Systems and methods for latency equalization in a satellite cellular telecommunications network

A satellite computer system for a satellite, the satellite including a phased array antenna configured to send and receive signals to terrestrial user equipment (UE) on a radio access network (RAN) via a plurality of directional beams, each of the beams having a beam footprint that defines a cell of the RAN, the satellite computer system comprising at least one processor in communication with a memory, the memory storing computer-readable instructions that are executable to cause the at least one processor to perform steps including:

• determining, for each time period of a plurality of time periods, a signal latency for each of the plurality of directional beams, the signal latency based on a distance between the satellite and a reference location within the beam footprint during the respective time period;
• determining, for each directional beam of the plurality of directional beams for each time period of the plurality of time periods, a respective beam buffer-delay time, wherein the determined signal latency for the respective directional beam plus the respective beam buffer-delay time for the respective directional beam corresponds to a predetermined signal latency for the respective time period, the predetermined signal latency for the respective time period being greater than or equal to a longest signal latency among the plurality of directional beams for the respective time period;
• and
• buffering an Rx data stream from the plurality of directional beams during each time period of the plurality of time periods in a variable delay Rx buffer, wherein data in the Rx data stream from each directional beam of the plurality of directional beams is buffered for the respective beam buffer-delay time for the respective time period.