US Patent 11974171 Antenna blockage detection and mitigation

A vehicle communication system includes a network adaptor that communicates with a communication network, a communication interface that communicates with multiple vehicles via multiple satellites, each vehicle comprising an antenna system for coupling to the satellites. The vehicle communication system is configured receive route data of the vehicles, and, for each vehicle, determine a future position of the vehicle based on the route data; identify a satellite available for communications with the vehicle at the future position; predict whether an antenna blockage event will occur between the identified satellite and the antenna system of the vehicle at the future position; designate the identified satellite as having the antenna blockage event; and transmit instructions to the vehicle to not use the identified satellite.