DYNAMIC INROUTE RECONFIGURATION IN SATELLITE SYSTEMS

1 . A method comprising:

selecting a set of factors for use in reconfiguring inroutes in a satellite communication system;

defining a state representative of inroute layouts based on the set of factors;

determining a metric for a current state representative of a current inroute layout;

optimizing the metric by:

performing a state search to identify a new state representative of a new inroute layout, and

comparing a metric for the new state to a metric for a current or previous state until a convergence criteria is satisfied; and

reconfiguring the inroute layouts of the satellite communication system to correspond with the inroute layouts represented by the new state.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the satellite communication system comprises a fixed number of inroute groups; and

the state is defined based on a number of inroutes contained in each inroute group.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a state search comprises:

selecting a number of inroutes for each inroute group that is less than a maximum number of inroutes supported by the satellite communication system using a random distribution; and

determining if a bandwidth occupied by all the selected inroutes is less than or equal to a total available bandwidth.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing a state search comprises:

selecting one or more static rules to define criteria corresponding to desired system performance metrics; and

performing at least one of adding one inroute, deleting one inroute, and modifying the inroute layout until the criteria defined by the one or more static rules are satisfied.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of factors is weighted based on system priority, performance, or both.

6 . The method of claim 1 , the state is defined based on a symbol rate for each inroute and a center frequency corresponding to each inroute.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein:

the symbol rate for each inroute is randomly selected from a set of supported symbol rates; and

the center frequencies are randomly selected based, at least in part, on channel spacing.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the state is defined based on a symbol rate for each inroute and a center frequency corresponding to each inroute; and

performing a state search comprises selecting a neighbor state of the current state.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein performing a state search further comprises randomly performing one of adding one inroute, deleting one inroute, modifying one inroute symbol rate, and modifying one inroute center frequency.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing a spectrum available in a user beam into multiple sub-bands having independent inroute layouts,

wherein reconfiguring the inroute layouts comprises reconfiguring the inroute layouts of each sub-band.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein spectrum assigned to sub-bands within a user beam can be dynamically redistributed.

12 . An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

select a set of factors for use in reconfiguring inroutes in a satellite communication system;

define a state representative of inroute layouts based on the set of factors;

determine a metric for a current state representative of a current inroute layout;

optimize the metric by:

performing a state search to identify a new state representative of a new inroute layout, and

comparing a metric for the new state to a metric for a current or previous state until a convergence criteria is satisfied; and

reconfigure the inroute layouts of the satellite communication system to correspond with the inroute layouts represented by the new state.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:

the satellite communication system comprises a fixed number of inroute groups; and

the one or more processors are configured to define the state based on a number of inroutes contained in each inroute group.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform a state search by:

selecting a number of inroutes for each inroute group that is less than a maximum number of inroutes supported by the satellite communication system using a random distribution; and

determining if a bandwidth occupied by all the selected inroutes is less than or equal to a total available bandwidth.

15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform a state search by:

selecting one or more static rules to define criteria corresponding to desired system performance metrics; and

performing at least one of adding one inroute, deleting one inroute, and modifying the inroute layout until the criteria defined by the one or more static rules are satisfied.

16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , the set of factors is weighted based on system priority, performance, or both.

17 . The apparatus of claim 12 , the state is defined based on a symbol rate for each inroute and a center frequency corresponding to each inroute.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

randomly select the symbol rate for each inroute from a set of supported symbol rates; and

randomly select the center frequencies based, at least in part, on channel spacing.

19 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:

the state is defined based on a symbol rate for each inroute and a center frequency corresponding to each inroute; and

the one or more processors are further configured to perform a state search by selecting a neighbor state of the current state.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform a state search by randomly performing one of adding one inroute, deleting one inroute, modifying one inroute symbol rate, and modifying one inroute center frequency.