End-to-End Precoding Validation Over a Live GEO Satellite Forward Link

In this paper we demonstrate end-to-end precoded multi-user multiple-input single-output communications over a live GEO satellite link. Precoded communications enable full frequency reuse schemes in satellite communications to achieve broader service availability and higher spectrum efficiency than with the conventional four-color and two-color reuse approaches. In this scope, we develop a novel over-the-air test-bed for end-to-end precoding validations. We were able to demonstrate precoded communications over an actual geostationary orbit multi-beam satellite using the DVB-S2X standard-compliant state-of-the-art gateway and user terminals. The developed system is capable of fully end-to-end real-time communications over a satellite link and demonstrates novel channel measurements and channel compensation techniques for differential frequency and phase tracking. It is shown, that by successfully canceling inter-user interference in the actual satellite link, the precoding improves the received SINR and increases the total system goodput in aggressive full frequency reuse scenarios.