Satellite Beam Densification for High-Demand Areas

Conventional multi-beam pattern design in Geostationary (GEO) satellite communication systems consists of a regular grid of non-reconfigurable beams, where the beams overlap is typically assumed at the point where the beam edge reaches a 3-dB loss in the antenna pattern (with respect to the beam center). For certain high demand areas, this 3dB loss has a significant impact. To overcome this issue, in this paper we evaluate the potential gain of beam densification, i.e. considering an increased number of beams (keeping the same beam size and shape) to cover hot-spot areas, with the aim to push the beam overlap and increase the beam gain. In particular, we compare two beam patterns (kindly provided by ESA): One with regular beam grid, and one with densification in a particular hot-spot area. We provide a comparison in terms of per-beam average SINR and capacity, as well as an overall system analysis considering the whole densified region.