Channel allocation in a communication system

Abstract

Methods and systems are described which provide solutions for determining how to allocate terminals to slots in order to maximize communication system performance in the case where there is no feedback channel between a multiuser satellite receiver and terminals within the field of view. Terminals operate independently of each other and choose transmission slots based upon the geographic position of the terminal. Terminals can be programmed with a slot selector to choose slots according to some deterministic or non deterministic function of the current position. A slot plan database may be used to assist in efficient slot selection. Regular and irregular grid based allocation methods are described, that reduce the likelihood that too many terminals transmit using the same slot within the field of view. Satellite induced Doppler effects can be utilized be further increase slot re-use and to improve allocation of slots so that the receiver sees an approximately uniform distribution of frequencies over the frequency band to improve system throughput. The approaches described herein greatly reduce or eliminate the probability of failure at the receiver, which has numerous implementation advantages such as reduced cost, complexity, and power consumption.