Robust Beam Switch Scheduling for Satellite Capacity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hub-spoke satellite communications systems face service interruptions due to weather, maintenance, or disasters, leading to reduced capacity for user terminals when gateway terminals are affected.
Innovation Solution
Implementing robust scheduling of beam switching patterns to distribute capacity to user beams from multiple gateway terminals in a shared manner, ensuring that at least a minimum aggregate threshold of capacity is maintained across multiple user beams during limited gateway outages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gateway terminals are subject to service interruptions due to weather, maintenance, or disasters, then the affected gateway terminals cannot provide full capacity to user terminals, but implementing robust beam switching scheduling can maintain minimum aggregate threshold of capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes multiple beam switching patterns and schedules before outages occur. The robust beam switching schedule is prepared in advance to distribute capacity from multiple gateway terminals to user beams, ensuring that when a gateway terminal experiences service interruption, the pre-planned switching patterns can immediately take effect to maintain service continuity and minimum capacity thresholds.
Solution Approach 2:
The beam switching schedule is designed to be dynamic and adaptable, allowing the system to switch between different beam patterns based on the operational status of gateway terminals. The scheduling mechanism can dynamically redistribute capacity from healthy gateway terminals to compensate for those experiencing outages, maintaining overall service reliability while adjusting capacity allocation in real-time.
2Reliability
If capacity is distributed to user beams from multiple gateway terminals in a shared manner, then minimum aggregate threshold of capacity is maintained during outages, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the beam switching schedule into multiple distinct patterns, each designed for specific outage scenarios. By dividing the overall scheduling task into manageable segments (different beam switching patterns for different gateway terminal failure conditions), the system can maintain capacity requirements through structured, modular scheduling decisions rather than requiring complex monolithic scheduling algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The robust beam switching schedule utilizes parameter changes in the scheduling algorithm to adapt to different outage scenarios. By modifying scheduling parameters (such as beam assignment, time slot allocation, and capacity distribution weights) based on the operational status of gateway terminals, the system can maintain minimum capacity thresholds without requiring fundamentally complex scheduling architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described for robust scheduling of beam switching patterns in satellite communications systems. Embodiments operate in context of a hub-spoke satellite communications architecture having a number of gateway terminals servicing large numbers of user terminals over a number of spot beams. The satellite includes switching subsystems that distribute capacity to the user beams from multiple of the gateway terminals in a shared manner according to a beam group switching pattern. The beam group switching pattern is robustly formulated to continue distributing capacity during gateway outages (e.g., when one or two gateway terminals are temporarily non-operational due to rain fade, equipment failure, etc.). For example, the beam group switching pattern can be formulated to minimize worst-case degradation of capacity across user beams, to prioritize certain beams or beam groups, etc.