NZ792434B2

NZ792434B2 - Flexible intra-satellite signal pathways

Info

Publication number: NZ792434B2
Application number: NZ792434A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: Donald Becker; Aaron Mendelsohn
Original assignee: Viasat Inc
Filing date: 2017-09-22
Publication date: 2025-06-04

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for enabling flexible signal pathways within a satellite of a satellite communications system. For example, a pathway selection subsystem in a bent-pipe satellite enables a flexible arrangement of non-processed signal pathways that couple uplink antenna ports with downlink antenna ports via uplink and downlink pathway selectors. The pathway selectors can be dynamically reconfigured (e.g., on orbit), so that the configuration of the pathway selectors at one time can form one set of signal pathways between respective uplink and downlink antenna ports, and the configuration at another time can form a different set of signal pathways between respective uplink and downlink antenna ports. The pathway selection subsystem can have a simulcast mode which, when active, couples each of at least one of the uplink antenna ports with multiple of the user downlink antenna ports to form one or more simulcast signal pathways.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of flexible intra-satellite routing of communications between a plurality of fixed spot beams, the method comprising: first switching a pathway selector system at a first time to a first one of a plurality of configurations, so as to couple one of a plurality of uplink antenna ports with one of a plurality of downlink antenna ports to form a monocast non-processed signal pathway that couples an Uplink Pathway Selector (UPS) associated with the one uplink antenna port with a Downlink Pathway Selector (DPS) associated with the one downlink antenna port; first transmitting first traffic over one of a plurality of fixed spot beams via the monocast non-processed signal pathway and the one downlink antenna port, the first traffic received at the one uplink antenna port while the pathway selector system is in the first configuration; second switching the pathway selector system at a second time to a second one of the plurality of configurations, so as to couple the one uplink antenna port with multiple of the plurality of downlink antenna ports to form a simulcast non- processed signal pathway that couples the associated UPS to an input of a divider-combiner network (DCN), with the DCN having multiple outputs corresponding to the input, each such output coupled to a respective one among multiple DPSs, with each such DPS associated with a respective one among the multiple downlink antenna ports; and second transmitting second traffic concurrently over multiple of the plurality of fixed spot beams via the simulcast non-processed signal pathway and the multiple downlink antenna ports, the second traffic received at the one uplink antenna port while the pathway selector system is in the second configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of uplink antenna ports are gateway uplink antenna ports; the plurality of downlink antenna ports are user downlink antenna ports; and the first and second traffic are forward-link traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of uplink antenna ports are user uplink antenna ports; the plurality of downlink antenna ports are gateway downlink antenna ports; and the first and second traffic are return-link traffic.

4. The method of any of claims 1 - 3, wherein: one of a plurality of the UPSs comprises: a UPS input coupled with the one uplink antenna port; and a plurality of UPS outputs, each coupled with a respective one of a plurality of the DPSs, each DPS further coupled with a respective one of the plurality of downlink antenna ports; and the first switching comprises selecting one of the plurality of UPS outputs of the one UPS at the first time, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the one downlink antenna port via the one UPS and one of the DPSs to form the monocast non-processed signal pathway.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the plurality of UPS outputs are UPS monocast outputs; the one UPS further comprises a simulcast output coupled with the DCN, the DCN further coupled with a simulcast input of each DPS; and the second switching comprises selecting the simulcast output of the one UPS at the second time, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the multiple of the plurality of downlink antenna ports via the simulcast output of the one UPS, the DCN, and the simulcast inputs of multiple of the DPSs to form the simulcast non-processed signal pathway.

6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein: each of a plurality of DPSs comprises: a DPS output coupled with the one downlink antenna port; and a plurality of DPS inputs, each coupled with a respective one of a plurality of UPSs, each UPS further coupled with a respective one of the plurality of uplink antenna ports; and the first switching comprises selecting one of the plurality of DPS inputs of the one DPS at the first time, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the one downlink antenna port via one of the UPSs and the one DPS to form the monocast non-processed signal pathway.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein: the second switching comprises selecting one of the DPS inputs of each of at least two of the DPSs at the second time to couple the at least two DPSs with the one UPS, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the multiple downlink antenna ports via the one UPS and the at least two DPSs to form the simulcast non-processed signal pathway.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein: each of the plurality of UPSs comprises: a UPS input coupled with a respective one of the plurality of uplink antenna ports; a plurality of UPS outputs, each coupled with a respective one of the plurality of DPSs; and the first switching comprises selecting, at the first time, both the one of the plurality of DPS inputs of the one DPS and one of the plurality of UPS outputs of one of the plurality of UPSs, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the one downlink antenna port via the one of the UPSs and the one DPSs to form the monocast non-processed signal pathway.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein: the plurality of DPS inputs are DPS monocast inputs; each of the plurality of DPSs further comprises a simulcast input coupled with a respective output of the DCN; and the plurality of UPS outputs are UPS monocast outputs; the one UPS further comprises a simulcast output coupled with an input of the DCN; the second switching comprises selecting the simulcast output of the one UPS and selecting the simulcast input of each of multiple of the DPSs at the second time, such that the selecting couples the one uplink antenna port with the multiple of the plurality of downlink antenna ports via the simulcast output of the one UPS, the DCN, and the simulcast inputs of the multiple DPSs to form the simulcast non-processed signal pathway.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the plurality of uplink antenna ports is coupled with the pathway selector system via a plurality of input subsystems, each input subsystem comprising a low-noise amplifier.

11. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the plurality of downlink antenna ports is coupled with the pathway selector system via a plurality of output subsystems, each output subsystem comprising a respective portion of a multiport amplifier.

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first switching to the first configuration and the second switching to the second configuration are according to a pathway selection schedule stored in a memory of the pathway selector system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the pathway selector system is disposed in a satellite, and further comprising: receiving control information by the satellite from a ground terminal while the satellite is in orbit; and updating the pathway selection schedule in the memory according to the control information.