Systems and methods for operating a gateway in a satellite system including multi-band satellite terminals

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a hardware processor of a computing component, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause the hardware processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by a gateway in a satellite system, from a terminal capable of receiving signals on a plurality of frequency bands, an estimate of link conditions on a first frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands, the estimate of the link conditions on the first frequency band including an estimate of link conditions for a plurality of modulation and coding schemes available for the first frequency band, and the estimate of the link conditions on the first frequency band being generated based on link conditions of a second frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands determined by the terminal based on a signal transmitted by a respective satellite to the terminal on the second frequency band;
• performing, by the gateway, at least one of:
• determining congestion levels of the plurality of frequency bands employed by the terminal on outroute links to the respective satellite,
• obtaining target load thresholds for the outroute links within the plurality of frequency bands, and
• obtaining a target service level for the terminal;
• selecting the first frequency band for the terminal based on the estimate of the link conditions of the first frequency band and at least one of:
• the determined congestion levels of the plurality of frequency bands,
• the obtained target load thresholds for the outroute links within the plurality of frequency bands, and
• the obtained target service level for the terminal;
• selecting, by the gateway, one of the modulation and coding schemes based on the estimates of the link conditions for the plurality of modulation and coding schemes available for the first frequency band;
• and
• transmitting, by the gateway, a band selection and a modulation and coding scheme selection to the terminal, wherein the band selection indicates the first frequency band selected by the gateway for the terminal, and the modulation and coding scheme selection indicates the one of the modulation and coding schemes selected by the gateway for the terminal.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, by a gateway in a satellite system, from a terminal capable of receiving signals on a plurality of frequency bands, an estimate of link conditions on a first frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands, the estimate of the link conditions on the first frequency band including an estimate of link conditions for a plurality of modulation and coding schemes available for the first frequency band, and the estimate of the link conditions on the first frequency band being generated based on link conditions of a second frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands determined by the terminal based on a signal transmitted by a respective satellite to the terminal on the second frequency band;
• performing, by the gateway, at least one of:
• determining congestion levels of the plurality of frequency bands employed by the terminal on outroute links to the respective satellite,
• obtaining target load thresholds for the outroute links within the plurality of frequency bands, and
• obtaining a target service level for the terminal;
• selecting, by the gateway, the first frequency band for the terminal based on the estimate of the link conditions of the first frequency band and at least one of:
• the determined congestion levels of the plurality of frequency bands,
• the obtained target load thresholds for the outroute links within the plurality of frequency bands, and
• the obtained target service level for the terminal;
• selecting, by the gateway, one of the modulation and coding schemes based on the estimates of the link conditions for the plurality of modulation and coding schemes available for the first frequency band;
• and
• transmitting, by the gateway, a band selection and a modulation and coding scheme selection to the terminal, wherein the band selection indicates the first frequency band selected by the gateway for the terminal, and the modulation and coding scheme selection indicates the one of the modulation and coding schemes selected by the gateway for the terminal.