Robust beam switch scheduling
First Claim
1. A method for robust sharing of gateway resources between a plurality of gateway terminals and a plurality of user terminals over a plurality of beams, the method comprising:
- receiving return-link communications at input subsystems of a satellite from a plurality of user terminals via a plurality of input beams;
sequentially coupling at least one of the input subsystems with a plurality of output subsystems according to a beam group switching pattern in such a way that return-link capacity of each of at least a subset of the input beams is serviced in a shared manner by at least two of the output subsystems; and
transmitting the return-link communications from output subsystems of the satellite to a plurality of gateway terminals via a plurality of output beams.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are described for robust scheduling of beam switching patterns in satellite communications systems. Embodiments operate in context of a hub-spoke satellite communications architecture having a number of gateway terminals servicing large numbers of user terminals over a number of spot beams. The satellite includes switching subsystems that distribute capacity to the user beams from multiple of the gateway terminals in a shared manner according to a beam group switching pattern. The beam group switching pattern is robustly formulated to continue distributing capacity during gateway outages (e.g., when one or two gateway terminals are temporarily non-operational due to rain fade, equipment failure, etc.). For example, the beam group switching pattern can be formulated to minimize worst-case degradation of capacity across user beams, to prioritize certain beams or beam groups, etc.
43 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for robust sharing of gateway resources between a plurality of gateway terminals and a plurality of user terminals over a plurality of beams, the method comprising:
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receiving return-link communications at input subsystems of a satellite from a plurality of user terminals via a plurality of input beams; sequentially coupling at least one of the input subsystems with a plurality of output subsystems according to a beam group switching pattern in such a way that return-link capacity of each of at least a subset of the input beams is serviced in a shared manner by at least two of the output subsystems; and transmitting the return-link communications from output subsystems of the satellite to a plurality of gateway terminals via a plurality of output beams. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for robust sharing of gateway resources between a plurality of gateway terminals and a plurality of user terminals over a plurality of beams, the system comprising:
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non-transient processor-readable storage disposed to store a beam group switching pattern; a matrix switch, having a plurality of inputs disposed to couple with input subsystems of a satellite and having a plurality of outputs disposed to couple with output subsystems of a satellite, and disposed to couple the inputs with the outputs; and a processor disposed to switch the matrix switch according to the beam group switching pattern to sequentially couples each of the inputs to a respective one of the outputs during each of a plurality of time slots, such that; forward-link capacity is provided in a shared manner by at least two of the input subsystems when forward-link communications are received at the input subsystems from at least two gateway terminals and transmitted via the output subsystems to at least one user terminal; and return-link capacity is serviced in a shared manner by at least two of the output subsystems when return-link communications are received at the input subsystems from at least one user terminal and transmitted via the output subsystems to at least two gateway terminals. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification