Patent ID: 11924821
Assignee: SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 14:
15. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
determine, at a satellite in communication with a plurality of half-duplex user terminals, a maximum round-trip propagation delay associated with one or more user terminals of the plurality of half-duplex user terminals, wherein each user terminal of the plurality of half-duplex user terminals is associated with a propagation delay less than or equal to the maximum round-trip propagation delay;
determine, based on the maximum round-trip propagation delay and one or more additional delays, a DL/UL offset for the plurality of half-duplex user terminals, wherein the DL/UL offset comprises a time difference between a first downlink frame at the satellite and a first corresponding uplink frame at the satellite;
transmit, from the satellite, a first downlink frame to the plurality of half-duplex user terminals, wherein the first downlink frame comprises the DL/UL offset;
receive, at the satellite, a first uplink frame from a user terminal of the plurality of half-duplex user terminals associated with the maximum round-trip propagation delay during the first corresponding uplink frame at the satellite;
transmit, from the satellite, a second downlink frame to the plurality of half-duplex user terminals; and
receive, at the satellite, a second uplink frame from an additional user terminal during a second corresponding uplink frame at the satellite corresponding to the second downlink frame, wherein the second corresponding uplink frame occurs after the first corresponding uplink frame.