Reconfigurable multiport amplifiers for in-orbit use

A highly reliable and economical system design is presented for a multiport amplifier (MPA) system, which has attracted considerable attention for its potential use in multibeam mobile satellite communications. An MPA is composed of multiple input/output ports and an array of multiple high-power amplifier (HPAs). Since the HPAs are shared among multiple beams, this design solves the problems of traffic imbalance among beams, traffic changes due to terminal movement, and changes in propagation conditions, and can efficiently utilize the total transmitting power with maximum flexibility and minimum hardware. The problem is that HPA failures degrade the MPA beam isolation, causing multipath interference in the surrounding area due to leakage through adjacent beams. To address this problem, we investigated the MPA performance and survival probability when HPAs fail, by taking the specific properties of the MPA configuration into account. Based on our analysis, we found that there is an optimum operational HPA on/off mode in the event of HPA failure, and we were able to obtain optimal performance and reliability by reconfiguring the HPA on/off states in orbit upon the occurrence of HPA failures. Our proposed self-redundant, reconfigurable MPA can achieve high reliability without any need for additional redundant units or switches.