Patent ID: 8340573

Claim:
A multichannel payload system for satellites, the payload system comprising: a plurality of input sections, each input section including an uplink antenna receiving an uplink signal from a respective uplink service, a low noise amplifier amplifying the uplink signal received at the uplink antenna, a converter converting the uplink signal amplified by the low noise amplifier, and an input filter filtering the signal converted by the converter; a plurality of output sections, each output section including a respective downlink antenna outputting a signal from the payload system to a respective downlink service area; and a multiport amplifier connecting each respective input section to a corresponding one of the output sections so that uplink signals received at respective input sections are amplified and output at respective output sections, the multiport amplifier including an input Butler matrix having a plurality of input ports and output ports, wherein each input port of the input Butler matrix is connected to a corresponding one of the input sections for receiving a respective signal amplified by the low noise amplifier, converted by the converter, and filtered by the filter of the corresponding input section, the input Butler matrix splits, in amplitude, each signal input to each input port of the input Butler matrix into respective parts, and each respective part is output at a corresponding output port of the input Butler matrix as a signal to be amplified, a plurality of high power amplifiers, each high power amplifier having an input terminal and output terminal, receiving at the input terminal a respective one of the signals to be amplified from a corresponding one of the output ports of the input Butler matrix, amplifying the signal to be amplified that is received, and outputting a signal amplified by the respective high power amplifier to the output terminal of the respective high power amplifier, and an output Butler matrix having a plurality of input ports and output ports, wherein each input port of the output Butler matrix is connected to a corresponding output terminal of a respective one of the high power amplifiers, the output Butler matrix combines the signals received at the input ports of the output Butler matrix so that each of the amplified signals output at each of the output ports of the output Butler matrix corresponds to a respective one of the signals to be amplified that are input to the input ports of the input Butler matrix, and the output ports of the output Butler matrix are connected to respective output sections of the payload system, whereby at least one of the signals received at one of the uplink antennas can be output from a corresponding downlink antenna at a higher power than can be produced by any individual one of the high power amplifiers.