Communication system employing spectrum reuse on a spherical surface.

摘要

Orbiting satellites (12) project footprints (30) on the earth. Each footprint (30) is divided into cells (28). Footprints (30) of nearby satellites (12) overlap one another, and the overlap increases as satellites (12) approach a pole from the equator. The positions of all cells (28) generated by all satellites (12) are simulated (36) at numerous points throughout an orbit. Cells (28) are marked as being active or inactive to compensate for the overlap at each simulated point. Channel sets are assigned to cells (28) within a reference footprint (30a), and this assignment is propagated throughout all footprints (30) in the referenced footprint's orbit. The channel set sequences are propagated to other orbits after taking into account inactive cells located near boundaries between the orbits. Each satellite (12) stores channel set assignments for its cells (28) at the various points throughout its orbit. All satellites (12) switch their communication parameters at the same instant in response to the channel set assignments. <IMAGE>