Within a satellite communications system, a base station communicates with standard compliant user equipment (UE) via a satellite having a field of view. The base station has a processor that instructs the satellite to generate a wide beam signal covering a plurality of cells in the field of view, and detects an access request from a user equipment within the plurality of cells over the wide beam signal. The base station, comprising a processing device such as an eNodeB, then generates one or more network broadcast/access signals that is uplink to a satellite and broadcasted via one or more nominal beams generated by the satellite, covering all the inactive cells, one of the plurality of cells having the access request.

There is provided a satellite network for data communication, the network comprising a plurality of satellites arranged in medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial user terminal and comprising at least one communications antenna operable to generate a spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial region to enable said one or more terrestrial user terminals to receive and/or send data via the spot beam. The plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover the same terrestrial region at any one time.

An earth station transmitter device is arranged for generating a signal to be transmitted to a plurality of earth station receiver devices of a satellite communication system. The earth station transmitter device comprises a plurality of shapers, each arranged for shaping and encapsulating data traffic to a different subset of earth station receiver devices; obtaining for each subset a virtual carrier outputting at a virtual carrier symbol rate a plurality of virtual carrier baseband frames. A modulator includes a time slice selector arranged for receiving and storing the virtual carriers outputted by the plurality of shapers, for selecting a stored virtual carrier baseband frame from a list of allowable virtual carriers as next frame to be multiplexed on a single stream, and for assigning to the selected virtual carrier baseband frame, from a list of allowable time slice numbers.

Systems and methods for supporting more flexible coverage areas and spatial capacity assignments using satellite communications systems are disclosed. A hub-spoke, bent-pipe satellite communications system includes: terminals; gateways; a controller for specifying data for controlling satellite operations in accordance with a frame definition including timeslots for a frame and defining an allocation of capacity between forward and return traffic; and a satellite including: pathways; at least one LNA, an output of which is for coupling to a pathway and to amplify uplink beam signals in accordance with the allocation; and at least one HPA, an input of which is for coupling to the pathway and to amplify downlink beam signals in accordance with the allocation, and wherein the frame definition specifies at least one pathway as a forward pathway for at least one timeslot and as a return pathway for at least one other timeslot in the frame.

Disclosed embodiments relate satellites using a Software-Defined Radio (“SDR”) system. In one example, a geostationary (GEO) satellite includes an antenna system including multiple antennas, each configured to provide a spot beam having an adjustable throughput for a terrestrial coverage area while the antenna is in an active state and the satellite is in orbit above the Earth, a front-end subsystem communicatively coupled to the antenna system having an input side including an input filter and an analog-to-digital converter, and an output side including an output filter and a digital-to-analog converter, and a software defined radio (“SDR”) communicatively coupled to the antenna system via the front-end subsystem. The SDR, in response to a surge modification request, modifies a throughput of each active antenna by increasing or decreasing a share of a satellite power budget allotted to the antenna by deactivating or activating a previously active or previously inactive antenna, respectively.

A method is provided for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of signals from a LEO satellite towards a plurality of ground terminals located within a pre-defined range of distances from the LEO satellite, wherein the plurality of signals have a pre-defined overall capacity; at least two of the plurality of signals have each a power level that is different from a power level of the other of the at least two signals; and each signal transmitted to a respective ground terminal is selected so as to ensure that its power level is the lowest from among the signals that are simultaneously transmitted, yet the selected signal has a sufficient power to enable its proper reception at a distance which extends between the respective ground terminal and the LEO satellite.

A method is provided for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of signals from a LEO satellite towards a plurality of ground terminals located within a pre-defined range of distances from the LEO satellite, wherein the plurality of signals have a pre-defined overall capacity; at least two of the plurality of signals have each a power level that is different from a power level of the other of the at least two signals; and each signal transmitted to a respective ground terminal is selected so as to ensure that its power level is the lowest from among the signals that are simultaneously transmitted, yet the selected signal has a sufficient power to enable its proper reception at a distance which extends between the respective ground terminal and the LEO satellite.

A downlink interference is dynamically suppressed in a multi-feeder link of a same frequency between an aerial-floating type communication relay apparatus and plural gateway (GW) stations with a simple configuration. A plurality of pilot signals, which are spectrally spread using a plurality of spread codes orthogonal to each other, are transmitted and received between the relay communication station of the aerial-staying type communication relay apparatus and plural GW stations, a propagation path response between plural GW stations and an antenna for feeder link of the communication relay apparatus in a transmission signal band of the feeder link is estimated based on reception results in which the plural pilot signals are spectrally inverse-spread, plural weights respectively corresponding to the plural of GW stations are calculated based on the plural propagation path responses, and with respect to each of the plural GW stations, a signal to be transmitted and received via a directional beam corresponding to another GW station is multiplied by the weight corresponding to the other GW station and subtracted from a signal to be transmitted and received via the directional beam corresponding to the GW station.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer-readable media, for location management for satellite systems. In some implementations, a controller of a satellite network system receives location data from a user terminal and registers the user terminal in a mobility area with a core network. The controller updates a mapping between satellite beams and mobility areas as the satellite beams move along the ground with respect to the mobility areas, then uses the updated mapping to communicate with the user terminal using an appropriate satellite beam. In some implementations, a controller of a satellite network system determines a mapping of satellite beams to mobility areas, and broadcasts, for each of multiple satellite beams, a message indicating (i) a set of mobility areas that are at least partially covered by the satellite beam and (ii) an indication of boundaries of the mobility areas in the set of mobility areas.

A frequency conversion beam squint correction method of an active phase array antenna system including a plurality (m) of beamforming units configured of an antenna, a first amplifier, a phase shifter, a variable attenuator, and a second amplifier, the method includes the steps of: adjusting a delay time of an applied RF signal by arranging m/2 true time delays (TTDs) for every two adjacent beamforming units; and converting the frequency of the RF signal by mixing the RF signal transferred to each of the m/2 true time delays and a local oscillation signal using a mixer.