A Space-Division Multiple-Access Protocol for Spot-Beam Antenna and Satellite-Switched Communication Network

This paper identifies the characteristics of a point-topoint demand-assignment satellite-switched spot-beam antenna communication network for integrated data voice traffic. The described protocol is known as space-division multiple-access (SDMA) which uses an on-board central traffic controller, a fixed-assignment timedivision multiple-access (TDMA) protocol for reservations, and a rigid frame structure with separate data and voice subframes. Message and circuit switching are utilized for data and voice traffic, respectively. Synchronization is maintained by a looped-back reservation burst. A detailed delay analysis of data and voice traffic is presented for an arbitrary compound arrival process. A new method for the calculation of the data reservation and scheduling delays is derived. A comparison of the performance of the SDMA protocol to other protocols is shown. This paper demonstrates the feasibility and illustrates the design of the SDMA protocol.