On the use of multi-user detection in supporting narrowband waveforms on wideband satcom: An enabling technology for satcom on-the-move

Multi-User Detection (MUD) technology is most effective in situations where the transmitted information rate from an individual user is much less than 1 bps/Hz. MUD enables a substantial increase in number of simultaneous user signals supported and their aggregated traffic. Furthermore, MUD is highly advantageous in lowering the required terminal transmit power when used in conjunction with spectral spreading and carrier overlay, in contrast to TDMA with no overlay. With MUD in the receiving ground station, terminals with widely varying transmit powers and bit rates may share a common channel with minimal coordination between users - this is not feasible with traditional access methods: FDMA, TDMA and CDMA. These characteristics are well suited to supporting a large network of On-the-Move (OTM) micro terminals.