On the Application of Multiuser Detection in Multibeam Satellite Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores multiuser detection strategies in multibeam satellite systems, proposing alternatives to conventional detection to improve achievable rates, especially near coverage edges, and analyzing joint beam transmission methods within an information-theoretic framework.

Contribution

It introduces multiuser detection approaches and joint beam transmission strategies, providing a comparative information-theoretic analysis for multibeam satellite systems.

Findings

Multiuser detection improves achievable rates near coverage edges.

Joint beam transmission can enhance user rates.

Alternative detection strategies outperform conventional methods.

Abstract

We study the achievable rates by a single user in multibeam satellite scenarios. We show alternatives to the conventional symbol-by-symbol detection applied at user terminals. Single user detection is known to suffer from strong degradation when the terminal is located near the edge of the coverage area, and when aggressive frequency reuse is adopted. For this reason, we consider multiuser detection, and take into account the strongest interfering signal. Moreover, we analyze a different transmission strategy, where the signals from two adjacent beams jointly serve two users in a time division multiplexing fashion. We describe an information-theoretic framework to compare different transmission/detection strategies by computing the information rate of the user in the reference beam.