Capacity analysis and system optimization for the reverse link of multi-beam satellite broadband systems exploiting adaptive coding and modulation

This paper proposes a methodology for designing and optimizing the performance of adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) schemes for the forward link of unicast satellite broadband networks. The proposed technique of general applicability is based on the overall system capacity maximization conditioned on meeting a certain service area coverage for a given outage probability. The paper first derives in detail the method for computing the Shannon-based capacity of a multi-beam satellite system adopting ACM. Then the link efficiency is optimized under different physical layer constraints allowing a more realistic system performance assessment. Finally, to exemplify the methodology application and to quantify the ACM system performance improvement capabilities a study case corresponding to a Ka-band state-of-the-art bent pipe satellite network is provided. The example illustrates the very substantial capacity gain offered by state-of-the-art adaptive modulation and coding schemes utilization compared to current broadband satellite system design approach. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.