Feeder Link & Gateway Antenna Patents: Top Companies, Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees hold 63.0% of all 939 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 76.3% — filing here is dominated by a small group, not a long tail.
- Filings nearly tripled in three years. Annual filings rose from 36 in 2021 to 96 in 2024, a +167% climb, before the leading filer's output dropped sharply in the latest year.
- Transmission and wireless classes dominate. H04B (transmission) covers 67.2% of records and H04W (wireless networks) covers 42.9%, while antenna-specific H01Q claims sit at just 7.8%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (36 records) with 2024 (96) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 939 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent activity at the intersection of feeder link and gateway earth station hardware and the operational techniques layered on top of it: rain fade mitigation, site diversity switching, uplink power control, antenna pointing servos, adjacent satellite interference management and frequency reuse patterns. It spans 939 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from assignees ranging from satellite network operators to mobile chipset and consumer electronics firms.
The mix of applicants is broader than the antenna hardware alone would suggest, because uplink power control and frequency reuse claims increasingly originate from wireless network and handset companies extending terrestrial interference-management techniques into satellite links.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 939-record set: the year-by-year filing curve, and the IPC subclasses those records are classified under.
Filings climbed sharply, then cooled in the most recent (incomplete) years
Annual filings went from 56 in 2017 to a peak of 96 in 2024, including the +167% jump from 36 in 2021. The 2025-2026 figures, down to 21 for partial-year 2026, look like a falling-off but are largely a publication-lag artefact: publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years are undercounted and should not be read as a slowdown.
Transmission and wireless-network classes carry most of the claim volume
H04B (general transmission) appears on 67.2% of the 939 records and H04W (wireless communication networks) on 42.9%, reflecting how much of this field is claimed as signal-processing and network-layer technique rather than pure antenna hardware. H01Q (antennas) sits at only 7.8%, and G01N (material analysis and testing) at 1.0% — both comparatively open relative to the transmission classes.
Shares are the percentage of the 939 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Feeder Links and Gateway Antennas with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about feeder links and gateway antennas and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited prior art and a representative filing
EP1393470B1 — Satellite Uplink Power Control (Vizada AS, 2008-05-07)
A method and system for uplink power control in a satellite communication system comprising a geostationary satellite communicating with a gateway station applying the invention and at least two other gateway stations. The invention uses existing communication signals in the system to compensate for atmospheric distortion such as scintillation and rain fading, and is symmetric with regard to which gateway applies it, increasing regulation of all communication signals across the system.Filed by Vizada AS; granted 2008-05-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6542739B1 | Priority and preemption service system for satellite related communication using central controller | 505 |
| 2 | US6859652B2 | Integrated or autonomous system and method of satellite-terrestrial frequency reuse using signal attenuation … | 383 |
| 3 | US6892068B2 | Coordinated satellite-terrestrial frequency reuse | 378 |
| 4 | US6052586A | Fixed and mobile satellite radiotelephone systems and methods with capacity sharing | 367 |
| 5 | US6879829B2 | Systems and methods for handover between space based and terrestrial radioterminal communications, and for mo… | 330 |
| 6 | US6999720B2 | Spatial guardbands for terrestrial reuse of satellite frequencies | 313 |
| 7 | US20030054814A1 | Systems and methods for monitoring terrestrially reused satellite frequencies to reduce potential interference | 310 |
| 8 | US6377561B1 | Data communication satellite system and method of carrying multi-media traffic | 301 |
| 9 | US20030073436A1 | Additional systems and methods for monitoring terrestrially reused satellite frequencies to reduce potential … | 287 |
| 10 | US5619503A | Cellular/satellite communications system with improved frequency re-use | 274 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus — treat them as a marker of influence on later filings, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend line and the class composition are read together.
A small group controls most of the claim space
The top 5 assignees account for 63.0% of all 939 records in scope, and the top 10 for 76.3%. New entrants filing broad uplink power control or frequency reuse claims are filing directly into territory a handful of satellite operators and network equipment firms already occupy.
Growth peaked in 2024, not in the trailing years
Filings rose from 36 in 2021 to 96 in 2024. The leading assignee's output then fell sharply in the latest reported year, but because publication lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025-2026 dip should be read as incomplete data rather than a genuine retreat from the space.
Transmission technique is claimed far more than antenna hardware
H04B (transmission) sits on 67.2% of records and H04W (wireless networks) on 42.9%, while H01Q (antennas) covers only 7.8% and G01N (material analysis) just 1.0%. The physical antenna and structural side of the field carries comparatively lighter claim density than the signal-processing side.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to feeder links and gateway antennas, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders span satellite network operators, mobile chipset makers and consumer electronics firms — a mix that reflects how much of this field now overlaps with terrestrial wireless interference-management patenting.
One filer holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee holds 223 of the 939 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 43 and tenth place at 19 — a steep drop-off after the leader rather than a gradual taper.
The top filer's pace slowed sharply in the latest year
The leading assignee filed 10 records in the latest year, down 76% year-on-year, and the second-placed filer dropped 69%. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, this reads as incomplete recent data more than a genuine pullback.
Co-filing is concentrated among a few inventor-assignee pairs
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairings linking a single leading corporate assignee to specific named inventors rather than showing broad cross-company collaboration.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Ofinno, LLC | 10 | -76% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 4 | -69% |
| ViaSat, Inc. | 2 | 0% |
| HUGHES NETWORK SYST | 1 | 0% |
| Comcast Cable Communications, LLC | 1 | -75% |
| ATC Technologies, LLC | 0 | — |
| MOBILE SATELLITE VENTURES LP | 0 | — |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korea) | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field where claim density and commercial risk are unevenly distributed across sub-branches.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top 10
With 76.3% of records held by ten assignees, a freedom-to-operate check against those specific portfolios will surface most of the relevant prior art before a broader search is needed.
Run a portfolio comparison in Eureka →Test claim language against the under-claimed branches
Antenna pointing servo calibration and material-analysis claims sit well below the transmission and wireless-network classes in density, making them worth a targeted novelty check before drafting.
Draft and check claims in Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked list with 223 of the 939 records in scope, a wide margin over the fifth-ranked holder at 43 and the tenth-ranked holder at 19. The top 5 assignees together hold 63.0% of all records, and the top 10 hold 76.3%, so filing activity is concentrated rather than spread evenly across the field. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should start with those leading portfolios before widening the search.
Filings rose from 36 in 2021 to a peak of 96 in 2024, a +167% increase over three years, indicating strong growth through the middle of the decade. The apparent decline in 2025 and 2026 (down to 21 in partial-year 2026) is largely a publication-lag effect, since published patent data typically trails the actual filing date by about 18 months. The 2024 figure is the most recent year that can be read as a reliable data point.
EP1393470B1, assigned to Vizada AS and granted in 2008, covers a method and system for uplink power control in a satellite communication system where a geostationary satellite communicates with a gateway station applying the invention alongside at least two other gateway stations. It uses existing communication signals to compensate for atmospheric distortion such as scintillation and rain fading, and is structured symmetrically so any gateway in the system can apply the technique. Anyone building uplink power control that relies on cross-gateway signal compensation for rain fade should review its claim scope directly rather than relying on this summary.
Relative to the dominant transmission (H04B, 67.2% of 939 records) and wireless network (H04W, 42.9%) classes, antenna hardware (H01Q, 7.8%) and material analysis and testing (G01N, 1.0%) carry noticeably lighter claim density. Sub-areas such as antenna pointing servo calibration and site diversity switching thresholds also show comparatively thin coverage against the core signal-processing classes. That does not mean these areas are technically unsolved, only that they are less densely claimed and worth a targeted novelty search before drafting.
The most-cited records in this corpus, including US6542739B1 and US6859652B2, date from the late 1990s and early 2000s and have simply had more time to accumulate citations from later filings. Citation count inside a searched corpus is a reasonable signal of a patent's influence on the technology that followed it, but it is not a proxy for current commercial relevance. A recent filing with few citations may still be more relevant to today's product decisions than an older, heavily-cited one.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.