Extending the Spectrum for Ka-band Satellite Systems by Use of the Shared Bands

The spectrum available in the exclusive Ka-bands has been shown to be insufficient to meet the demands of broadband access by satellite post 2020. This paper presents the work of the FP7 project CoRaSat in validating the use of the extra spectrum in the shared Ka bands for use by satellite. It is demonstrated that in the 17.3 to 17.7GHz band shared with Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS) feeder links that throughout Europe only areas of less than 2% of the coverage would need additional interference mitigation. In the 17.7 to 19.7GHz band it has been shown that the use of a data base system of Fixed Service (FS) interferers connected to a resource allocation system at the satellite gateway allows use of virtually all of the additional spectrum and provides a capacity increase of four times that by use of the exclusive band alone. In the 27.5 to 29.5GHz uplink band the use of the High Density Fixed Satellite Service (HDFSS) portions should provide sufficient bandwidth without any mitigation but that if needed a data base plus resource allocation scheme provides similar capacity improvements to that in the downlink.