High capacity satellite communications system

• US 10,382,121 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2015
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Roos, Dave, Kay, Stanley, Morris, Adrian
• Primary Examiner(s): Skripnikov, Alex
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Sharmin
• Application Number:
  US14/880,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20160036518A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18513 Transmission in a satellite or space-based system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18528 Satellite systems for providing two-way communications service to a network of fixed stations, i.e. fixed satellite service or very small aperture terminal [VSAT] system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2041 Spot beam multiple access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A high capacity satellite communications system including a satellite with a beam for a forward downlink focused on a geographic area for which disproportionately higher capacity is desired, a hub located in a geographic area for which disproportionately lower capacity is desired, compared to the location of a VSAT, and the VSAT located in area where a beam for a forward downlink received by the VSAT from the satellite does not overlap with a beam for a return downlink received by the hub from a satellite.

Claims

1. A high capacity satellite communications system comprising:

at least one Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) including a satellite dish that is located in a first geographic coverage area, wherein at least one satellite with at least one beam for a forward downlink is focused on the first geographic coverage area; and

a plurality of hubs located in a second geographic coverage area which is different from the first geographic coverage area, the first geographic coverage area and the second geographic coverage area configured with disproportionate amounts of bandwidth capacity such that the first geographic coverage area provides more bandwidth capacity and the second geographic coverage area provides less bandwidth capacity,

wherein a first beam for the forward downlink received by the at least one VSAT from a satellite of the at least one satellite does not overlap geographically with a plurality of beams for respective return downlinks received by the plurality of hubs from the satellite, and wherein the second geographic area receives the respective return downlinks using either left handed polarity or right handed polarity, such that substantially one half of the plurality of hubs uses left handed polarity and substantially another half of the plurality of hubs uses right handed polarity for the respective return downlinks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of hubs is configured to use a return bandwidth that is at most half of a forward bandwidth.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one satellite is configured to switch to one or more redundant hubs if at least one hub is unavailable.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one satellite is configured to use as few carriers as possible for the forward downlink based on continuity of frequencies available to the at least one satellite and a maximum bandwidth capacity of the at least one VSAT.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one VSAT uses one of Scrambled Coded Multiple Access (SCMA) and Code Phased Modulation (CPM) on a return uplink to the at least one satellite.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one VSAT is configured to use a return bandwidth that is at most half of available return bandwidth.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the return bandwidth is contiguous.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one satellite comprises at least one multiplexer, and wherein the at least one multiplexer is configured to multiplex data received from at least one hub.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one hub of the plurality of hubs comprises at least one multiplexer, and wherein the at least one multiplexer is configured to multiplex data originating from the at least one hub.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one VSAT comprises at least one demultiplexer, and wherein the at least one demultiplexer is configured to demultiplex data received from the at least one satellite.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein a frequency reuse plan varies depending on a proportionality of traffic provided.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one beams receives ⅓

of an available spectrum.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes one satellite with one beam for the forward downlink focused on the first geographic coverage area.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of satellites.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of satellites has a plurality of beams.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a VSAT population comprising a plurality of VSATs including the at least one VSAT; and

a hub population comprising the plurality of hubs, wherein the hub population is geographically segregated from the VSAT population.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one satellite including at least one multiplexer configured to multiplex data received from at least one hub in the hub population.