Optimum frequency assignment for satellite SCPC systems

A technique for deriving a quasi-optimum solution for IM-minimum channel allocation for single-level SCPC systems is presented. Two types of IM products are considered as the dominant components in an RF band. The third order IM product is proportional to the product of the power of concerned carriers, allowing a weighting function to be defined for calculating the IM noise. An IM minimum channel allocation technique can then be used to reduce the IM noise occurring in the carrier slots through frequency assignment. The worst carrier is automatically deleted with an initial channel allocation and the process is iterated until the maximum noise reduction is obtained. The first two or three carriers are assigned to unused frequency slots with low noise. The method is also viable when dealing with a larger number of carriers.