End-to-end Precoding Validation over a Live GEO Satellite Forward Link

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates real-time end-to-end precoding over a live GEO satellite link, showing improved SINR and system throughput through interference cancellation in multi-user satellite communications.

Contribution

It develops and validates an over-the-air test-bed for end-to-end precoding in live GEO satellite links, enabling practical performance assessment.

Findings

Precoding cancels inter-user interference effectively.

Enhanced SINR observed with precoding.

Increased system goodput achieved.

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate end-to-end precoded multi-user multiple-input single-output (MU-MISO) communications over a live GEO satellite link. Precoded communications enable full frequency reuse (FFR) schemes in satellite communications (SATCOM) to achieve broader service availability and higher spectrum efficiency than with the conventional four-color (4CR) and two-color (2CR) reuse approaches. In this scope, we develop an over-the-air test-bed for end-to-end precoding validations. We use an actual multi-beam satellite to transmit and receive precoded signals using the DVB-S2X standard based gateway and user terminals. The developed system is capable of end-to-end real-time communications over the satellite link including channel measurements and precompensation. It is shown, that by successfully canceling inter-user interference in the actual satellite FFR link precoding brings gains in terms of enhanced SINR and increased system goodput.