Distributed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch architecture for satellites

A ground based station for a satellite communications system, comprising:

• a signal generator for generating the fixed sized data packets;
• a virtual circuit generator coupled to the signal generator for establishing virtual circuits used for transmitting the fixed size data packets;
• a pre- virtual circuit bandwidth manager coupled to the virtual circuit generator for managing a bandwidth of each of the virtual circuits generated by the virtual circuit generator;
• and
• a transmitting unit for transmitting the fixed size data packets to the satellite via the virtual circuits.

A satellite for a communications system, comprising:

• a receiver system for receiving signals from the ground based station and the ground control station;
• a switch coupled to the signal processor for switching the fixed size data packets to various selected destinations;
• an output buffer coupled to the switch for buffering the fixed size data packets;
• and
• a transmitter for modulating and transmitting the fixed size data packets from the output buffer to the at least one ground based station and the at least one ground control station.

A ground based control station for a satellite communications system, comprising:

• a control/management tunnel termination module;
• a resource management module coupled to the control/management tunnel termination module;
• a call control module coupled to the control/management tunnel termination module;
• and
• a network management module coupled to the control/management tunnel termination module.

A ground based control station for a satellite communications system, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving the fixed size data packets from the satellite;
• an admission control management device for determining if the received fixed size data packets is acceptable;
• a channelization controller for controlling a plurality of up-link and down-link transmission channels so that the fixed size data packets can be transmitted via the plurality of channels;
• and
• a transmitter for transmitting the fixed size data packets via the plurality of channels and a plurality of virtual circuits to the ground based station via the satellite, wherein the admission control management device allocates at least one bandwidth to at least one of the virtual circuits according to fairness criteria.