Patent ID: 7907894

Claim:
A system for enabling use of ultra-small aperture terminals in satellite communications, the system comprising: a transmitter configured to receive an input signal having information, a bandwidth, and an amplitude, replicate the input signal into two or more replications of the input signal, convert each of the two or more replications to have a frequency tuned to two or more corresponding satellite transponders while maintaining the bandwidth and all the information of the input signal, and combine the two or more replications into a single uplink signal; and a transmit antenna configured to transmit the uplink signal to a receiver via the two or more satellite transponders, the receiver having a receive antenna configured to receive a re-transmission of the uplink signal from the two or more satellite transponders and a diversity combiner configured to coherently combine the two or more replications into an output signal by phase and frequency using one or more diversity combiners arranged in a cascading arrangement, the one or more diversity combiners being configured to impart an increase in power and signal-to-noise ratio on the output signal as compared to the input signal.