Abstract
An on‐board processor makes efficient use of the channel capacities in a satellite communications system employing multibeam technology, and an on‐board processor has been developed for the Engineering Test Satellite Eight (ETS‐VIII) which is an experimental satellite for a multibeam mobile satellite communications system. This communications system uses multicarrier TDMA. Such multiple access systems are, however, in certain cases subject to on‐board processor internal congestion. This paper describes the results of computer simulation studies of the traffic capacity obtained using three baseband switching methods: carrier switching, slot switching, and simultaneous‐slot switching, when beams for mobile links are allocated into two dimensions. The studies indicate that the probability of internal congestion due to the TDMA system is very small when the simultaneous‐slot switching method is used, and that simultaneous‐slot switching is beneficial for the on‐board processor of the multicarrier TDMA system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.