? No… he couldn't. He had to find the little girl and get them both as far away from this village as possible. And as much as Yoshimitsu wanted to warn him, he held back… the man wouldn't understand! Yoshimitsu spoke softly now, and his voice was oddly soothing, as he tried to persuade the man otherwise. "A ninja of the night as myself must come and go, so that he leaves no trace. Though criminal it would be to decline such hospitality, one must overcome his own rudeness to do what is right…"
The man just gave him such a look, and he could say nothing. Yoshimitsu was afraid that perhaps he overboard on his poetic side, when they heard the shout of the woman. "Supper is on its way! Thierry, see if would at LEAST stay for supper!"
That little bit of distraction was enough for Yoshimitsu to gain his freedom, and he gave a low screech, spinning fast and disappearing into thin air as the man turned around again. The man was trapped in silence, and he called out the man's name, hoping for an answer. "Wait! How… how am I suppose to repay you? My daughter will live now… how can I even begin to thank you?"
"You can by telling the girl to meet me at the gates before nightfall… farewell!"
"What? What do you mean?" The man heard that voice, but he could not find it, even as he rushed outside. He called out now, hoping that Yoshimitsu heard his call. "Will we ever see you again?!"
Yoshimitsu, however, did not answer, and the odd ninja was several blocks away already, finding a safe haven on top of what looked to be an old church. Now, he could get a good look at the village at least. Yes, it was definitely a poor little village on the outskirts of France… it would explain the man's name, Yoshimitsu figured. As he took a seat on top of the abandoned church, and crossed his legs, to meditate.
France wasn't all that far away from Italy, Yoshimitsu thought, thankful to feel the wind play with his odd clothing. A scheme formulated and strengthened in the back of his mind, one that he had been pondering upon more and more as of late. Vercci's treasure could be obtained…
Letting his thoughts wonder on that topic, he closed his eyes, merely waiting for nightfall to come. Vercci's tomb would have to wait… at least until he was sure this village, as small and poor as it may be, was safe.
"Where are you now, Voldo…??"


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