| Abstract: | Satellite switched frequency division multiple access (SS/FDMA) satellite systems are new adaptations of the basic FDMA architecture for multiple beam spacecraft. Present multibeam satellite systems feature on-board interbeam connections operating on a transponder channel basis, e.g. 72 MHz. SS/FDMA on board connectivity is based on much narrower channels and consequently achieves a much better utilization of spectrum resources whenever connectivity requirements are of the order of fractions of a transponder bandwidth. This work presents a critical analysis of various non-regenerative SS/FDMA satellite systems, identifies the technological requirements to be met in order to achieve the practical realization of SS/FDMA on-board processors and, finally, proposes two novel variable bandwidth variable centre frequency (VBVCF) demultiplexers with continuous and discrete reconfigurability. |
