Abstract:
A communication management system and technique that provides a flexible yet efficient means of coordinating communications between an Earth bound user and a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation. The system distributes the majority of the management of communications links to operations and control center and the ground based users. Therefore, the responsibility for handling communication management is performed by the ground based users and control center as opposed to being the responsibility of the NGSO satellites. This allows the NGSO satellites to be minimized in size and cost while maximizing the resources available to users. Furthermore, the ground based systems may be more easily updated and maintained than would be the case if the satellites were responsible for this task.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a call or communication management system between an Earth based user and a satellite system and, more particularly, to a communication management system having an Earth based control system, Earth based user, and a low Earth orbit satellite constellation.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Satellites have been used for years to provide communications between multiple points on the Earth&#39;s surface. Satellites may be placed into geo-synchronous or non-geo-synchronous orbit over the Earth to provide communication links between at least two areas which are covered by the satellite. The geosynchronous satellite, or at least a beam of the satellite, never moves relative to the Earth&#39;s surface, but rather remains in a fixed location relative to any given location on the ground.  
           [0003]    Recently, the growth of commercial and civilian uses of communication satellites has required the placement of additional satellites in orbit over the Earth to provide the required communication capacity. Many of these systems use non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) constellations which move relative to the Earth&#39;s surface. This is to say that the beams created by the satellites sweep across the Earth&#39;s surface as the Earth rotates on its axis and the satellites orbit the Earth. Therefore, one satellite does not continuously service one particular area, but rather many satellites service one area as the beams sweep through the service area. Such systems require complex calculations regarding which satellites will be covering a particular area and what resources of the satellites are available. Also calculations are required to determine when hand-offs between one channel or one satellite beam to another must occur and when they do occur.  
           [0004]    Often, such calculations are made as part of the workload of the satellite itself. This increases the size and payload of the satellite. Putting such calculation performing equipment and systems on the satellite also decreases the amount of mass that the satellite carries that may be dedicated to the communications equipment. In addition, the lower the orbit of the NGSO satellite the greater the computational complexity. This is because the lower the orbit of the satellite constellation, the faster the beams move relative to the surface of the earth. Therefore, the greater number of computations will need to occur per time step to ensure sufficient communication integrity with the user.  
           [0005]    Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system which does not require the calculations for communication management to be placed on the satellite itself. Such systems, however, require that the Earth be properly mapped so that the user will know its location relative to the satellites and the satellites will be properly configured to provide resources to the user.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention relates to a communication management system and technique that provides a flexible yet efficient means of coordinating communications between a ground based user and a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation. The present invention distributes the majority of the management responsibility to a ground based operations and control center and the ground based users. Therefore, the communication management techniques of the present invention are performed by ground based users and control center as opposed to being placed on the NGSO satellites. This allows the NGSO satellites to be minimized in size and cost while maximizing resources available to users. Furthermore, the ground based systems may be easily updated and maintained.  
           [0007]    A first preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a communication planning system. The communication planning system comprises at least one satellite comprising a plurality of communication resources and adapted to produce a footprint comprising at least one signal beam, wherein the signal beam is projected onto a ground surface. A transceiver is positioned on the ground surface, and is adapted to perform a communication with the satellite using at least a first one of the plurality of signal resources. The planning system also comprises a control system. The control system determines a configuration of the plurality of signal resources such that the at least one satellite allocates the at least first signal resource to the transceiver.  
           [0008]    A second preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a system for providing substantially uninterrupted transmissions between a terrestrial based transceiver and an orbiting satellite network. The system comprises at least one transceiver adapted to communicate with a satellite in at least one configuration. The satellite comprises a communication resource and an antenna, wherein the antenna is adapted to produce a footprint comprising at least two beams which are movable relative to the transceiver. A storage system is employed for storing a location of the transceiver. A processor allocates the communication resources among the two beams. The configuration of the transceiver corresponds to a communication resource to allow sending and receiving a data stream between the transceiver and the satellite.  
           [0009]    The present invention comprises a preferred method to ensure that a communication is generally constant between a satellite network and a transceiver comprising an organizational unit. The method comprises providing a satellite constellation comprising at least one satellite orbiting the Earth in a non-geosynchronous orbit; providing a plurality of signal resources on the satellite; producing a footprint comprising a plurality of signal beams adapted to allow transmission of a data stream using the plurality of signal resources; and transmitting a data stream between the transceiver and the satellite by transmitting a signal along the signal beam using one of the signal resources. The method also includes determining an optimal configuration of the plurality of signal resources to ensure that the transmission is substantially continuous between the transceiver and the satellite.  
           [0010]    Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a communication system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an Earth based fixed cell and its associated uplink cell;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a plurality of uplink cells and their associated Earth based fixed cells;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is an exemplary registration table for a satellite according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is an exemplary registration table for total resources for each beam of a satellite.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.  
         [0018]    With reference to FIG. 1, a non geo-synchronous orbit (NGSO) satellite system  10  is provided to manage transmissions between a satellite constellation  11  that generally includes at least a first NGSO satellite  12  and a second NGSO satellite  14 . It will be understood that the satellite constellation  11  may include any number of satellites, and only the first NGSO satellite  12  and the second NGSO satellite  14  have been illustrated to simplify the following description. It will also be understood that the following description may pertain to any surface which has in place a non-geosynchronous orbiting constellation of satellites. It will be further understood that although the following description relates to beams of the first and second NGSO satellites  12 ,  14  that move relative to a surface, the following description will also relate to any system where beams of a satellite move relative a surface for any other reason, such as movement of an antenna creating the beam. The NGSO system  10  also includes at least one ground based transceiver  16  which can communicate with the NGSO satellites  12 , 14 . It will be understood that the transceiver  16  may be either stationary or mobile. If the transceiver  16  is mobile, the transceiver  16  is able to move relative to a ground surface  18 . Additionally, the NGSO system  10  includes a Network Operations Control Center (NOCC)  20 . The NOCC  20  is able to store historical and predicted locations of the transceiver  16  and the orbits of the NGSO satellites  12 , 14 .  
         [0019]    It will be understood that each attribute, feature, and system attributed to the first NGSO satellite  12  will also be incorporated with the second NGSO satellite  14  and any other satellite in the satellite constellation  11 . With additional reference to FIG. 2, the first NGSO satellite  12  produces at least one uplink or communication beam  22 . The uplink beam  22  has an uplink beam radius  22   a  which is projected from the first NGSO satellite  12  down to the ground surface  18 . The uplink beam  22  engages at least one Earth fixed cell or Earth based fixed cell  24  (described more fully herein), having an Earth based fixed cell radius  24   a . An uplink cell  26  has an uplink cell radius  26   a  defined by the uplink beam radius  22   a  plus the Earth based fixed cell radius  24   a . Each Earth based fixed cell  24  shares a center with at least one associated uplink cell  26 . Preferably, each Earth based fixed cell  24  shares a center with exactly one associated uplink cell  26 . Also, as discussed below, each uplink cell  26  is associated, generally, with a plurality of Earth based fixed cells  24 . Therefore, the NGSO satellite system  10  defines a plurality of uplink cells  26  and their associated Earth based fixed cells  24 .  
         [0020]    With reference to FIG. 3, a plurality of uplink cells  26  are shown which intersect at a plurality of points. At the center of each uplink cell  26  is one of the Earth based fixed cell  24 . Therefore, each uplink cell  26  has exactly one Earth based fixed cell  24  which is at the center of each uplink cell  26 . Additionally, each uplink cell  26  is associated with a plurality of Earth based fixed cells  24 . That is, that the circumference of the uplink cell  26  is greater than the perimeter of the Earth based fixed cell  24  and, therefore, encompasses more than one Earth based fixed cell  24 . Thus, the uplink cell  26  may be associated with a plurality of Earth based fixed cells  24 . In addition, each Earth based fixed cell may intersect more than one uplink cell  26  due to the fact of the plurality of uplink cells  26 .  
         [0021]    The first NGSO satellite  12  produces at least one uplink beam  22  from an antenna positioned on the first NGSO satellite  12 . Generally, the first NGSO satellite  12  produces more than one uplink beam  22  which, in turn, forms a first footprint or array  30  of uplink beams  22  which are projected onto the ground surface  18 . It will also be understood that each uplink beam  22  may be associated with a separate antenna on the first NGSO satellite  12 . Because the first NGSO satellite  12  does not have a geosynchronous orbit, the first NGSO satellite  12  constantly be moving relative to the ground surface  18 . Therefore, the transceiver  16  will actually pass through a plurality of the uplink beams  22  produced by the first NGSO satellite  12  as the transceiver  16  moves through the first array  30 . Furthermore, as the transceiver  16  continues to move not only will the transceiver  16  pass through a plurality of uplink beams  22  from the first array  30  produced by the first NGSO satellite  12 , the transceiver  16  will also pass through a plurality of uplink beams  22  produced by the second NGSO satellite  14 . Therefore, the transceiver  16 , as it moves through the first array  30  and the second array  32 , will define a user path  34  which intersects a plurality of uplink beams  22 . The user path  34  is also defined by the orbit of the first NGSO satellite  12  about the ground surface  18 .  
         [0022]    With reference to the tables illustrated in FIG. 4, each beam from the first NGSO satellite  12  has associated with it particular signal, communication, and physical resources or limitations. The tables defining the associated resources define registrations for the first NGSO satellite  12 . These signal resources include different frequencies or channels the first NGSO satellite  12  may associate with or allocate to the transceiver  16 . Particularly if there are a plurality of transceivers  16 , decisions are made as to how to allocate the resources of the first NGSO satellite  12  to serve the transceiver  16 . When the transceiver  16  initiates a communication or transmission, the transceiver  16  is allocated a particular amount of the resources available on the first NGSO satellite  12 . When the transceiver  16  initiates a communication with the first NGSO satellite  12 , the first NGSO satellite  12  allocates the transceiver  16  a channel in one of the beams that the transceiver  16  will cross such that the transceiver  16  will be able to communicate with the first NGSO satellite  12 . As the transceiver  16  passes through the first array exiting a first uplink beam  22  and encountering other uplink beams  22 , the first NGSO satellite  12  will continually change the channel that the user is allocated, if that is necessary, through a process described more fully herein. Therefore, the transceiver  16  is allocated resources and channels to ensure that the transceiver  16  is always able to communicate with the first NGSO satellite  12 .  
         [0023]    The ground surface  18  is divided into a plurality of Earth based fixed cells  24 . The center of each Earth fixed cell  24  corresponds to the center of one uplink cell  26 . Furthermore, each uplink cell  26  has a logical association with each Earth based fixed cell  24  within its circumference. An uplink beam  22 , however, may move through a plurality of uplink cells  26  because the uplink beam  22  moves relative ground surface  18 . Therefore, as the first NGSO satellite  12  moves relative to the ground surface  18 , the uplink beam  22  will move relative to the uplink cells  26  defined on the ground surface  18 .  
         [0024]    On the first NGSO satellite  12  each uplink beam  22  is associated with a reservation table or registration. The reservation table includes a plurality of time steps to distinguish one moment from the next. Two such reservation tables for two uplink beams  22  are illustrated in FIG. 4 as uplink beam  1  and uplink beam  2 . If there are, for example, three transceivers  16  with which the first NGSO satellite  12  will be maintaining a communication, then the first NGSO satellite  12  must allocate to each transceiver  16  a particular channel while those transceivers  16  are being serviced with one particular uplink beam  22 . Therefore, an exemplary reservation table includes time steps formed as columns. Channels are denoted by rows across each of the time steps. In each of the time steps, the transceiver  16  is allocated a particular channel which it uses to communicate with the first NGSO satellite  12 . As the transceiver  16  moves between beams and moves in time, the first NGSO satellite  12  will reallocate the channel given to the specific transceiver  16  to ensure that the transceiver  16  is allowed to transmit continuously with the first NGSO satellite  12 . However, if the load within a particular uplink beam  22  is not heavy, then the first NGSO satellite  12  may not need to reassign different channels to the transceiver  16 .  
         [0025]    With continuing reference to FIG. 4 and further reference to FIG. 5, the NGSO satellite system  10  works to ensure that the transceiver  16  may initiate a communication with the first NGSO satellite  12  and not have that communication dropped by the NGSO satellite system  10  during the duration of the communication between the transceiver  16  and the NGSO satellite system  10 . This process begins when the NOCC  20  determines a spatial and temporal distribution of communication traffic over the NGSO satellite system  10 . The NOCC  20  bases this determination on historical usage information. This determination is made upon historical data of the transceivers  16  use of the NGSO satellite system  10 . The NOCC  20  then determines the most efficient configuration of the first NGSO satellite  12 .  
         [0026]    The NOCC  20  may use many factors when determining how to configure registrations of the first NGSO satellite  12  to provide service to the transceiver  16 . The NOCC  20  makes these configuration determinations based upon considerations such as frequency reuse limitations, array capacity of the first NGSO satellite  12 , and power management. In this way, much of the configuring of the resources which will be allocated to particular transceivers  16  is computed by the ground based NOCC  20 . Because the NOCC  20  is ground based, the performance capabilities of the NOCC  20  will not be limited by payload and size concerns, which affect the first NGSO satellite  12 . The first NGSO satellite  12  need only carry the actual resources, such as modems and processors, for determining real time signal resource allocation to the transceiver  16 .  
         [0027]    After the NOCC  20  has determined the appropriate or total of bandwidth allocation for the first NGSO satellite  12 , particularly for each uplink cell  26  through which an uplink beam  22  of the first NGSO satellite  12  may pass, this information of total bandwidth allocation is transmitted to the first NGSO satellite  12 . In this way, the first NGSO satellite  12  will have a known total or maximum bandwidth allocation for each particular uplink cell  26 . This will be kept in a separate registration table, particularly shown in FIG. 5, which will associate the total bandwidth allocation with each uplink cell number.  
         [0028]    The transceiver  16 , which is also an integral part of the NGSO satellite system  10 , is aware of the uplink beams  22  produced by the first NGSO satellite  12  and the location of the transceiver  16  relative to the uplink beams  22  as the first NGSO satellite  12  orbits the ground surface  18 . When the transceiver  16  initiates a communication with the first NGSO satellite  12 , the transceiver  16  will compute a path through the first array  30  of the first NGSO satellite  12 . In this manner, the transceiver  16  will know which beams the transceiver  16  will pass through during the communication between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12 . That is, the transceiver  16  will determine its user path  34 . During this communication setup phase the transceiver  16  will also request a particular bandwidth for use during the communication. This will allow the first NGSO satellite  12  to determine which channel the transceiver  16  will be allocated during the communication between the first NGSO satellite  12  and the transceiver  16 . The particular channel or channels allocated are also transmitted to the transceiver  16  at this time, if the first NGSO satellite  12  determines there is enough bandwidth for the transceiver  16 . The particular channel allocated will depend upon the user path  34  taken through the first array  30  of the first NGSO satellite  12 .  
         [0029]    The first NGSO satellite  12  determines whether the requested bandwidth is available in the requested uplink cell  26  that are logically associated to the user&#39;s  16  Earth based fixed cell  24 . This can be done quickly by a reference to the bandwidth allocation table, illustrated in FIG. 5, which includes the total bandwidth allocation for each particular uplink cell  26  along with a particular transceiver  16  and the reserved bandwidth for that transceiver  16 . Additionally, remaining bandwidth is already known for each uplink cell  26 . Therefore, the first NGSO satellite  12  is able to quickly determine whether the requested bandwidth is available. If an appropriate amount of bandwidth is not available for the transceiver  16 , then the communication may not be initiated. This assures that substantially no communications accepted by the first NGSO satellite  12  will be dropped.  
         [0030]    If the user path  34  will take it through the second array  32  of the second NGSO satellite  14 , then reservations are made in the reservation tables of the second NGSO satellite  14  before the transceiver  16  enters the second array  32 . Again, this ensures that proper resources are allocated for each transceiver  16  to ensure that a communication between the transceiver  16  and the NGSO satellite system  10  is not interrupted.  
         [0031]    The signal resources on the first NGSO satellite  12  are known by the first NGSO satellite  12 , which may assign different resources to a particular transceiver  16 . In one preferred embodiment, each uplink beam  22  of the first NGSO satellite  12  is divided into different channels, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Therefore, each uplink beam  22  that the first NGSO satellite  12  produces includes a number of channels depending upon the band width necessary for the transceivers  16 . The channels are divided into time increments or time steps so that they may be assigned for any particular time step to a transceiver  16 . Therefore, the first NGSO satellite  12  will determine which channels the transceiver  16  will be allocated and then assign to the transceiver  16  the allocated channels for the time increments which the transceiver  16  will pass through any particular uplink beam  22 . As an illustration, if a transceiver  16  initiates a communication at a first time step, the satellite could assign to the transceiver  16  channel  1  at time step  1 . The first NGSO satellite  12  would also assign to the transceiver  16  other channels for each of the time steps that the transceiver  16  would be intersecting that uplink beam  22 . The first NGSO satellite  12  will also assign to the transceiver  16  any other channels for other time steps for the entire time the transceiver  16  will be within the first array  30 .  
         [0032]    The channels are associated with particular uplink beams  22  depending upon the configuration determined by the NOCC  20 . This preconfiguring by the NOCC  20  of the resources helps make more reliable the communication between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12 . Furthermore, the allocation of channels to particular uplink beams  22  which will intersect varying number of transceivers  16  ensures that enough channels are available so that each transceiver  16  will be able to communicate with the first NGSO satellite  12 . When the transceiver  16  initiates a communication with the first NGSO satellite  12 , it communicates to the first NGSO satellite  12  the user path  34 . The first NGSO satellite  12  will then reserve channels, bandwidth, and associated time steps to be used by the transceiver  16  after assuring there is enough bandwidth available for the transceiver  16  by reference to the total bandwidth allocation table. Reservations for the transceiver  16  during its entire time within the first array  30  are made during the initial communication setup. The channels and other information relating to a particular transceiver  16  is known as state information.  
         [0033]    As the first NGSO satellite  12  orbits the Earth, the uplink beam  22  produced by the first NGSO satellite  12  moves in and out of particular uplink cells  26 . Therefore, as the first array  30  moves past the uplink cell  26 , which includes the transceiver  16 , the first NGSO satellite  12  will no longer need to retain the state information for the transceiver  16 . As the transceiver  16  leaves the first array  30 , the first NGSO satellite  12  transmits state information of the transceiver  16  to the second NGSO satellite  14  before the transceiver  16  enters the second array  32 . Therefore, the state information related to the transceiver  16  is only stored by the NGSO satellite  12 ,  14  with which the transceiver  16  is currently communicating. Thus, resources are not used to store information for transceivers  16  for which the first NGSO satellite  12  is not providing a channel.  
         [0034]    All channel reservations, or the state transmission, for the transceiver  16  are transferred for user path  34  through the entire first array  30  is transmitted to the transceiver  16  at one time. Therefore, a single transmission from the transceiver  16  to the first NGSO satellite  12  prepares for the transceiver  16  all of the channels the transceiver  16  will be using during the time the transceiver  16  is within the first array  30 . This reduces the times which information may be lost by eliminating subsequent state transmissions between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12 . Also, all of the resources of the first NGSO satellite  12 , and particularly the channels assigned to different users, are known for the first NGSO satellite  12  at all times. In this way, a new user may be blocked or denied making a communication, rather than dropping a current user to ensure that each user which currently has a link with the first NGSO satellite  12  does not lose that link.  
         [0035]    An additional advantage of a single state transmission is that a great deal of transmission bandwidth is allowed for other uses. In particular, since only one transmission is used to reserve channels on the first NGSO satellite  12 , further transmissions and bandwidth is not consumed by continuously retransmitting state information between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12 . This will allow the overhead resources dedicated to such state information to be between about 0.5% and about 0.001%. The single transmission indicates to the transceiver  16  which channel or configuration the first NGSO satellite  12  will require the transceiver  16  to use for each time step.  
         [0036]    A communication drop rate between a transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12  should be less than about 1%. A communication drop is when the transmissions between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12  are interrupted for any reason. Preferably, the communication drop rate should be between about 0.5% and about 0.01%. Due to the NGSO satellite system  10 , communications between the transceiver  16  and the first NGSO satellite  12  can be maintained to assure that the communication drop rate is less than about 0.5%. It will be understood, however, that if there is additional or remaining bandwidth which is not currently reserved, a higher drop rate may be allowed for users that do not require such a low drop rate. Therefore, a transceiver  16 , not requiring such a low drop communication rate, may be given remaining bandwidth with the understanding that the transceiver  16 , which does not require such a low communication drop rate, may be dropped to give that bandwidth to a transceiver  16  which does require a low communication drop rate.  
         [0037]    Additionally, since the transceiver  16  will be transferred between the first NGSO satellite  12  and the second NGSO satellite  14 , the state information of the transceiver  16  and reservations for the transceiver  16  must also be transmitted to the second NGSO satellite  14 . Because the user is already aware of which cells it will pass through, that information is transferred to the second NGSO satellite  14  far in advance of the actual hand over of the transceiver  16  transmission from the first NGSO satellite  12  to the second NGSO satellite  14 . In particular, this hand over information may be transferred from the first NGSO satellite  12  to the second NGSO satellite  14  at any time.  
         [0038]    Preferably the state transfer is done when the transceiver  16  is one-half of the distance through the first array  30 , then the transceiver  16  is closest to the first NGSO satellite  12  and there is ample time to retransmit the state information if it is lost. The physical closeness of the transceiver  16  to the first NGSO satellite  12  reduces the possibilities of scattering and absorption of the atmosphere. Therefore, the user path  34  is transmitted to the second NGSO satellite  14  long before the transceiver  16  enters the second array  32 .  
         [0039]    As soon as the user path  34  is known the second NGSO satellite  14  may reserve channels for the transceiver  16  and transmit those to the transceiver  16 . Although state information may be transferred inter-satellite it will also be understood that state information may be transferred from a ground based unit. That is either the transceiver  16  or other ground based communication centers, such as the NOCC  20 . Therefore, the state transmission need not occur directly between the first NGSO satellite  12  and the second NGSO satellite  14 .  
         [0040]    The NOCC  20  predetermines the satellite configurations such that the NOCC  20  knows the maximum capacity each satellite may handle without dropping a communication initiated by a transceiver  16 . The NOCC  20  has determined this maximum capacity for each uplink cell  26 . The transceiver  16  is aware of its Earth based fixed cell  24  and uplink cell  26 , which is also known by the NOCC  20  for each transceiver  16 . Therefore, the first NGSO satellite  12  will be able to provide the appropriate channel and bandwidth to the particular transceiver  16  so that the capacity of the uplink beam or beams  22  is not overloaded for the particular uplink cell  26 . In this way, the first NGSO satellite  12  can ensure that the maximum capacity computed by the NOCC  20  is never exceeded by the transceivers  16  that pass through the first array  30  of the first NGSO satellite  12 .  
         [0041]    The efficiency of the NGSO satellite system  10  approaches  100 % when the uplink beam  22  is the same size as the uplink cell  26 . However, as uplink beam radius  22   a  approaches the uplink cell radius  26   a , the computational complexity of the NGSO system  10  increases to allow for providing enough resources to ensure that an overload does not occur in the NGSO system  10 . This is so because decreasing the uplink cell radius  26   a  relative to the uplink beam radius  22   a  decreases the size of the Earth based fixed cell radius  24   a  and increases the number of time steps for the reservation tables. The number of computations that must occur to transfer the transceiver  16  between the different channels or resources on the first NGSO satellite  12  become nearly infinite. However, since the NOCC  20  has determined the optimal configuration for each uplink cell  26 , and has determined where the heaviest usage may occur, the first NGSO satellite  12  configurations may be selected so that there are enough resources and computational capacity for the heaviest usage areas while allowing areas of lesser usage to be allocated less resources and computational capacity.  
         [0042]    Because of the configuration computations performed by the NOCC  20  and the knowledge of user paths  34  by the transceiver  16 , the only computational aspects required of the first NGSO satellite  12  are those relating to the reservation and resource allocation tables. All of the other computational work regarding communication management is performed by the NOCC  20 . This ensures that the first NGSO satellite  12  is aware of the maximum amount of bandwidth which is available in each uplink beam  22 . This also reduces the number of dropped communications in the NGSO satellite system  10 . Also, since the NOCC  20  and transceiver  16  are ground based components, they may be easily upgraded. Moreover, the payload of the first NGSO satellite  12  is greatly diminished due to the placement of much of the computational activity on the NOCC  20 . Because of this, the first NGSO satellite  12  become easier to manufacture and place in orbit. Also, the NOCC  20  determines the maximum load which is offered by transceiver  16  and ensures that the first NGSO satellite  12  is configured so that all of the transceivers  16  have access to a channel of the first NGSO satellite  12 .  
         [0043]    The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.