Satellite beamforming using split switches

摘要

Receive signals may be combined to form receive beam signals at multiple receive frequency channels. The receive beam signals may be partitioned by receive frequency channel into multiple groups of receive beam signals, each group corresponding to a different frequency spectrum and the multiple groups including a first group and a second group. The first and the second group of receive beam signals may be communicated to a first and a second switch, respectively. The first and the second group of receive beam signals may be switched by the first switch and the second switch, respectively, to generate a first and a second group of transmit beam signals. Transmit beam signals that include the first and the second group of transmit beam signals may be combined to form transmit signals to be transmitted using corresponding transmit antenna elements to form one or more transmit beams at multiple transmit frequency channels.

主权项

1. A method for beamforming in a satellite communications network, the method comprising:
obtaining, at a satellite, a transform table that provides a linear combination to calculate transmit signals from obtained receive signals, wherein the transform table is based on receive beamforming coefficients, a connection matrix and transmit beamforming coefficients; obtaining, at the satellite, receive signals using receive antenna elements; combining, by the satellite, the receive signals based on the transform table at one or more switches to generate transmit signals; providing, by the satellite, the transmit signals at outputs of the one or more switches; and transmitting, by the satellite, the transmit signals using corresponding transmit antenna elements.