Method of seamless protection switching of packets at the satellite, from two matching steams of packets from two separate uplink sites

1. A telecommunications satellite configured to:

receive a first stream of data packets transmitted by a first transmission site and a second stream of data packets transmitted by a second transmission site;

align the data packets in the first stream and the data packets in the second stream using matching timestamp information included in packet header information of the data packets of the first and second streams, analyze corresponding data packets in the first stream and the second stream to identify missing or corrupted data packets, and select data packets to place into forward transmission based upon the analysis; and

transmit the selected data packets to at least one receive site.

2. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein the second stream of data packets is a duplicate of the first stream of data packets.

3. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein the first transmission site and the second transmission site are geographically separated.

4. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first transmission site and the second transmission site is a ground transmission location.

5. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first transmission site and the second transmission site is another telecommunications satellite.

6. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications satellite is configured to use matching reference stamps included in the first stream and the second stream in the aligning the data packets.

7. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein the packet header information of the data packets of the first and second streams includes matching sequence numbering, and

wherein the telecommunications satellite is configured to use the matching sequence numbering to align the data packets in the first stream and the data packets in the second stream.

8. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein telecommunications satellite is configured to use a packet merging technique on the data in the first and second streams to place into forward transmission, resulting in a lossless packet stream for forward transmission.

9. The telecommunications satellite according to claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications satellite is configured to, in response to identifying a missing or corrupted data packet in the first stream, select a corresponding data packet from the second stream to place into forward transmission.

10. A telecommunications satellite configured to:

receive a first stream of data packets transmitted by a first transmission site and a second stream of data packets transmitted by a second transmission site, and to receive at least one additional stream of data packets transmitted by at least one additional transmission site;

align the data packets in the first stream and the data packets in the second stream based on packet header information of the data packets of the first and second streams, identify a data packet that is corrupt or missing in both the first stream and the second stream, and in response to identifying the data packet that is corrupt or missing in both the first stream and the second stream, select a corresponding data packet in one of the at least one additional stream of data packets to place into forward transmission; and

transmit the selected data packets to at least one receive site.

11. A method for packet merging at a satellite, the method comprising:

receiving, by a receiver on the satellite, a first stream of data packets transmitted from a first transmission site;

receiving, by the receiver on the satellite, a second stream of data packets transmitted from a second transmission site;

aligning the data packets in the first stream and the data packets in the second stream using matching timestamp information included in packet header information of the data packets of the first and second streams;

analyzing corresponding data packets in the first stream and the second stream to identify missing or corrupted data packets;

selecting data packets to place into forward transmission based upon the analysis; and

transmitting, by a transmitter on the satellite, the selected data packets to at least one receive site.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the second stream of data packets is a duplicate of the first stream of data packets.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first transmission site and the second transmission site are geographically separated.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first transmission site and the second transmission site is a ground transmission location.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first transmission site and the second transmission site is another telecommunications satellite.

16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the aligning comprises using matching reference stamps included in the first stream and the second stream to align the data packets.

17. The method according to claim 11 , wherein packet header information of the data packets in the first and second streams includes matching sequence numbering, and

wherein the data packets in the first and second streams are aligned using the matching sequence numbering.

18. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the selecting comprises using a packet merging technique on the data in the first and second streams to place into forward transmission, resulting in a lossless packet stream for forward transmission.

19. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the selecting comprises:

identifying a missing or corrupted data packet in the first stream of packets, and selecting a corresponding data packet from the second stream; or

identifying a missing or corrupted data packet in the second stream of packets; and selecting a corresponding data packet from the first stream to place into forward transmission.

20. A method for packet merging at a satellite, the method comprising:

receiving, by a receiver on the satellite, a first stream of data packets transmitted from a first transmission site;

receiving, by the receiver on the satellite, a second stream of data packets transmitted from a second transmission site;

receiving, by the receiver on the satellite, at least one additional stream of data packets transmitted from at least one additional transmission site;

aligning the data packets in the first stream and the data packets in the second stream based on packet header information of the data packets of the first and second streams;

identifying a data packet that is corrupt or missing in both the first stream and the second stream;

in response to identifying a data packet that is corrupt or missing in both the first stream and the second stream, selecting a corresponding data packet in one of the at least one additional stream of data packets to place into forward transmission; and

transmitting, by a transmitter on the satellite, the selected data packets to at least one receive site.