Methods and systems for increasing bandwidth efficiency in satellite communications

A system capable of providing bandwidth efficiency in a satellite communication system, the system comprising:

• communication equipment at a gateway ground station that receives, from a plurality of user ground terminals, a plurality of source signals and a plurality of information signals corresponding to the plurality of source signals, wherein each of the source signals is modulated according to at least one source modulation method;
• a set of digital signal processors that combine, at the gateway ground station, the plurality of source signals into a combined source signal with an overlapping bandwidth, wherein each of the source signals are further modulated according to at least one predetermined modulation method before the source signals are combined;
• and
• a set of transmitting antennas that transmit, by uplink transmission from the gateway ground station to a satellite, the combined source signal, wherein the uplink transmission comprises information specifying the at least one predetermined modulation method.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more hardware processors to carry out operations comprising:

• receiving, at a gateway ground station and from a plurality of user ground terminals, a plurality of source signals, wherein each of the source signals is modulated according to at least one source modulation method;
• further receiving, at the gateway ground station and from the plurality of user ground terminals, a plurality of information signals corresponding to the plurality of source signals;
• combining, at the gateway ground station, the plurality of source signals into a combined source signal with an overlapping bandwidth, wherein each of the source signals are further modulated according to at least one predetermined modulation method before the source signals are combined;
• and
• transmitting, by an uplink transmission from the gateway ground station to a satellite, the combined source signal, wherein the uplink transmission comprises information specifying the at least one predetermined modulation method.