The Boeing Company

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Todd K Citron

Harold A Rosen

Arnold L Berman

James D Thompson

Steven O Lane

Robert E Vaughan

A system and method for adjusting satellite communication signal transmit power for signals transmitted to a localized region within a satellite coverage area utilize real-time information on weather conditions ( ) and/or actual path losses ( ) within the localized regions to adjust the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the satellite beams ( ) to minimize the total radio frequency (RF) power required for transmission. The transmission system may be realized using a variety of antenna types for transmitting spot beams and/or area coverage beams. Representative antenna implementations include multi-beam antennas having a low-level beamforming network and hybrid matrix amplifier system, phased-array with independent input amplitude control and beamsteering for each beam, and a phased-array feeding a confocal imaging system for single broadcast beam per polarization. The present invention allows for the reduction of RF transmit power to achieve the same communications performance enabling either increases in satellite functionality and/or an increase in total capacity of the satellite communication system.

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Pacific Palisades, CA, United States of America

Todd K Citron