Earth Station Time Slicing for Virtual Carrier Multiplexing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing satellite communication systems face challenges in organizing frames with different time slice numbers and modcods efficiently, leading to potential packet loss and inefficiencies in bandwidth utilization, particularly in high-throughput satellite networks.
Innovation Solution
A modular earth station transmitter device that uses off-the-shelf shapers and modulators to implement time slicing by shaping and encapsulating data traffic into virtual carriers, allowing for continuous transmission without guard times, and a central unit to manage symbol rates and time slice numbers, ensuring efficient multiplexing and decoding for receivers with varying throughput capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If time slicing is implemented with multiple virtual carriers, then bandwidth utilization is improved, but frame organization complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the transmission system into multiple virtual carriers, each serving a specific subset of receivers. Each virtual carrier operates independently with its own time slicing, allowing receivers to be divided into groups that can be served simultaneously without interfering with each other. This segmentation enables efficient bandwidth utilization while managing complexity through modular organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of organization by assigning time slice numbers to frames within each virtual carrier. This temporal dimension allows multiple frames to be multiplexed within the same physical carrier by distinguishing them through time slice identifiers, enabling efficient bandwidth utilization without increasing physical carrier complexity.
2Productivity
If continuous transmission without guard times is used, then transmission efficiency is improved, but packet loss increases for receivers with lower throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the transmission stream into multiple virtual carriers, each with its own time slicing mechanism. This allows continuous transmission at high efficiency for receivers capable of handling the throughput, while providing dedicated time slots that ensure reliable delivery for receivers with lower throughput capabilities. The segmentation isolates the throughput requirements of different receiver groups.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary time slicing and frame organization before transmission, pre-assigning time slice numbers to frames based on receiver capabilities. This preliminary organization ensures that frames are structured in advance to match receiver throughput requirements, preventing packet loss before transmission occurs while maintaining continuous efficient transmission.
3Productivity
If satnet size is maximized, then statistical multiplexing gains are improved, but shaping-encapsulation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the shaping-encapsulation process into separate virtual carriers, each handling a specific subset of receivers. This segmentation allows the satnet processor to manage larger overall satnet sizes by dividing the complex shaping-encapsulation task into smaller, manageable units. Each virtual carrier can be shaped and encapsulated independently, reducing the complexity burden on any single processing unit while maximizing statistical multiplexing gains across the entire network.
Data Source
AI summary
An earth station transmitter device is arranged for generating a signal to be transmitted to a plurality of earth station receiver devices of a satellite communication system. The device includes a plurality of shapers, such that each shaper is arranged for shaping for data traffic to a different subset of earth station receiver devices a symbol rate; a modulator includes a time slice selector arranged for receiving and storing the groups of time slices outputted by the plurality of shaping means; and a controller is adapted to monitor the modulator and to convey to at least one of the shaping means based on the monitoring an update of the symbol rate shaped by the at least one shaping means.