Session
Session VIII: Ground Systems - Enterprise
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
The increasing deployment of satellite clusters in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) presents new challenges and opportunities for satellite communications, particularly from a Ground Segment perspective. This paper investigates efficient management of multiple ground contacts, in the Ground Segment as a Service context, by leveraging on Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture (MSPA) technique to maximize connectivity by sharing ground resources to multiple satellites simultaneously.
MSPA is particularly valuable for handling multiple spacecraft in close proximity, such as during the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of rideshare missions, all being supported by same ground segment infrastructure. By enabling simultaneous downlinks through a shared ground stations, MSPA improves spectral efficiency and ensures equitable distribution of communication windows among different users. Moreover, sharing the communication opportunities during the nominal satellite’s operational phase shall increase operational efficiency from both ground and space point of view, especially for formation flying missions.
From an orbital mechanics perspective, this paper addresses the challenges of constructing efficient tracking trajectories and optimizing contact schedules to maximize ground station usage. This requires optimizing antenna tracking trajectory of satellite visibilities, reducing the unused time between tracked objects and ensured seamless data acquisition. On the other hand, from an RF engineering standpoint, the complexities of simultaneously monitoring and processing multiple portions of the RF spectrum using multi-radio and single-radio architectures are explored.
Key challenges associated with MSPA include managing inter-satellite signal interference, ensuring robust data demodulation for concurrent downlinks and maintaining synchronization across multiple communication channels. Additionally, ground station hardware limitations such as antenna beamwidth constraints and high-speed digital signal processing requirements must be addressed to fully exploit MSPA’s capabilities.
By leveraging advanced scheduling algorithms for contacts and spectrum management techniques, GSaaS providers can significantly enhance service effectiveness for satellite constellation operators or multi mission shared resources coordination. This paper will first present the overall framework, analyzing both orbital and RF challenges of MSPA. Then, simulations of a few case studies demonstrating the benefits of MSPA are presented, offering insights into the future of scalable and efficient satellite-ground communications.
Document Type
Event
Optimizing Ground Station Communications Using Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture in a Ground Segment as a Service Framework
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
The increasing deployment of satellite clusters in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) presents new challenges and opportunities for satellite communications, particularly from a Ground Segment perspective. This paper investigates efficient management of multiple ground contacts, in the Ground Segment as a Service context, by leveraging on Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture (MSPA) technique to maximize connectivity by sharing ground resources to multiple satellites simultaneously.
MSPA is particularly valuable for handling multiple spacecraft in close proximity, such as during the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of rideshare missions, all being supported by same ground segment infrastructure. By enabling simultaneous downlinks through a shared ground stations, MSPA improves spectral efficiency and ensures equitable distribution of communication windows among different users. Moreover, sharing the communication opportunities during the nominal satellite’s operational phase shall increase operational efficiency from both ground and space point of view, especially for formation flying missions.
From an orbital mechanics perspective, this paper addresses the challenges of constructing efficient tracking trajectories and optimizing contact schedules to maximize ground station usage. This requires optimizing antenna tracking trajectory of satellite visibilities, reducing the unused time between tracked objects and ensured seamless data acquisition. On the other hand, from an RF engineering standpoint, the complexities of simultaneously monitoring and processing multiple portions of the RF spectrum using multi-radio and single-radio architectures are explored.
Key challenges associated with MSPA include managing inter-satellite signal interference, ensuring robust data demodulation for concurrent downlinks and maintaining synchronization across multiple communication channels. Additionally, ground station hardware limitations such as antenna beamwidth constraints and high-speed digital signal processing requirements must be addressed to fully exploit MSPA’s capabilities.
By leveraging advanced scheduling algorithms for contacts and spectrum management techniques, GSaaS providers can significantly enhance service effectiveness for satellite constellation operators or multi mission shared resources coordination. This paper will first present the overall framework, analyzing both orbital and RF challenges of MSPA. Then, simulations of a few case studies demonstrating the benefits of MSPA are presented, offering insights into the future of scalable and efficient satellite-ground communications.
