Patent ID: 9654201
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04W

Claim:
1. A method, by a satellite communication system comprising at least one satellite directing N>1 satellite beams toward a Region of Interest, of providing multi-beam coverage to said Region of Interest over which a non-uniform traffic demand density is defined wherein the method comprises: receiving an estimation or measure of the traffic demand density over the Region of Interest; partitioning said Region of Interest, based on the received estimation or measure of the traffic demand density over the Region of Interest, into N>1 non-overlapping cells (V wherein said partitioning said Region of Interest into N>1 non-overlapping cells is performed by an iterative algorithm comprising the steps of: a. defining a set of N generator points (p b. determining a set of N Voronoi cells for said generator points, partitioning said Region of Interest; c. determining an integrated traffic demand for each of said Voronoi cells; and d. iteratively adjusting the positions of said generator points so as to make the integrated traffic demand associated to said Voronoi cells substantially uniform, wherein said step d. of iteratively adjusting the positions of said generator points is carried out by displacing the generator point corresponding to each Voronoi cell towards generators points whose corresponding Voronoi cells have a higher traffic demand, and away from generator points whose corresponding Voronoi cells have a lower integrated traffic demand; and