Hitless rearrangement of a satellite-hosted switch via propagated synchronization

An apparatus comprising:

• an analog front end configured to receive an analog input including user data;
• an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the analog input to digital signals including the user data;
• a digital channelizer configured to process the digital signals to generate a plurality of frequency slices of user data;
• a digital combiner configured to assemble the plurality of frequency slices to form output sub-bands of user data;
• a digital switch including a multiple stage switch network configured to route the plurality of frequency slices from the digital channelizer to the digital combiner according to a selected map of a plurality of available maps;
• and
• a map selector configured to communicate map select data that indicates the selected map, the digital channelizer being configured to receive and insert the map select data into the plurality of frequency slices in-band with the user data thereof, the multiple stage switch network being configured to interpret the map select data inserted into and route the plurality of frequency slices through the multiple stage switch network according to the selected map.