A satellite (SAT) includes a platform, at least one solar panel for supplying the satellite (SAT) with electrical energy, the solar panel being fixed along one side of the platform, the satellite comprising an antenna system (Rx+Z, Rx-Z, Tx+Z, Tx-Z) comprising two remote control antennas (Rx+Z, Rx-Z) and two remote measurement antennas (Tx+Z, Tx-Z), wherein the two remote control antennas (Rx+Z, Rx-Z) are disposed back to back on either side of the platform, and spaced one from the other by a distance less than or equal to λ, where λ corresponds to the wavelength of the remote control or remote measurement signal, the two remote measurement antennas (Tx+Z, Tx-Z) are disposed back to back, on either side of the platform, and spaced one from the other by a distance less than or equal to λ, the antenna system is disposed at one of the two ends of the side of the platform (PF) on which the solar panel (PS) is fixed.

Various arrangements for performing dynamic resource blanking on a cellular network to prevent satellite communication interference are provided. Interference modelling can be provided by a satellite operator that operates a satellite. A cellular network can receive orbital data for the satellite. Based upon the orbital data for the satellite and the interference modelling, the cellular network can blank physical resource blocks (PRBs) for uplink communication with various base stations.

Some implementations of the disclosure relate to dynamic switching of a satellite inroute data path between a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) method and a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) method. In one implementation, a satellite terminal comprises one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media configured with instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the satellite terminal to perform operations comprising: communicating, using the satellite terminal, over an inroute TDM channel; determining, based on an ingress traffic rate to the satellite terminal or a determination that the satellite terminal has not received any traffic flows classified for communication using TDM, to switch communications from the inroute TDM channel to an inroute TDMA channel; and after determining to switch communications, switching, at the satellite terminal, from communicating over the inroute TDM channel to communicating over the inroute TDMA channel.

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.

In an exemplary embodiment, a phased array antenna comprises multiple subcircuits in communication with multiple radiating elements. The radio frequency signals are independently adjusted for both polarization control and beam steering. In a receive embodiment, multiple RF signals of various polarizations are received and combined into at least one receive beam output. In a transmit embodiment, at least one transmit beam input is divided and transmitted through multiple radiating elements, with the transmitted beams having various polarizations. In an exemplary embodiment, the phased array antenna provides multi-beam formation over multiple operating frequency bands. The wideband nature of the active components allows for operation over multiple frequency bands simultaneously.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) resistant telecommunications (telecom) system includes core components mounted within and shielded by a Faraday cage. The components include a data source or storage device. An ethernet switch selectively connects the data source or storage device to a primary satellite router and a post-EMP satellite router. Telecom signals are output from and input to the core components via low noise blocks (LNBs) and block upconverters (BUCs). A method of resisting EMP interference for a telecommunications system includes the steps of enclosing and shielding core components in a Faraday cage and providing output via LNBs and BUCs to an antenna subsystem. The antenna subsystem can include one or more antenna elements with configurations chosen from the group comprising: parabolic dish; array; unidirectional; and omnidirectional. The EMP-resistant telecom can optionally be combined with a signal regenerating subsystem and used with a signal regenerating method.

A cubesat communications system includes an on-board computer implemented on a hardware platform. The on-board computer may include a system on module having a processor and a memory storing “boot” information. The on-board computer may also include a plurality of hardware interfaces implemented on the hardware platform to facilitate communication between the processor and a plurality of peripherals external to the on-board computer. The on-board computer may have a backplane having a plurality of connectors connecting the processor to the peripherals.

A system and method for communicating with an Internet Of Things (IoT) device via a satellite link. The method includes assigning a transmission mode to a physical channel, where the physical channel supports multiple timeslot durations and the transmission mode is selected from a single user (SU) or a multi-user (MU); selecting a timeslot duration from the multiple durations for a payload; obtaining, when the transmission mode is SU, a timeslot grant for use of the physical channel for the timeslot duration; and transmitting a burst including the payload, where the burst is transmitted synchronized with the timeslot grant when the transmission mode is SU and the burst is transmitted without synchronization when the transmission mode is MU.

Techniques and mechanisms for enabling the positioning of a communication terminal in or on a vehicle, building or other structure. In an embodiment, the communication terminal includes an electronically steerable antenna which is disposed in a housing. A plurality of support legs, coupled to the housing, are each configured to rotate about a respective first axis, and to further rotate about a respective second axis. For a given support leg, an orientation of the respective second axis varies with rotation of that support leg about the respective first axis. Two such support legs are mechanically coupled to one another with respect to their respective first axis rotations or with respect to their respective second axis rotations. In another embodiment, the communication terminal is operable by a user to selectively enable or disable first axis rotation and/or second axis rotation of a given support leg.

A three-loop inertial stabilization system with active jitter suppression and optical control to reduce line-of-sight (LOS) jitter based on platform induced motion in cantilevered gimbal systems. A first loop comprises at least one rate sensor, a Kalman state estimator, and a rate to angle module. A second loop comprises a mirror system, a focal plane and centroid processing module, an open-loop closed loop selector, a signal combiner and a loop integrator. A third loop comprises a fast steering mirror, offload module and at least one gimbal motor driver, wherein the three loops suppress the jitter of the cantilevered gimbal system.