A plausible CONOPS for frequency reuse at Ka-band on WGS system

The Department of Defense (DOD) demand for satellite communications (SATCOM) bandwidth is increasing. To meet this demand, the DOD will implement dual-polarization frequency reuse to increase bandwidth utilization. The Wideband Global SATCOM system (WGS) is one of the newest satellites procured by the United States DOD, and it will be the first wide band satellite to have the capability of dual- polarization frequency reuse at military Ka- band. Frequency re-use consists of using the same frequency band more than once in a given geographic location as a way to increase total capacity without increasing allocated bandwidth. A MILSATCOM implementation of frequency reuse by means of dual-polarization will be a complex planning and specification exercise. This paper describes a methodology to evaluate the performance of employing cross-polarization by limiting carrier power (EIRP) spectral density (ESD). As a consequence link spectral efficiency, link margin, and antenna axial ratio (AR) performance will be traded. The paper also explores other planning concepts for the employment of frequency reuse via orthogonal polarization over the WGS satellite. The goal of the paper is to determine the co-polarization (CP) and the cross-polarization (XP) interferer ESD levels and recommend the appropriate link spectral efficiency to ultimately determine antenna polarization performance.