Patent ID: 7280497

Claim:
An apparatus for coupling an earth terminal to a satellite, comprising: a plurality of inputs of the earth terminal configured to receive a plurality of digital communication signals; an autoscaling digital multiplexer of the earth terminal configured to digitally multiplex said plurality of digital communication signals to produce a digital composite signal; a digital modulator of the earth terminal configured to digitally modulate said digital composite signal to produce a digitally modulated composite signal; an input of the satellite configured to receive said digitally modulated composite signal; a digital demodulator of the satellite configured to digitally demodulate said digitally modulated composite signal received by said input of the satellite to produce a second digital composite signal; a autoscaling digital demultiplexer of the satellite configured to digitally separate said second digital composite signal into a second plurality of digital communication signals; and a modulator of the satellite configured to modulate said second plurality of digital communication signals to produce a plurality of modulated analog signals.