On-Board Beam Generation for Multibeam Satellite Systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel on-board beam generation method for multibeam satellite systems that enhances throughput and reduces feeder link bandwidth, using a robust MMSE optimization for interference mitigation.

Contribution

It introduces a constant, on-board beamforming process based on a robust MMSE optimization, improving throughput and reducing bandwidth compared to existing methods.

Findings

Increases total throughput by 6-15% with DVB standards.

Reduces feeder link bandwidth requirements.

Provides analytical and numerical validation of the scheme.

Abstract

This paper aims at designing an on-board beam generation process for multibeam satellite systems with the goal of reducing the traffic at the feeder link. Full frequency reuse among beams is considered and the beamforming at the satellite is designed for supporting interference mitigation techniques. In addition, in order to reduce the payload cost and complexity, this on-board processing is assumed to be constant and the same for forward and return link transmissions. To meet all these requirements a novel robust minimum mean square error (MMSE) optimization is conceived. The benefits of the considered scheme are evaluated with respect to the current approaches both analytically and numerically. Indeed, we show that with the DVB-RCS and DVB-S2 standards, our proposal allows to increase the total throughput within a range between 6\% and 15\% with respect to other on-board processing techniques in the return and forward link, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed solution presents an implicit feeder link bandwidth reduction with respect to the on-ground beam generation process.