A communication terminal may include control circuitry and an array of antenna modules. Each module may include radiators on a substrate, a lens overlapping the radiators, a transceiver chain, and switching circuitry. The control circuitry may control the switching circuitry to activate a set of one or more radiators in a given module. The control circuitry may control the transceiver chain in that module to convey signals at a selected phase using each of the active radiators. Each of the active radiators may convey the signals over signal beams oriented in different directions by the lens. The control circuitry may adjust the active radiators in each module and may adjust the selected phase for each of the modules to generate a combined signal beam in a desired direction. The combined signal beam may be generated using signals from the active radiators in two or more modules across the array.

An aggregated communication network includes one or more communication networks and a plurality of network nodes arranged in a plurality of hierarchical layers, the network nodes including a central node at a highest layer and a remaining network nodes being arranged, as part of the one or more communication networks, in layers below the highest layer, with one or more spatially distributed network nodes at each layer below the highest layer. The network nodes in each communication network are interconnected in a tree-like structure via communication links, with respective sub-branches extending from the network nodes via network nodes in lower layers. The one or more communication networks are connected to the central node in a star-like structure via respective communication links between the central node and respective network nodes in a next-to-highest layer. The communication links between network nodes in a lowest layer.

A method for multibeam coverage of a region of the surface of the Earth includes the generation, by a telecommunications payload embedded on a satellite, of a plurality of radiofrequency beams, called elementary beams; the formation of a plurality of radiofrequency beams, called composite beams, exhibiting footprints on the ground of different sizes, each the composite beam being obtained by the grouping of one or more elementary beams; and the transmission or the reception of data through the composite beams, identical data being transmitted or received through all the elementary beams forming one and the same composite beam.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for a virtual transponder utilizing inband telemetry are disclosed. A disclosed method for a virtual transponder utilizing inband telemetry comprises receiving, by a vehicle, encrypted host commands from a host spacecraft operations center (SOC). The method further comprises receiving, by the vehicle via the host SOC, encrypted hosted commands from a hosted payload (HoP) operation center (HOC). Also, the method comprises reconfiguring a payload on the vehicle according to unencrypted host commands and/or unencrypted hosted commands. In addition, the method comprises transmitting payload data to a host receiving antenna and/or a hosted receiving antenna. In addition, the method comprises transmitting, by a host telemetry transmitter on the vehicle, encrypted host telemetry to the host SOC. Further, the method comprises transmitting, by the payload antenna, encrypted hosted telemetry to the HOC.

An optimisation method is presented for the transmission of data along any radio frequency link which can be split into distinct transmission blocks, an example being a beam hopping system. By reordering the packets to be transmitted, it is possible to send packets either at, or nearer to, their optimal modulation and encoding configuration. This will allow for a higher bit to symbol conversion for the majority of packets and hence more data bits can be sent for the same number of symbols.

A device in a population of devices arranged at a celestial body for transmitting data to a relay station orbiting the celestial body. The relay station and the population of devices are to travel with respect to one another such that the relay station is to receive signals that include the data in data packages from the population of devices. The device includes trajectory data of the relay station, a transmitter to use the trajectory data so as to transmit a signal that is part of the signals, a data processor, and a computer program which, when executing on the data processor, is to calculate a Doppler shift based upon the trajectory data, and modify the signal to thereby compensate for the Doppler shift of the signal that results from the travelling of the relay station and the population of devices with respect to one another.

A satellite system may have a constellation of communications satellites in orbits such as highly inclined eccentric geosynchronous orbits and low earth orbits. Satellite terminals may be used to communicate with the satellite constellation. The satellite terminals may have control circuitry that dynamically adjusts phased antenna array circuitry to steer antenna beams towards one or more satellites. Multiple antenna beams may be steered in different directions simultaneously. A satellite terminal may be used in simultaneously transmitting and receiving data from different respective satellites and may be used in transmitting and receiving satellite signals in multiple satellite bands. The satellite terminal may have an outdoor unit that is coupled to an indoor unit over a digital communications path. The outdoor unit may include the phased antenna array circuitry and transceiver and modem circuitry, whereas the indoor unit may cache media and serve as a firewall, router, and wireless access point.

Embodiments provide in-flight configuration of satellite pathways to flexibly service terra-link and cross-link traffic in a constellation of non-processed satellites, for example, to facilitate flexible forward-channel and return-channel capacity in a satellite communications system. For example, each satellite in the constellation can include one or more dynamically configurable pathway, and switching and/or beamforming can be used to configure each pathway to be a forward-channel pathway or a return-channel pathway in each of a number of timeslots according to a pathway configuration schedule. At least some of the pathways can be further selectively configured, in each timeslot, to carry “terra-link” traffic to and/or from terrestrial terminals and “cross-link” traffic to and/or from one or more other satellites of the constellation.

A power amplifier comprising: a first amplifier; a second amplifier, wherein the first and second amplifiers are arranged in parallel; an analogue pre-distortion network; a first coupler; and a second coupler, wherein the first coupler is configured to receive an input signal, direct said input signal to the first amplifier, and direct a first pre-distortion signal to the analogue pre-distortion network, wherein the first pre-distortion signal comprises a first distortion component generated at the input of the first amplifier, and the analogue pre-distortion network is configured to receive the first pre-distortion signal and manipulate its amplitude and/or phase to obtain a manipulated first pre-distortion signal, and the second coupler is configured to direct the manipulated first pre-distortion signal to the second amplifier.

Aspects of wireless communication are described, including a radiofrequency (RF) amplifier chip, configured for transmitting or receiving data, comprising a first substrate comprising a first material and a second substrate comprising a second material that is different from the first material. The first substrate and the second substrate may be lattice-matched such that an interface region between the first substrate and the second substrate exhibits an sp3 carbon peak at about 1332 cm.Math..sup.1 having a full width half maximum of no more than 5.0 cm.Math..sup.1 as measured by Raman spectroscopy. In some aspects, the first substrate and said second substrate permit said chip to transmit or receive data at a transfer rate of at least 500 megabits per second and a frequency of at least 8 GHz. In some aspects, the RF amplifier chip is part of a satellite transmitter.