Patent Publication Number: US-2023141993-A1

Title: Wideband Transceiver

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Pat. Application No. 16/751,281, filed Jan. 24, 2020 and entitled “Wideband Transceiver,” which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. Application No. 62/797,592, filed Jan. 28, 2019 and entitled “Wideband Transceiver,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     Aspects of the disclosure pertain to the field of one or more satellite communication systems. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A satellite communication system may include a gateway (or hub) and a plurality of terminals communicating with the gateway over a satellite. Satellite communication (e.g., for commercial use) may be performed in C-band or in Ku-band. In both bands, the transmission spectrum usually available for the gateway is 500-750 MHz and the reception spectrum may be similar in width. Thus, the interface between the gateway’s baseband equipment (e.g., receivers and transmitters) and its radio frequency transceiver (RFT) may often utilize the L-band frequency range (e.g., 950-1700 MHz). Consequently, the gateway may utilize the entire available spectrum using a single RF chain (per polarization). 
     Over the past several years, the increasing demand for capacity led to emergence of multi-spot-beam (MSB) satellites (also referred to as high-throughput satellites (HTS) and very-high-throughput satellites (VHTS)) supporting communication between gateways and terminals in Ka-band. By using separate beams for gateways (e.g., feeder beams) and for terminals (e.g., user beams), the available spectrum for each gateway has increased up to approximately 2.5 GHz in each direction (per polarization). However, the RF equipment has not followed up and practically remained with the same capacity as before. For transmission, the high power amplifiers (HPAs) and the block-up-converters (BUCs) have maintained a capacity of about 750 MHz, and their L-band interface frequencies have slightly shifted (e.g., to the 1600-2350 MHz range) to better accommodate the required frequency up-conversion. For reception, low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and low-noise-blocks (LNBs) have supported reception spectrum of about 1.2 GHz, hence their L-band interface frequency range has only mildly been extended (e.g., to the 950-2150 MHz range). Thus, a gateway using the entire Ka-band spectrum (2.5 GHz) would have required about 4 RF chains for transmission and about 2 RF chains for reception (per polarization). Yet, as long as the gateway supported communication over a single satellite, the number of required RF chains remained relatively small and acceptable. 
     Recently, a new kind of satellite communication systems has been emerging, based on low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations designed to provide service almost anywhere on Earth. To achieve that goal, these LEO satellite constellations may be designed to comprise hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of satellites. Each of these satellites may support at least one feeder beam (in two polarizations) in the Ka-band, or in a higher band (Q-band or V-band) supporting even more capacity than available in the Ka-band. A gateway for such a communication system may be required to simultaneously support multiple satellites (sometimes tens of satellites). Attempting to build a gateway for such a communication system using the above-mentioned technology may result in a very large number of RF chains. Such a gateway may be expensive to build and to operate. 
     To reduce the number of RF chains, each RF chain may need to support higher capacity. For example, a single RF chain may need to support an entire feeder beam (one polarization). Transferring 2.5 GHz of spectrum (or more) over an analogue RF interface may require an interface at C-band frequencies (4-8 GHz) or at even higher frequencies. However, attenuation of RF cables at such frequencies is high, hence any such interface will be very limited in distance. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some aspects of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below. 
     Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a gateway of a satellite communication system. The gateway may comprise an indoor part and an outdoor part that may be at some distance from each other. The indoor part may comprise one or more Internet Protocol encapsulators (IPEs) and one or more frame processors (FPs). The outdoor part may comprise at least one wideband transceiver. The at least one wideband transceiver may be configured to interface with the one or more IPEs using a first digital interface, for example, over an Ethernet based LAN. The at least one wideband transceiver may be configured to interface with the one or more FPs using a second digital interface, for example, over an Ethernet based LAN. 
     A first protocol associated with the first digital interface may comprise sending, from an IPE of the one or more IPEs and to the at least one wideband transceiver, at least one Ethernet frame comprising at least one adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) tagged frame and a carrier identification field. The at least one ACM tagged frame may comprise at least one baseband frame (e.g., in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard or with the DVB-S2X standard), and an ACM information field. The at least one baseband frame may comprise data to be transmitted (e.g., over a satellite link). 
     A second protocol associated with the second digital interface may comprise sending, from the at least one wideband transceiver to an FP of the one or more FPs, at least one Ethernet frame comprising at least one baseband frame (e.g., in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard or with the DVB-S2X standard). The at least one baseband frame may be extracted from a modulated carrier (e.g., of one or more modulated carriers) that the wideband transceiver may be configured to receive (e.g., from a satellite). The at least one baseband frame may comprise data to be received. 
     Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a wideband transceiver, the wideband transceiver may comprise at least one transmission (TX) module and/or at least one reception (RX) module. 
     The TX module of the wideband transceiver may comprise a digital interface port (e.g., an Ethernet LAN port) and may be configured to receive data to be transmitted (e.g., from one or more IPEs) in accordance with the first digital interface and/or the first protocol. The TX module may comprise at least a digital modulator and a high power amplifier (HPA). The digital modulator may be configured to apply any of an equalization function and/or a pre-distortion function for at least the purpose of improving the transmitted signal quality (e.g., as may be measured through error vector magnitude (EVM)). 
     The RX module of the wideband transceiver may comprise a digital interface port (e.g., an Ethernet LAN port) and may be configured to send received data (e.g., to one or more FPs) in accordance with the second digital interface and/or the second protocol. The RX module may comprise a plurality of tuner &amp; demodulator elements for at least the purpose of receiving a plurality of carriers. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Having thus described the disclosure in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein: 
         FIG.  1    shows a block diagram of an example gateway in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    shows an example protocol for a digital interface in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  3    shows an example protocol for a digital interface in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    shows a block diagram of a transmission module in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    shows a block diagram of a reception module in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  6    shows a block diagram of a transmission module in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG.  1    shows a block diagram of an example gateway. A gateway  100  of a satellite communication system may be presented. The gateway  100  may comprise a border router  110 , one or more packet processors  120 , a first local area network (LAN)  130 , one or more Internet Protocol encapsulators (IPEs)  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ... , and  140 - n , and one or more frame processors (FPs)  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ... , and  150 - k . One or more of the border router  110 , the one or more packet processors  120 , the first LAN  130 , the one or more IPEs  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ... , and  140 - n , or the one or more FPs  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ... , and  150 - k  may be implemented at a first location (e.g., indoors). The gateway  100  may comprise a wideband transceiver  170  that may be implemented at a second location (e.g., outdoors distanced from the indoors facility hosting at least the one or more IPEs  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ..., and  140 - n  and/or the one or more FPs  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ..., and  150 - k ). The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to interface with the one or more IPEs  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ... , and  140 - n  using a digital interface  161 , for example over an Ethernet based LAN. The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to interface with the one or more FPs  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ... , and  150 - k  using a digital interface  162 , for example over an Ethernet based LAN. The digital interface  161  and the digital interface  162  may utilize a second LAN  160 . The digital interface  161  and the digital interface  162  may be associated with separated LANs (not shown in  FIG.  1   ). The wideband transceiver  170  may comprise at least one TX module  180  and at least one RX module  190 . The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to interface an antenna feed using a radio frequency (RF) transmission interface  181  (e.g., coupled to the TX module  180 ) and an RF reception interface  191  (e.g., coupled to the RX module  190 ). The RF transmission interface  181  and the RF reception interface  191  may comprise any of waveguide interfaces and/or cable interfaces in accordance with the applicable RF transmission and/or RF reception bands (e.g., Ku-band, Ka-band, Q-band, V-band, etc.). 
       FIG.  2    shows an example protocol for a digital interface. Referring to  FIG.  1    and  FIG.  2   , a packet may be received at the gateway  100  (e.g., via the border router  110 ), for example, for transmission toward a terminal that may be configured to receive packets from the gateway  100  over a satellite. The packet may be processed by the packet processor  120  (connected to the border router  110 ) to produce a corresponding payload packet  203 . The packet processor  120  may be configured to at least append an adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) information field  202  to the payload packet  203  to generate an ACM tagged packet  200 . The ACM information field  202  may comprise a code corresponding to a maximal (e.g., in terms of required reception signal to noise ratio (SNR)) modulation and coding (MODCOD) combination for transmitting data towards the terminal. The packet processor  120  may be configured to append to the ACM tagged packet  200  one or more LAN headers  201  (e.g., associated with the LAN  130 ) to generate an Ethernet frame and to send the Ethernet frame over the LAN  130  to one of the one or more IPEs  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ..., and  140 - n  (e.g., referred to herein as an IPE  140 ). Packet processor  120  may be configured to fragment an ACM tagged packet  200  between Ethernet frames and/or send several ACM tagged packets  200  in a single Ethernet frame, as needed and/or applicable. 
     The IPE  140  may be configured to receive (e.g., over the LAN  130 ) Ethernet frames containing ACM tagged packets  200  that may be destined to one or more terminals, to encapsulate payload packets  203  included in corresponding ACM tagged packets  200  into a stream of ACM tagged frames  210  in accordance with a protocol associated with digital interface  161  (e.g., as described herein), and to transmit the ACM tagged frames  210  (e.g., within Ethernet frames and over the LAN  160 ) to the wideband transceiver  170 . 
     The IPE  140  may be configured, upon receiving an Ethernet frame containing an ACM tagged packet  200 , to strip the LAN headers  201  from the received Ethernet frame and extract at least one ACM tagged packet  200  from the received Ethernet frame. The IPE  140  may be configured to encapsulate a payload packet  203  included in the at least one ACM tagged packet  200  in accordance with an encapsulation method. The IPE  140  may be configured to encapsulate a payload packet  203  into one or more baseband frames (BBFrames), for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard (e.g., ETSIEN  302   307 - 1 , “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure, channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and other broadband satellite applications; Part 1: DVB-S2”). The IPE  140  may be configured to encapsulate a payload packet  203  into one or more baseband frames (BBFrames), for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2X standard (e.g., ETSI EN  302   307 - 2 , “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure, channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and other broadband satellite applications; Part 2: DVB-S2 Extensions (DVB-S2X)”). The IPE  140  may be configured to encapsulate a payload packet  203  into one or more baseband frames (BBFrames), for example, in accordance with the GSE standard (e.g., ETSI TS  102   606 , “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Generic Stream Encapsulation (GSE)”). For example, the IPE  140  may be configured to encapsulate a payload packet  203  in accordance with GSE by adding a GSE header  213  to the payload packet  203 . The IPE  140  may be configured to fragment a payload packet  203  between baseband frames (e.g., encapsulating each fragment in a different baseband frame, for example in accordance with GSE) and/or to encapsulate several payload packets  203  in a single baseband frame (e.g., each payload packet  203  with its corresponding GSE header  213 ), as necessary and/or applicable. The IPE  140  may be configured to determine which payload packets  203  to encapsulate in a same baseband frame in accordance with the ACM information field  202  associated with each payload packet  203 . The IPE  140  may be configured to append an ACM information field  212  to each baseband frame to generate an ACM tagged frame  210 . For each ACM tagged frame  210 , the ACM information field  212  may comprise a code corresponding to a MODCOD for transmitting the baseband frame included in the ACM tagged frame  210 . The IPE  140  may be configured to determine the MODCOD for transmitting a baseband frame in accordance with the MODCODs signaled in ACM information fields  202  associated with the payload packets  203  encapsulated in the baseband frame. For example, the IPE  140  may be configured to determine the MODCOD for transmitting a baseband frame as the minimal MODCOD (e.g., in terms of required reception SNR) associated with any of the payload packets  203  encapsulated in the baseband frame. 
     The IPE  140  may be configured to append to an ACM tagged frame  210  a carrier identification field  215  and one or more LAN headers  211  (e.g., associated with the LAN  160 ) to generate an Ethernet frame, and to send the Ethernet frame over the LAN  160  to the wideband transceiver  170 . The carrier identification field  215  may be used by the wideband transceiver  170  for determining on which carrier of a plurality of carriers to transmit the baseband frame included in the ACM tagged frame  210 . For at least the purpose of simplifying an implementation of the digital interface  161 , the IPE  140  may be configured to send a single ACM tagged frame  210  in each Ethernet frame sent to the wideband transceiver  170 . 
       FIG.  3    shows an example protocol for a digital interface. Referring to  FIG.  1    and  FIG.  3   , the wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to receive one or more modulated carriers (e.g., over the RF reception interface  191 ). The one or more carriers may be modulated and/or formatted, for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard or in accordance with the DVB-S2X standard. The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to demodulate the one or more modulated carriers, to extract one or more streams of frames from the one or more demodulated carriers, respectively, and to send frames of the one or more streams of frames (e.g., over the LAN  160 ) to the one or more frame processors (FPs)  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ..., and  150 - k  in accordance with a protocol associated with the digital interface  162  (e.g., as described herein). 
     A frame of the one or more stream of frames (e.g., referred to herein as an extracted frame) may comprise a frame header  304  and one or more encapsulated payload packets  303 . The frame header  304  may comprise signaling information (e.g., for at least the purpose of extracting at least one payload packet  303  from the extracted frame). The extracted frame may comprise a baseband frame (e.g., in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard or the DVB-S2X standard) and the frame header  304  may comprise a baseband frame header (e.g., in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard or the DVB-S2X standard). The one or more payload packets  303  (and/or a fragment of a payload packet) may be encapsulated in the extracted frame, for example, in accordance with the GSE standard, and the extracted frame may comprise a corresponding GSE header  302  for each of the one or more payload packets  303  (and/or for a fragment of a payload packet). 
     The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to send extracted frames to the one or more FPs  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ..., and  150 - k  (e.g., an FP  150 ). The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to send Ethernet frames. Each Ethernet frame may comprise one or more LAN headers  301  (e.g., associated with the LAN  160 ) and one or more extracted frames. For at least the purpose of simplifying an implementation of the digital interface  162 , the wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to send a single extracted frame in each Ethernet frame sent to the FP  150 . 
     The FP  150  may be configured, upon receiving (e.g., over the LAN  160 ) an Ethernet frame containing one or more extracted frames, to strip the LAN headers  301  from the received Ethernet frame, and to restore the one or more extracted frames. The FP  150  may be configured to extract one or more payload packets  303  from the one or more extracted frames in accordance with encapsulation headers associated with the one or more payload packets  303 . Extracting a payload packet  303  may comprise assembling the payload packet  303  from two or more payload packet fragments that may be encapsulated in two or more extracted frames. The one or more payload packets  303  may be encapsulated in the one or more extracted frames, for example, in accordance with the GSE standard, and the FP  150  may be configured to extract the one or more payload packets  303  from the one or more extracted frames, for example, in accordance with GSE headers  302  associated with the one or more payload packets  303 . 
     The FP  150  may be configured to send extracted payload packets  303  to the packet processor  120 . The FP  150  may generate Ethernet frames. Each Ethernet frame may comprise one or more LAN headers  311  (e.g., associated with the LAN  130 ) and one or more payload packets  303 . The FP  150  may send the Ethernet frames (e.g., over the LAN  130 ) to the packet processor  120 . The packet processor  120  may be configured to process the payload packets  303  (e.g., in accordance with any relevant protocol), to generate user packets corresponding to the payload packets  303 , and to transmit the user packets (e.g., via the boarder router  110 ) to a user network to which the gateway  100  may be connected. 
     It may be noted that the digital interfaces  161  and  162  (e.g. as previously described) may present several advantages compared to RF interfaces and/or digitally sampled RF interfaces. In an example, the digital interfaces  161  and  162  may be implemented over optical fibers and support large distances between equipment at the first location (e.g., the IPEs  140 - 1 ,  140 - 2 , ... , and  140 - n , the FPs  150 - 1 ,  150 - 2 , ... , and  150 - k , etc.) and equipment at the second location (e.g., the wideband transceiver  170  that may be coupled to an antenna). Such large distances may be supported while avoiding impairments such as attenuation and differences in attenuation at different frequencies (flatness), which are characteristic of RF cables at high frequencies. Such high frequencies may be needed for supporting wideband transmission and/or reception. In an example, the digital interfaces  161  and  162  may require lower speed Ethernet interfaces than digital interfaces based on sampled RF, hence may be less expensive and easier to implement. For digital interfaces  161  and  162 , the Ethernet interfaces may need to support speeds similar to the transmitted/received traffic speeds (e.g., about one bit per second over the Ethernet interface for each bit per second transmitted or received over the satellite link). On the other hand, sampled RF interfaces may require Ethernet interfaces supporting speeds about 10 times the transmitted/received traffic speed. In an example, using Ethernet infrastructure instead of RF infrastructure may enable implementation of redundancy mechanisms based on relatively simple Ethernet switches rather than by using expensive and complicated RF matrixes. 
       FIG.  4    shows a block diagram of a transmission module. For example, the TX module  180  of a wideband transceiver  170  may be implemented as shown in  FIG.  4   . The TX module  180  may comprise a LAN interface  415  that may be coupled to an input interface of the TX module  180 , a digital modulator  420  that may be coupled to the LAN interface  415 , a wideband digital to analog converter (DAC)  422  that may be coupled to the digital modulator  420 , a wideband baseband filter  424  that may be coupled to the wideband DAC  422 , a wideband I/Q modulator  426  that may be coupled to the wideband baseband filter  424 , and a high power amplifier (HPA)  428  that may be coupled to the wideband I/Q modulator  426  and to the output interface of the TX module  180 . 
     The LAN interface  415  may be configured to support reception of Ethernet frames  410  in accordance with the digital interface  161  (e.g., as previously described). The input interface may comprise an optical Ethernet interface and the LAN interface  415  may comprise an optical Ethernet transceiver. The LAN interface  415  may be configured to strip the LAN headers  211  from a received Ethernet frame  410  and send the LAN header-stripped frames  416  to the digital modulator  420 . 
     The digital modulator  420  may be configured to generate an I/Q digital signal (samples) that may correspond to a wideband baseband signal. The wideband baseband signal may comprise one or more modulated carriers. The one or more modulated carriers may be, for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard. The one or more modulated carriers may be, for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2X standard. The wideband baseband signal may be, for example, 2 GHz or more wide (e.g., 2.5 GHz as per the available spectrum in Ka-band). The digital modulator  420  may be configured to receive a LAN header-stripped frame  416  in accordance with the digital interface  161 , to extract a carrier identifier field  215  from the frame  416 , and to associate the ACM tagged frame  210  included in the frame  416  with a carrier of the one or more modulated carriers in accordance with the carrier identifier  215 . The digital modulator  420  may be configured to extract an ACM information field  212  from the ACM tagged frame  210  and to modulate the (information in) the baseband frame included in the ACM tagged frame  210  on to the carrier the ACM tagged frame  210  may be associated with. Modulating the baseband frame on to the carrier may comprise any of scrambling the baseband frame information, appending FEC, bit interleaving, mapping into constellation in accordance with the ACM information field  212 , adding pilot symbols, and/or performing baseband shaping. Any of the above operations of modulating the baseband frame may be in accordance with the applicable modulation method (e.g., as previously mentioned). The digital modulator  420  may combine the one or more modulated carriers to a single I/Q digital signal (e.g., two streams of samples, I and Q) to generate the output I/Q digital signal  421 . 
     The wideband DAC  422  may be configured to receive the I/Q digital signal  421  that may correspond to a wideband baseband signal, for example, 2.5 GHz wide. The wideband DAC  422  may be configured to generate an I/Q wideband baseband signal  423  corresponding to the I/Q digital signal  421  by converting each component of the I/Q digital signal  421  to a corresponding analog signal (e.g., an I signal and a Q signal) at a baseband frequency. The wideband baseband filter  424  may be configured to receive the I/Q baseband signal  423 , to filter the I/Q baseband signal  423 , and to generate a corresponding filtered I/Q baseband signal  425 . 
     The wideband I/Q modulator  426  may be configured to receive the filtered I/Q baseband signal  425  and to generate an RF signal  427  corresponding to the filtered I/Q baseband signal  425 . The RF signal  427  may be at a required frequency band, for example, in the Ka-band (e.g., 27.5 GHz to 30 GHz), or in any other applicable band. The RF signal  427  may be transported over a waveguide to the HPA  428 . The HPA  428  may be configured to amplify the RF signal  427  and to output the amplified (wideband) RF signal  430  to the output interface of the TX module  180 . 
     A wideband RF signal may be subject to ripple over its bandwidth. Such ripple in the wideband RF signal may result, for example, from ripple introduced by filters, amplifiers, or any other components in the wideband RF signal path that may exhibit different characteristics over the wideband RF signal’s bandwidth. Such ripple may degrade the quality of the wideband RF signal, for example, as represented in an error vector magnitude (EVM) measurement. The higher the ripple, the higher the EVM and consequently the lower the effective reception SNR. Yet, as the TX module  180  may include the entire transmission chain (e.g., from the digital modulator  420  to the HPA  428 ), the ripple in the amplified wideband RF signal  430  may be significantly reduced (and consequently the effective reception SNR may be improved). The amplitude v. frequency characteristics of the amplified wideband RF signal  430  (e.g., without equalization) may be measured, for example during production of the TX module  180 , and an equalization vector  440  corresponding to the measurement may be provided to the digital modulator  420  and may be preserved in a non-volatile memory associated with the digital modulator  420 . The digital modulator  420  may be configured to use the equalization vector  440  for applying equalization as part of generating the I/Q digital signal  421  (that may correspond to the wideband baseband signal), for example, to mitigate the previously measured amplitude v. frequency characteristics. The ripple (the amplitude v. frequency characteristics) in the equalized amplified wideband RF signal  430  may be measured again and, if necessary, a different equalization vector  440  may be provided to the digital modulator  420  (e.g., for at least the purpose of further reducing the ripple in the amplified wideband RF signal  430 ). The above described process may be repeated as it may be necessary. For example, the above described process may be repeated until the ripple in the amplified wideband RF signal  430  is reduced to a sufficiently low value. 
     As the TX module  180  may include the entire transmission chain (e.g., from the digital modulator  420  to the HPA  428 ), and since the entire output spectrum may be generated as a single signal, applying digital pre-distortion may become more practical. The digital modulator  420  may be configured to apply pre-distortion as part of generating the I/Q digital signal  421  (e.g. for at least the purpose of at least reducing a level of distortion that may be associated with the amplified wideband RF signal  430 ). 
     The output signal  427  of the wideband I/Q modulator  426  may be coupled to the output interface of TX module  180 , and an external HPA may be connected to the output interface of TX module  180 , for example, if the TX module  180  does not comprise the HPA  428 . Any equalization and/or pre-distortion applied by digital modulator  420  may still be provided but without accounting for ripple and/or distortion applied by an external HPA. 
     The TX module  180  may comprise management, monitoring and control elements, such as but not limited to any of power detectors, temperature sensors, a test signal input port (e.g., for transmitting a test carrier towards a satellite), a controller (e.g., for collecting telemetry and interacting with an external management system), an Ethernet interface dedicated for management, etc. 
       FIG.  5    shows a block diagram of a reception module. For example, the RX module  190  of the wideband transceiver  170  may be implemented as shown in  FIG.  5   . The RX module  190  may comprise a frequency down converter  520  that may be coupled to an input interface of the RX module  190 , a bandpass filter  522  that may be coupled to the frequency down converter  520 , a splitter  524  that may be coupled to the bandpass filter  522 , a plurality of tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ..., and  526 - m  (e.g., each tuner &amp; demodulator element may be coupled to a different output of the splitter  524 ), and a LAN interface  528  that may be coupled to the plurality of tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ... , and  526 - m  and to an output interface of the RX module  190 . The RX module  190  may not comprise a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and the input interface of the RX module  190  may be connected (e.g., by cable or by waveguide) to an external LNA that may be mounted as closely as possible to an antenna feed. 
     One or more of the tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ..., and  526 - m  (e.g., a tuner &amp; demodulator element  526 - i , where 1≤i≤m) may be configured to tune on and demodulate one or more carriers, and to extract one or more streams of frames (e.g., extracted frames) corresponding to the one or more carriers. An extracted frame may be formatted, for example, as previously described in reference to  FIG.  3   . An extracted frame may comprise a frame header  304  and one or more encapsulated payload packets  303  with their associated encapsulation headers (e.g., GSE header  302 ). In some embodiments, a carrier may be formatted using time-slicing (e.g., in accordance with DVB-S2 annex M), and two or more tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ... , and  526 - m  may be configured to tune to a same carrier at least for the purpose of extracting two or more streams of frames corresponding to the time-sliced carrier. The one or more tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ..., and  526 - m  may be configured to tune on one or more carriers at an intermediate frequency band (e.g., in L-band, for example, between 950 MHz and 2150 MHz) and over a bandwidth that may be smaller than the bandwidth of the input interface of the RX module  190  (e.g., 1.2 GHz v. 2.5 GHz, respectively). 
     The frequency down converter  520  may comprise an input filter corresponding to the reception frequency band (e.g., 17.7 GHz to 20.2 GHz in Ka-band), and a down converter coupled to the input filter. The down converter may be configured to output, at the intermediate frequency band that may be supported by the tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ..., and  526 - m , a portion  521  of the input signal  510  corresponding to a portion of the input frequency band. The bandpass filter  522  may be configured to filter the output signal  521  of the frequency down converter, for example, to reject undesired byproducts of the down conversion, and to output a filtered signal  523 . The splitter  524  may be configured to split the filtered signal  523  into a plurality of signals  525 - 1 ,  525 - 2 , ..., and  525 - m . Each signal of the plurality of signals  525 - 1 ,  525 - 2  ... , and  525 - m  may correspond to the filtered signal  523 , and the plurality of signals  525 - 1 ,  525 - 2 , ... , and  525 - m  may be respectively provided to the plurality of tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ... , and  526 - m  (e.g., a signal  525 - i  for tuner &amp; demodulator  526 - i , where 1≤i≤m). The tuner &amp; demodulator element  526 - i  may be configured to tune on and demodulate one or more carriers that may be included in the signal  525 - i , to extract one or more streams of frames (e.g., as previously described), and to send extracted frame  527 - i  included in the one or more streams of frames to the LAN interface  528 . The LAN interface  528  may be configured to support transmission of extracted frames in accordance with the digital interface  162  (e.g., as previously described). The output interface of the RX module  190  may comprise an optical Ethernet interface, and the LAN interface  528  may comprise an optical Ethernet transceiver. The LAN interface  528  may be configured to append LAN headers  301  to extracted frames to generate Ethernet frames and send the generated Ethernet frames over the output interface  530 . 
     At least for the purpose of supporting reception over the entire input frequency band, the down converter  520  may comprise a splitter coupled to the input filter and a plurality of down converters coupled to the splitter. Each down converter of the plurality of down converters may be provided with a local oscillator at a different frequency. Consequently, each down converter may output a signal corresponding to a different portion of the input frequency band and the plurality of output signals (e.g., the plurality of output signals in their entirety) may correspond to the entire input frequency band. The down converter  520  may output a plurality of output signals  521  corresponding to the plurality of down converters, and the rest of the chain (e.g., the chain comprising the bandpass filter  522 , the splitter  524 , and the tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ... , and  526 - m ) may be duplicated in accordance with the plurality of output signals  521 . For example, a plurality of modules each comprising the bandpass filter  522 , the splitter  524 , and the tuner &amp; demodulator elements  526 - 1 ,  526 - 2 , ... , and  526 - m  may be implemented in the RX module  190  to receive the plurality of output signals  521 . 
     The RX module  190  may comprise management and control elements, such as but not limited to any of monitoring ports, temperature sensors, a controller (e.g., for collecting telemetry and interacting with an external management system), an Ethernet interface dedicated for management, etc. 
     The wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to transmit in a single polarization and receive in a single polarization and may comprise one or more TX modules  180  and one or more RX modules  190 . The one or more TX modules  180  may be configured to transmit a signal occupying any portion of the output frequency band, including over the entire output frequency band, and in the transmission polarization. The one or more RX modules  190  may be configured to receive a signal occupying any portion of the input frequency band, including the entire input frequency band, and in the reception polarization. 
     A wideband transceiver may be configured to transmit in both polarization and receive in both polarization. The wideband transceiver may comprise two wideband transceivers  170 , each of the two wideband transceivers  170  may be configured, for example, as previously described. Each wideband transceiver  170  may be configured to transmit/receive on the opposite polarization as the other wideband transceiver  170  and have dedicated output and input interfaces ( 181  and  191 , respectively). 
       FIG.  6    shows a block diagram of a transmission module. For example, the TX module  180  of the wideband transceiver  170  may be implemented as shown in  FIG.  6   . The TX module  180  may comprise a LAN interface  415  that may be coupled to the an input interface of the TX module  180 , a modulator  620  that may be coupled to the LAN interface  415 , an intermediate frequency (IF) filter  622  that may be coupled to the modulator  620 , a frequency up converter (UC)  624  that may be coupled to the IF filter  622 , an RF filter  626  that may be coupled to the UC  624 , and an HPA  428  that may be coupled to the RF filter  626  and to the output interface of the TX module  180 . 
     The LAN interface  415  may be configured to support reception of Ethernet frames  410  in accordance with the digital interface  161 , and to send received frames  416  included in the Ethernet frames to the modulator  620  (e.g., as previously described in reference to  FIG.  4   ). The modulator  620  may be configured to generate (e.g., an analog) wideband baseband signal  621 . The wideband baseband signal  621  may comprise one or more modulated carriers. The one or more modulated carriers may be, for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2 standard. The one or more modulated carriers may be, for example, in accordance with the DVB-S2X standard. The wideband baseband signal may be up to 2.5 GHz wide (e.g., occupying a portion of a frequency range of 0.8 GHz to 3.3 GHz). The modulator  620  may be configured to receive a frame  416  in accordance with the digital interface  161  and to modulate information included in the frame  416  on to a carrier of the one or more modulated carriers (e.g., as previously described in reference to the digital modulator  420 ). 
     The IF filter  622  may be configured to filter the wideband baseband signal  621  to produce a filtered baseband signal  623 . The frequency UC  624  may be configured to generate an RF signal  625  corresponding to the filtered baseband signal  623 . The RF signal  625  may be at a required frequency band, for example, in the Ka-band (e.g., 27.5 GHz to 30 GHz), or in any other applicable band. The RF filter  626  may be configured to produce a filtered RF signal  427  that may be transported over a waveguide to the HPA  428 . The HPA  428  may be configured to amplify the filtered RF signal  427  and to output the amplified (wideband) RF signal  430  to the output interface of the TX module  180 . 
     Various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied as one or more methods, systems, apparatuses (e.g., components of a satellite communication network), and/or computer program products. Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, an entirely firmware embodiment, or an embodiment combining firmware, software, and/or hardware aspects. Furthermore, such aspects may take the form of a computer program product stored by one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code, or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitable computer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, one or more computer readable media storing instructions may be used. The instructions, when executed, may cause one or more apparatuses to perform one or more acts described herein. The one or more computer readable media may comprise transitory and/or non-transitory media. In addition, various signals representing data or events as described herein may be transferred between a source and a destination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling through signal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space). 
     Modifications may be made to the various embodiments described herein by those skilled in the art. For example, each of the elements of the aforementioned embodiments may be utilized alone or in combination or sub-combination with elements of the other embodiments. It will also be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present disclosure.