Abstract: A method of geolocating comprises: receiving wirelessly, at an asset located on the Earth's surface and from at least two airborne aircraft, ADS-B signals, respectively; interpolating, using a Bayes filter, at least some state information of the at least two airborne aircraft based on the ADS-B signals, respectively; determining differences in received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values (RSSI-difference values) of successive aircraft-specific ADS-B signals, respectively; estimating, using a likelihood function, locations of the asset based on the RSSI-difference values, the ADS-B signals and the interpolated state information, respectively, thereby producing a set of estimated locations; and searching amongst the set to find one of the estimated locations that is regarded as being most likely to most accurately describe an actual position of the asset.

Abstract: Provided are apparatuses and methods for control of each of data usage and power consumption of cellular network services. Based on such control, a consumer cost of that data usage is reduced, and a battery life of a device for carrying out data communications is increased.

Abstract: A method of operating an end node to communicate with a central node, the method comprising: wirelessly receiving, a beacon signal periodically-transmitted from the central node; each beacon signal denoting the start of a single frame; each frame being organized to include a downlink (DL) phase which precedes an uplink (UL) phase; and a payload of the beacon signal including an offset which represents a starting time of the UL phase. The method further comprises: generating a message; selecting, unbeknownst to the central node, at least one UL logical-channel, respectively; and wirelessly transmitting, during the UL phase, at least a portion of the message from the end node over the selected at least one UL logical-channel according to a slotted ALOHA technique.

Abstract: A method, of operating an end node to wirelessly communicate with a central node, includes: receiving wirelessly a current instance of a beacon signal periodically-transmitted from the central node; measuring a received power, PB-RX, of the beacon signal; reading locally-stored values of PB-TX and G representing a presumed transmitted power of the beacon signal and a performance goal of the end node, respectively; determining, for a given channel, a path loss, PL, based on the PB-RX and the PB-TX; and adaptively setting an energy level, EN-TX, of a forthcoming message to be transmitted from the end node by adaptively determining, based on PL and G, at least two of: a level of power, PN-TX; a forward error correction coding rate, c; and a spreading factor, SF; and a modulation format, M.

Abstract: A method of geolocating comprises: receiving wirelessly, at an asset located on the Earth's surface and from at least two airborne aircraft, ADS-B signals, respectively; interpolating, using a Bayes filter, at least some state information of the at least two airborne aircraft based on the ADS-B signals, respectively; determining differences in received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values (RSSI-difference values) of successive aircraft-specific ADS-B signals, respectively; estimating, using a likelihood function, locations of the asset based on the RSSI-difference values, the ADS-B signals and the interpolated state information, respectively, thereby producing a set of estimated locations; and searching amongst the set to find one of the estimated locations that is regarded as being most likely to most accurately describe an actual position of the asset.

Abstract: A method (of operating a central node to acknowledge received messages) includes: receiving multiple data messages from multiple instances of a message-sourceable end node, respectively, each end-node-instance having an at least substantially unique identification (“ID”); and sending a dense acknowledgement message (“dense ACK”) acknowledging receipt of the data messages but not explicitly identifying any of the IDs of the corresponding end-node-instances. And a method (of operating a given instance of the end node to infer a delivery-condition at the central node of a data message sent by the given instance) including: sending a given data message including the substantially unique ID; receiving a dense ACK including a payload indicating receipt of multiple data messages but not explicitly identifying IDs of the given end-node-instance nor of other end-node-instances corresponding to the received messages, respectively; and inferring the delivery-condition based on a manipulated payload of the dense ACK.

Abstract: A method of operating an end node to communicate with a central node, the method comprising: wirelessly receiving, a beacon signal periodically-transmitted from the central node; each beacon signal denoting the start of a single frame; each frame being organized to include a downlink (DL) phase which precedes an uplink (UL) phase; and a payload of the beacon signal including an offset which represents a starting time of the UL phase. The method further comprises: generating a message; selecting, unbeknownst to the central node, at least one UL logical-channel, respectively; and wirelessly transmitting, during the UL phase, at least a portion of the message from the end node over the selected at least one UL logical-channel according to a slotted ALOHA technique.

Abstract: A method, of operating an end node to wirelessly communicate with a central node, includes: receiving wirelessly a current instance of a beacon signal periodically-transmitted from the central node; measuring a received power, PB-RX, of the beacon signal; reading locally-stored values of PB-TX and G representing a presumed transmitted power of the beacon signal and a performance goal of the end node, respectively; determining, for a given channel, a path loss, PL, based on the PB-RX and the PB-TX; and adaptively setting an energy level, EN-TX, of a forthcoming message to be transmitted from the end node by adaptively determining, based on PL and G, at least two of: a level of power, PN-TX; a forward error correction coding rate, c; and a spreading factor, SF; and a modulation format, M.

Abstract: A method (of operating a central node to acknowledge received messages) includes: receiving multiple data messages from multiple instances of a message-sourceable end node, respectively, each end-node-instance having an at least substantially unique identification (“ID”); and sending a dense acknowledgement message (“dense ACK”) acknowledging receipt of the data messages but not explicitly identifying any of the IDs of the corresponding end-node-instances. And a method (of operating a given instance of the end node to infer a delivery-condition at the central node of a data message sent by the given instance) including: sending a given data message including the substantially unique ID; receiving a dense ACK including a payload indicating receipt of multiple data messages but not explicitly identifying IDs of the given end-node-instance nor of other end-node-instances corresponding to the received messages, respectively; and inferring the delivery-condition based on a manipulated payload of the dense ACK.

Abstract: A method (of operating an end node) includes: wirelessly receiving an instance of a non-hopping beacon signal, B, periodically-transmitted from a central node; interpreting a frequency-block hopping guide (FBHG) according to FN(i) and IDCN thereby to determine a corresponding set, CSET(i), of at least two channels available to the end node for transmission, respectively, during frame FN(i); selecting, at least pseudo-randomly, at least one channel amongst the set CSET(i); and wirelessly transmitting at least one message from the end node using the at least one selected channel, respectively. Each instance B(i) includes: a corresponding frame number, FN(i); and an identification, IDCN, of the central node. The FBHG establishes: a total of L frames; a set of channels CSET for each frame, respectively; and that, for any two consecutive ones of the L frames, FN(j) and FN(j+1), the corresponding sets CSET(j) and CSET(j+1) will be different, CSET(j)?CSET(j+1).

Abstract: A method, of operating an end node to wirelessly communicate with a central node, includes: receiving wirelessly a current instance of a beacon signal periodically-transmitted from the central node; measuring a received power, PB-RX, of the beacon signal; reading locally-stored values of PB-TX and G representing a presumed transmitted power of the beacon signal and a performance goal of the end node, respectively; determining, for a given channel, a path loss, PL, based on the PB-RX and the PB-TX; and adaptively setting an energy level, EN-TX, of a forthcoming message to be transmitted from the end node based on PL and G.

Abstract: A multi-channel radio frequency (RF) generator module includes N power amplifiers, M drivers, a power supply module, and a control module. The N power amplifiers generate N RF outputs, respectively. The M drivers drive the N power amplifiers based on M driver control signals, respectively. The power supply module receives alternating current (AC) input power and applies L rail voltages to the N power amplifiers based on L rail voltage setpoints, respectively. The control module sets the L rail voltage setpoints and the M driver control signals. N is an integer greater than one, L and M are integers greater than zero, and M and L are less than or equal to N.

Abstract: A multi-channel radio frequency (RF) generator module includes N power amplifiers, M drivers, a power supply module, and a control module. The N power amplifiers generate N RF outputs, respectively. The M drivers drive the N power amplifiers based on M driver control signals, respectively. The power supply module receives alternating current (AC) input power and applies L rail voltages to the N power amplifiers based on L rail voltage setpoints, respectively. The control module sets the L rail voltage setpoints and the M driver control signals. N is an integer greater than one, L and M are integers greater than zero, and M and L are less than or equal to N.