Robust beam switch scheduling

A satellite communications system for robust sharing of gateway resources via a satellite comprising a plurality of input subsystems associated with a plurality of input beams, and comprising a plurality of output subsystems associated with a plurality of output beams, the satellite configured to sequentially couple the input subsystems with the output subsystems in each of a plurality of time slots of a frame according to a beam group switching pattern, the system comprising:

• a plurality of gateway terminals, each comprising a transmitter to communicate with an associated input subsystem of the plurality of input subsystems via an associated input beam of the plurality of input beams;
• and
• a core node communicatively coupled with the plurality of gateway terminals, the core node to:
• receive forward-link communications destined for a destination output beam of the plurality of output beams during the frame, wherein a destination output subsystem of the plurality of output subsystems is associated with the destination output beam;
• identify multiple source input beams of the plurality of input beams that are associated with multiple input subsystems to be coupled with the destination output subsystem during the frame according to the beam group switching pattern, wherein each of the multiple input subsystems is to be coupled with the destination output subsystem during at least one time slot of the plurality of time slots of the frame;
• identify multiple source gateway terminals of the plurality of gateway terminals associated with the multiple source input beams;
• and
• distribute the forward-link communications among the multiple source gateway terminals according to the beam switching group pattern to form multiple forward-channel uplink signals.

A satellite communications system for robust sharing of gateway resources via a satellite comprising a plurality of input subsystems associated with a plurality of input beams, and comprising a plurality of output subsystems associated with a plurality of output beams, the satellite configured to sequentially couple the input subsystems with the output subsystems in each of a plurality of time slots of a frame according to a beam group switching pattern, the system comprising:

• a plurality of gateway terminals, each comprising a receiver to communicate with an associated output subsystem of the plurality of output subsystems via an associated output beam of the plurality of output beams;
• and
• a core node communicatively coupled with the plurality of gateway terminals, the core node to:
• obtain return-channel downlink signals received by multiple destination gateway terminals of the plurality of gateway terminals via multiple destination output beams of the plurality of output beams, wherein the multiple destination output beams are associated with multiple destination output subsystems of the plurality of output systems coupled with a source input subsystem of the plurality of input subsystems during the frame according to the beam group switching pattern, each of the multiple destination output subsystems is coupled with the source input subsystem during at least one time slot of the plurality of time slots of the frame, and the source input subsystem is associated with a source input beam of the plurality of input beams;
• and
• aggregate the return-channel downlink signals from the plurality of destination gateway terminals by the core node to form return-link communications originating from the source input beam.