Network and method for controlling steerable beams

摘要

A satellite communication network (10) coordinates multiple steerable satellite beams (28) with user requests for connections requiring varying bandwidth in real-time. A control station (22) gathers user requests for connections (64) and transmits those requests (70) to a satellite (20) over an uplink (70). Requests for bandwidth (72) are processed in the satellite (20) where time slot assignments (74) and steerable beam schedules (84) are determined in response to user requests (74). Steerable beam schedule (84) and time slot assignments (74) are transmitted to subscriber units (24) and control station (22) over a broadcast downlink (86). Subscriber units (24) complete a data transfer interval of a call (62) while a steerable beam schedule (84) is executed in real-time.