Methods and systems are described for providing end-to-end beamforming. For example, end-to-end beamforming systems include end-to-end relays and ground networks to provide communications to user terminals located in user beam coverage areas. The ground segment can include geographically distributed access nodes and a central processing system. Return uplink signals, transmitted from the user terminals, have multipath induced by a plurality of receive/transmit signal paths in the end to end relay and are relayed to the ground network. The ground network, using beamformers, recovers user data streams transmitted by the user terminals from return downlink signals. The ground network, using beamformers generates forward uplink signals from appropriately weighted combinations of user data streams that, after relay by the end-end-end relay, produce forward downlink signals that combine to form user beams.

A transmission system includes encoding and modulation means for encoding and mapping a plurality of baseband frames of information bits, each baseband frame associated with a modulation and coding type, to a plurality of frames of encoded and modulated symbols; generator means to generate one or more values to determine a superframe length; framing means arranged for inserting synchronization symbols and preambles into frames of the plurality of frames of encoded and modulated symbols, so obtaining a plurality of superframes, each preamble indicating the start of a superframe; spreading means arranged to receive the plurality of superframes (or a version thereof), and to spread each symbol in the plurality of superframes with a spreading sequence to a chip sequence, so obtaining a plurality of spread superframes. One or more values determine for a current superframe a frame length different from the frame length of the preceding superframe.

A system can communicate, by a satellite, with a user equipment according to a defined wireless communication protocol, and receive a radio-frequency communication from the user equipment via a satellite service link. The system can perform a programmable band-pass filter on the radio-frequency communication to produce a filtered communication. The system can perform an analog-to-digital conversion on the filtered communication to produce a digital communication. The system can create a packet header for the digital communication. The system can encapsulate the digital communication with the packet header to produce an encapsulated digital communication. The system can transmit the encapsulated digital communication to a first next-hop satellite via an inter-satellite link, wherein the inter-satellite link comprises a communication mode, and wherein the first next-hop satellite is configured to transmit the encapsulated digital communication to the terrestrial base station or to a second next-hop satellite.

Techniques for processing of satellite sensor data by a mobile ground station are described. A satellite transmission from a tasked satellite is received by a mobile ground station, the satellite transmission including unprocessed downlink data. A software-defined radio (SDR) definition associated with a tasked satellite is selected from a plurality of SDR definitions stored by the mobile ground station. A sensor data processing (SDP) application associated with the tasked satellite is selected from a plurality of SDP applications stored by the mobile ground station. An SDR application is executed to extract the collected sensor data from the unprocessed downlink data, the SDR application is loaded with the selected SDR definition. The selected SDP application is executed to generate a product from the collected sensor data. The product is caused to be displayed on a display device.

Methods and systems are described for providing end-to-end beamforming. For example, end-to-end beamforming systems include end-to-end relays and ground networks to provide communications to user terminals located in user beam coverage areas. The ground segment can include geographically distributed access nodes and a central processing system. Return uplink signals, transmitted from the user terminals, have multipath induced by a plurality of receive/transmit signal paths in the end to end relay and are relayed to the ground network. The ground network, using beamformers, recovers user data streams transmitted by the user terminals from return downlink signals. The ground network, using beamformers generates forward uplink signals from appropriately weighted combinations of user data streams that, after relay by the end-end-end relay, produce forward downlink signals that combine to form user beams.

A computing device including a processor configured to receive satellite status data from satellites included in a satellite constellation. The processor is further configured to determine a link topology of the satellites. Based at least in part on the satellite status data and the link topology, the processor is further configured to identify a first satellite constellation subset including one or more selected satellite pairs. Identifying the one or more selected satellite pairs includes computing respective link utility values associated with a plurality of candidate pairs of satellites included in the satellite constellation based at least in part on the satellite status data and the link topology. The one or more selected satellite pairs are selected based at least in part on the link utility values. The processor is further configured to transmit, to the satellites included in the first satellite constellation subset, instructions to perform intersatellite imaging data transfer.

The disclosed system provides distributed management and control of satellite constellations. Such distributed management and control that involves a plurality of satellites, a plurality of ground stations, a mission control station, and a data center that hosts a portion of an Internet cloud. The system resolves issues that have plagued legacy attempts. Specifically the disclosed system includes optimized communication with satellites that leads to more efficient transfer of data and payloads to or from or by or between satellites and ground control systems. This is achieved through use of micro-batching of communications. In this manner, data may be processed and more effectively transmitted to and from more than one satellite and back to one or more ground stations, including coordinated transmissions of portions of a micro-batch between two or more ground stations.

Systems and methods for outroute load balancing in a multi-band hybrid satellite communication system include comparing the load metric of each of code rate organizers (CROs) to a threshold value; placing each CRO in one of a surplus load balancing set and a deficit balancing set based on a value of the load metric; and determining a probability metric for each satellite terminal associated with each of the CROs in the surplus load balancing set. The probability metric indicates a probability of the terminal moving to one of the CROs in the deficit load balancing set. At least one satellite terminal associated with one of the CROs in the surplus load balancing set is then caused to switch to one of the CROs in the deficit load balancing set based on the probability metric of the at least one satellite terminal.

Systems and methods for a satellite communication system include identifying highly active terminals (HUTs) in a spot beam of a satellite; determining a first ratio of single-band HUTs that operate in a first frequency band only to multi-band HUTs that operate in the first frequency band and a second frequency band; and determining a second ratio of outroutes for the first frequency band to outroutes for the second frequency band. When the first ratio is less than the second ratio, a first step of balancing the single-band HUTs across the outroutes for the first frequency band is performed, and then the multi-band HUTs are balanced across both the outroutes for the first frequency band and the outroutes for the second frequency band. When the first ratio is greater than the second ratio, the single-band HUTs and the multi-band HUTs are allocated based on at least one weight factor.

Methods and systems are described for providing end-to-end beamforming. For example, end-to-end beamforming systems include end-to-end relays and ground networks to provide communications to user terminals located in user beam coverage areas. The ground segment can include geographically distributed access nodes and a central processing system. Return uplink signals, transmitted from the user terminals, have multipath induced by a plurality of receive/transmit signal paths in the end to end relay and are relayed to the ground network. The ground network, using beamformers, recovers user data streams transmitted by the user terminals from return downlink signals. The ground network, using beamformers generates forward uplink signals from appropriately weighted combinations of user data streams that, after relay by the end-end-end relay, produce forward downlink signals that combine to form user beams.