Multiple satellite fade attenuation control system

A method for managing the power consumption in a satellite communications system of a type that includes at least one ground station, at least one satellite, and a plurality of user terminals, comprising the steps of:

• inputting atmospheric-related data from at least one of a radar system and a satellite observation system;
• generating in substantially real-time, from the atmospheric-related data, a model of RF signal attenuation-inducing structures located within a coverage area of the ground station;
• and
• assigning at least one of communication links and link powers in accordance with the generated model.

A method for operating a satellite communications system of a type that includes a plurality of ground stations, a plurality of satellites, and a plurality of user terminals, comprising the steps of:

• at a plurality of the gateways, generating a substantially real time model of atmospheric-related attenuation-inducing structures located within a coverage area of each of the gateways;
• transmitting data indicative of the generated model from each of the plurality of gateways to a gateway controller;
• and
• generating gateway commands at the gateway controller for preemptively allocating satellite communications system resources at least in accordance with the received data.

A method for operating a satellite communications system of a type that includes at least one ground station, at least one satellite, and a plurality of user terminals, comprising the steps of:

• generating a substantially real time model of atmospheric-related, RF signal attenuation-inducing structures located within a coverage area of the ground station;
• determining from a user terminal attenuated RF signal received at the ground station, and in accordance with the generated model, a contribution to the attenuation due to at least two signal propagation effects;
• and
• separately compensating for the at least two effects.

A method for operating a satellite communications system of a type that includes at least one terrestrial gateway, a plurality of non-geosynchronous orbit satellites that move with respect to a location of the gateway, and a plurality of user terminals located within a coverage area of the gateway, the gateway being bidirectionally coupled to one or more of the user terminals via RF links established through one or more of the satellites, comprising the steps of:

• generating data that is descriptive of the presence of a rain cell within the coverage area of the gateway;
• deriving from the generated data a three dimensional, substantially real time model of RF signal impairments due to the rain cell;
• and
• allocating system resources so as to compensate for the RF signal impairments as a function of at least a current location of RF signal impairments, a current location of at least one user terminal that is affected by the RF signal impairments, and a current location of one or more of the satellites relative to the current location of the RF signal impairments.