Robust beam switch scheduling
Systems and methods are described for robust scheduling of beam switching patterns in satellite communications systems. Embodiments operate in context of a hub-spoke satellite communications architecture having a number of gateway terminals servicing large numbers of user terminals over a number of spot beams. The satellite includes switching subsystems that distribute capacity to the user beams from multiple of the gateway terminals in a shared manner according to a beam group switching pattern. The beam group switching pattern is robustly formulated to continue distributing capacity during gateway outages (e.g., when one or two gateway terminals are temporarily non-operational due to rain fade, equipment failure, etc.). For example, the beam group switching pattern can be formulated to minimize worst-case degradation of capacity across user beams, to prioritize certain beams or beam groups, etc.
1. A satellite comprising:
a plurality of input subsystems configured to receive communications from a plurality of beam groups, wherein each of the plurality of beam groups is associated with a corresponding input subsystem of the plurality of input subsystems and comprises a respective plurality of beams, wherein each of the input subsystems comprises:
respective receive components; and
a respective receive switch comprising a receive switch output coupled to the respective receive components, and further comprising a plurality of receive switch inputs, wherein each of the plurality of receive switch inputs is coupled to one of the respective plurality of beams of the associated beam group;
a plurality of output subsystems configured to transmit the communications to the plurality of beam groups, wherein each of the plurality of beam groups is associated with a corresponding output subsystem of the plurality of output subsystems, wherein each of the output subsystems comprises:
respective transmit components; and
a respective transmit switch comprising a transmit switch input coupled to the respective transmit components, and further comprising a plurality of transmit switch outputs, wherein each of the plurality of transmit switch outputs is coupled to one of the respective plurality of beams of the associated beam group; and
a beam group switching subsystem configured to selectively couple the respective receive components of any one of the plurality of input subsystems with the respective transmit components of any respective one of the plurality of output subsystems.
2. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein:
the respective receive switch of each of the plurality of input subsystems sequentially switches coupling of its receive switch output among one of its plurality of receive switch inputs according to an input switching pattern;
the respective output switch of each of the plurality of output subsystems sequentially switches coupling of its transmit switch output among one of its plurality of transmit switch outputs according to an output switching pattern; and
the beam group switching subsystem switches coupling among the respective receive components and the respective transmit components according to a beam group switching pattern.
3. The satellite of claim 2 , wherein the beam group switching pattern is a non-robust beam group switching pattern.
4. The satellite of claim 2 , wherein the beam group switching pattern is a robust beam group switching pattern.
5. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein:
the beam group switching subsystem comprises an N-by-N switch to couple any of N inputs with any of N outputs;
each of the N inputs is coupled with a respective one of the plurality of input subsystems; and
each of the N outputs is coupled with a respective one of the plurality of output subsystems.
6. The satellite of claim 5 , wherein the N-by-N switch is a matrix switch that provides full non-blocking cross-connectivity between all of the N inputs and all of the N outputs.
7. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the respective plurality of beams of each of the plurality of beam groups includes a gateway beam and a user beam.
8. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of input subsystems is configured to receive the communications only from the respective plurality of beams of the associated beam group, and each of the plurality of output subsystems is configured to transmit the communications only to the respective plurality of beams of the associated beam group.
9. The satellite of claim 1 , further comprising an antenna having a plurality of input feeds associated with the plurality of input subsystems, and having a plurality of output feeds associated with the plurality of output subsystems.
10. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the respective receive components of each of the input subsystems includes at least one of an amplifier and a filter.
11. The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the respective transmit components of each of the input subsystems includes at least one of an amplifier and a filter.