Patent ID: 6081710
Filing Date: 2000-06-27
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
A satellite communications system operative with at least one existing terrestrial communication system for carrying traffic, comprising:a plurality of satellites in earth orbits, each of said satellites including a battery for sourcing electrical energy, said battery having energy sourcing limits;one or more terrestrial gateways, said gateways bidirectionally linked to one or more satellites of said plurality of satellites for carrying said traffic;a computing center, linked to said gateways, having a traffic control means for allocating said traffic to said gateways, said traffic control means comprising:a power demand model for computing a first traffic allocation of traffic for each satellite of said plurality of satellites;a satellite battery performance model descriptive of said energy sourcing limits; anda control law for applying weighting values to said first traffic allocation to obtain a second traffic allocation for each satellite of said plurality of satellites, said second traffic allocation inducing an electrical energy consumption in each of said satellites that is less than said battery energy sourcing limits, wherein said weighting values are based on said battery performance model.