BGAN Radio Interface Enhancements for SatCom-on-the-Move

Inmarsat´s BGAN mobile satellite system has provided global connectivity since 2005 to the land mobile, maritime and aeronautical communities via the Inmarsat-4 satellites. The planned Alphasat satellite aims to provide additional capacity and resilience to the satellite constellation and will also offer improved performance. To prepare for this the BGAN system design has been enhanced with several new features to take advantage of the new satellite capabilities and accommodate new terminals and service requirements. This paper focuses at the BGAN radio interface enhancements for support of both smaller terminals and for operation at higher data rates and presents the critical enablers for improving the bandwidth and power efficiencies.