Experimental fixed and mobile multibeam satellite communications system

The authors describe the experimental systems for fixed and mobile satellite communications in the ETS-VI (Engineering Test Satellite VI) program. The objectives of the experiments are space confirmation of the onboard equipment performance necessary for multibeam system implementation and function and performance evaluation of the total system including satellite and earth stations. The multibeam system uses three frequency bands: Ka-band (30/20 GHz), C-band (6/4 GHz), and S-band (2.6/2.5 GHz). A number of new techniques have been applied to enhance the multibeam and satellite switch advantages, including satellite-switch time division multiple access incorporated with demand assigned satellite switch operation, cross-band interconnection associated with cross-band diversity, single-beam/multibeam system interconnection, and band-selective switching. A new multibeam system, called the dynamic channel assigned multibeam satellite system, proposed for the mobile communications system to enhance traffic flexibility, is described