Method for defining the flexible payload of a telecommunications satellite with low-interference-level beam hopping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11075692-B2
Application number	US-201916569333-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2019
Priority date	Sep 13, 2018
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

A method for defining the flexible payload of a telecommunications satellite with low-interference-level beam hopping includes: a first step of defining the capacity from which each beam must benefit on account of the density of exchanges to be delivered by the beam; a second step of determining, depending on the various power-amplifier sharing schemes, the maximum number Pi of beams that an amplifier is able to deliver and the average capacity allocated to each beam; a third step of forming groups of beams, each characterized by the average value of the cumulative capacity of the beams that form it, and determining the number of amplifiers required for each formed group; a fourth step, during which the various beams are distributed between various amplifiers, in such a way that the average value of the load placed on these beams is substantially equal to the average load of the group in question.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for distributing the capacity of a communication satellite between the various beams intended to cover a given geographical zone, said zone being divided into a plurality of spots, each spot being irradiated by one given beam emitted by one radiating element of a satellite antenna and requiring a given capacity, said method comprising the steps of:
a first step of defining, for each beam, the capacity from which the beam must benefit on account of a density of exchanges occurring in a corresponding spot;
a second step of generating a table indicating, for a power amplifier having various operating bandwidth and power characteristics, a maximum number P i of beams that the amplifier is able to deliver and an average capacity allocated to each beam, depending on various amplifier sharing schemes;
a third step of forming groups of beams, each group being characterized by an average value of the capacity of the beams forming the group in question, and determining a number of amplifiers required in each group to deliver all of the beams forming this group;
a fourth step of allocating available resources by distributing the various beams between various amplifiers, the beams assigned to a given amplifier being determined in such a way that the average value of the capacity demanded by these beams is equal to a reference average capacity computed for the group in question.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the third step is an iterative step that implements the following substeps:
a first substep during which the method computes, for a set of N T beams classed in increasing order of capacity, the average value of the cumulative capacity of these beams, the capacity required for each beam having been determined in the first step;
a second substep, during which the method according to the invention associates, in a first group i, the N i beams for which the average value of the cumulative capacity is closest to a given value, Ci_obj, of the average capacity per beam; this value being determined, from the data of the table generated in the second step, so as to maximize the number of beams able to be delivered by the power amplifiers available to the satellite while ensuring an optimal link budget;
the N i beams associated in a given group i at the end of a given iteration being withdrawn from the N beams considered in the execution of a new iteration;
the iterations being interrupted once the N T beams have been grouped.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the fourth step of allocating resources, the method couples a plurality of beams depending on the sharing scheme of the group forming a given group i and using a same subband to associate said beams with a given amplifier.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the fourth step comprises the following phases of execution:
a first phase during which each group of beams formed is classified depending on the sharing scheme that is associated therewith, the groups of beams associated with a sharing scheme employing neither beam coupling nor beam hopping not being the subject of any subsequent systematic group-assignment operation;
a second phase during which it is determined, for each group subjectable to a grouping operation, whether the sharing scheme that is associated therewith employs N-beam beam coupling;
a third phase that groups beams of the group in question into groups of N; this third phase being executed if the sharing scheme associated with the group employs N-beam beam coupling;
a fourth phase during which it is determined, for each group subjectable to a grouping operation, whether the sharing scheme that is associated therewith employs M-beam beam hopping;
a fifth phase during which beams of the group in question are grouped into groups of M; this fifth phase being executed if the sharing scheme associated with the group employs M-beam beam hopping;
a sixth phase during which, for each group, depending on the groupings performed, an amplifier is assigned to each beam;
a seventh phase during which, for each group the beams of which have been assigned to no group, an amplifier is directly assigned to each beam.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein for each group associated with a sharing scheme employing beam coupling and beam hopping, the fifth phase groups the beams of the groups using the grouping into subgroups of N beams carried out in the third phase of the fourth step.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein during the fifth phase of the fourth step, the beams are grouped by grouping subgroups of N beams into structures each made up of k2N beams, these structures being formed by carrying out two steps:
a first iterative step of producing 2N-beam structures containing the beams of two groups of N beams, such that each structure is formed by that of the not yet associated groups having a maximum cumulative capacity and that of the not yet associated groups having therewith a minimum cumulative capacity;
a second iterative step of producing structures containing the beams of 2k groups of N beams (k>1: if k=1 the process stops with the 2N-beam grouping described above);
the second step being repeated iteratively until MN-beam structures are obtained, MN being equal to the number of beams able to be delivered by an amplifier for the subband in question, in accordance with the adopted sharing scheme.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the first step, of producing 2N-beam structures containing the beams of two groups of N beams, consists in performing the following operations:
determining the group of N beams having the maximum cumulative capacity;
determining a second group of N beams having in addition with the first the minimum cumulative capacity;
associating the two groups in order to form a 2N-beam structure;
repeating the preceding operations until all the groups of N beams are grouped into 2N-beam structures, or there remains only one group.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the second iterative step of producing structures containing the beams of 2k groups of N beams consists in performing the following operations:
determining the kN-beam structure having the maximum cumulative capacity;
determining a second group of kN beams having in addition with the first the minimum cumulative capacity;
associating two structures to form a 2 kN-beam structure;
repeating, until all the kN-beam structures are grouped into 2 kN-beam structures or there remains only one structure;

each structure being formed, for a given iteration, by that of the not yet associated structures having the maximum cumulative capacity and that of the not yet associated structures having therewith the minimum cumulative capacity.

9. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the fourth step comprises a complementary phase of final resource optimization consisting in intergroup processing, which tallies the amplifiers partially exploited in the context of a group of beams, and which attributes these amplifiers to beams of a different group using a band not used by the first group.

Assignees

• Thales Sa

Inventors

• Charrat Bernard
• Dervin Mathieu

Classifications

• H04B7/18584 Primary

  Arrangements for data networking, i.e. for data packet routing, for congestion control (data switching networks H04L12/00) · CPC title

• H04B7/18515

  Transmission equipment in satellites or space-based relays · CPC title

• H04B7/2041 Primary

  Spot beam multiple access · CPC title

• H04B7/18513

  Transmission in a satellite or space-based system · CPC title