Patent ID: 8705435

Claim:
A method for multiple access to a communications channel on a satellite comprising the steps of: transmitting a first modulated signal from a first site to a transponder; receiving, from the transponder, a composite signal, the composite signal comprising the first modulated signal and a second modulated signal transmitted from at least a second site; modulating an information bit stream with a modulating signal according to a carrier of said received composite signal, comprising the steps of: converting said composite signal into in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the second modulated signal to define a local I/Q coordinate space for signal processing at the first site, wherein said local I/Q coordinate space is determined with respect to a local oscillator reference and the carrier of the received composite signal; determining an optimum location for the I and Q components of the modulated information bit stream according to a distance between the I and Q components of the second modulated signal and the I and Q components of the modulated information bit stream in the local I/Q space; and modulating the information bit stream according to the optimum I/Q location and the carrier; transmitting the modulated information bit stream.