ADAPTIVE MULTIBEAM SATELLITE PAYLOAD BY MEANS OF COVERAGE RECONFIGURATION

This paper presents a set of algorithms aiming at the reconfiguration of a multibeam satellite coverage by control of the beam forming networks. Two kinds of algorithm are studied : one for the satellite gain management and the other for channels to beam allocation. The reconfigurable system is compared to a fixed coverage one using a switching matrix for the allocation of satellite channels to beams. It is shown that for short time communications (typically 100 ms) the reconfigurable system, offers, with the same antenna size, a dramatic increase in terms of the number of potential customers while maintaining a service quality comparable to that offered by the fixed coverage system using a switching matrix for the allocation of satellite channels to beams. The service quality is described here by two parameters : waiting time and blocking probability. However for communications with longer duration (typically several minutes) the degradation is unbearable.