Patent ID: 9014620
Filing Date: 2015-04-21
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. A method of managing satellite communications, the method comprising: providing a satellite data communication service to a first plurality of satellite terminals in a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite, wherein the plurality of fixed location beams comprise resources of a system bandwidth configured in a tiled re-use pattern according to a first set of colors; providing the satellite data communication service to a second plurality of satellite terminals in a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of switched service beams of a later deployed second multi-beam satellite, wherein the plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions comprises one or more elevated demand regions located at least partially within one or more of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions, and wherein the plurality of switched service beams comprise resources of the system bandwidth configured according to a second set of colors; and switching the plurality of switched service beams of the second multi-beam satellite for communications with the second plurality of satellite terminals for a plurality of time slots such that, for a set of active beams for each time slot of the plurality of time slots, beams of the plurality of switched service beams having a same color of the second set of colors are angularly separated by a color re-use separation distance.