Interference management in a hub-spoke spot beam satellite communication system

A satellite communication system comprising:

• a plurality of gateway terminals;
• a plurality of user terminals;
• a satellite in communication with the plurality of gateway terminals and the plurality of user terminals in a hub-spoke arrangement;
• wherein the satellite comprises:
• a directional antenna subsystem arranged to form a plurality of fixed location spot beams, wherein the spot beams are assigned to beam groups according to an objective;
• a plurality of pathways coupled to the directional antenna subsystem, wherein each pathway is associated with a beam group, and wherein each beam group comprises:
• (a) a spot beam illuminating a gateway spot beam coverage area containing a gateway terminal, and (b) a spot beam illuminating a user spot beam coverage area containing a user terminal;
• a first transmit-side switch coupled to an output of a first pathway and configured to perform sequential switching to connect the output of the first pathway with different spot beams within a first beam group to establish traffic between a first gateway terminal and a first user terminal, according to a first transmit beam switching pattern;
• a second transmit-side switch coupled to an output of a second pathway and configured to perform sequential switching to connect the output of the second pathway with different spot beams within a second beam group to establish traffic between a second gateway terminal and a second user terminal, according to a second transmit beam switching pattern;
• and
• a beam switch controller coupled to the first transmit-side switch and the second transmit-side switch and configured to coordinate the first transmit beam switching pattern and the second transmit beam switching pattern to avoid substantial interference between traffic transmitted to a spot beam of the first beam group on a same frequency as traffic transmitted to a spot beam of the second beam group.

A communication satellite comprising:

• a directional antenna subsystem arranged to form a plurality of fixed location spot beams, wherein the spot beams are assigned to beam groups according to an objective;
• a plurality of pathways coupled to the directional antenna subsystem, wherein each pathway is associated with a beam group;
• a first transmit-side switch coupled to an output of a first pathway and configured to perform sequential switching to connect the output of the first pathway with different spot beams within a first beam group to establish traffic according to a first transmit beam switching pattern;
• a second transmit-side switch coupled to an output of a second pathway and configured to perform sequential switching to connect the output of the second pathway with different spot beams within a second beam group to establish traffic according to a second transmit beam switching pattern;
• and
• a beam switch controller coupled to the first transmit-side switch and the second transmit-side switch and configured to coordinate the first transmit beam switching pattern and the second transmit beam switching pattern to avoid substantial interference between traffic transmitted to a spot beam of the first beam group on a same frequency as traffic transmitted to a spot beam of the second beam group.