Development of Satellite Multiple Access Schemes

In collaboration with European Space Agency, Nortel Dasa and Joanneum Research novel multiple access techniques are studied. Special emphasis is laid on multi-frequency time-division multiple access (MF-TDMA) which allows to increase the network capacity significantly without changing necessarily the transmission parameters (transmit power and figure of merit of the receiver system). The MF-TDMA access scheme is developed for a satellite multi-media communications system which adopts internally cell multiplexing techniques. Variable transmission parameters and network management issues are important aspects in the implementation. Tests and verifications under laboratory conditions and via satellite using Ku- and Ka-band satellites are part of the project.