Smart Gateway Diversity Optimization for EHF Satellite Networks

The short-term scenarios of High Throughput Satellite (HTS) systems foresee the exploitation of (currently commercially unused) Extremely High Frequency (EHF) bands in the feeder-link to support broadband user access services. In this context, spatial diversity plays a key role, considering that this is the only technique that can allow high link availability at frequency bands higher than the Ka-band without requiring very high link margins which results in a waste of system resources. In this framework, the most promising spatial diversity technique is the so-called Smart Gateway (SG) diversity. This paper focuses on the optimization of the SG technique following operator perspectives and needs. In particular, a design approach for the optimization of the SG architecture is proposed which allows to select the best SG configuration (spare capacity, number of gateway groups, number of gateways in each group, geographical position of gateways in each group) given a set of constraints (geographical position of all available gateways, longitude of the GEO satellite, characteristics of satellite/ground terminals, system availability). Moreover, a practical case of SG diversity optimization is presented as a reference to guide the reader in the SG optimization process.