Multibeam satellites performance analysis in non-uniform traffic conditions

Multibeam satellite systems are typically designed assuming a uniform traffic demand. However, in reality, the uncertainty of real traffic (i.e. non-spatially-uniform) creates load imbalances among different beams so that some beams work at their maximum, but are still not able to fully meet the traffic demand (overloaded), while others beams use only a fraction of their potential capacity (underloaded). This translates into a situation in which part of the system capacity is left unused, while there is still some demand to be met elsewhere. The overall effect is a serious limitation to the usability of the total system resources. The most intuitive way to address this issue is allocating the available resources (bandwidth, time and power) on demand, depending on the specific traffic conditions.