Time Division Access for Military Communications Satellites

Simultaneous use of a single satellite repeater by several surface terminals is of considerable interest to the military user. A method of achieving multiple access by means of time division is described. Bursts of digital data from different surface terminals are interleaved in a manner that allows them to be identified and demodulated. A comparison is made between the access efficiency of time division and that of other methods of multiple access. It is shown that, for a range of conditions, time division compares favorably with the others. In addition, it has the major advantage of flexibility. The primary considerations in the design of a system are given and the pertinent relationships derived. These relationships are used to obtain the values of the system parameters for an Mustrative system model. The system described allows six different accesses at any one of three data rates, depending on the carrier-to-noise ratio. Finally, a system block diagram is given with a description of its operation.