Satellite System Design Examples for Maximum MIMO Spectral Efficiency in LOS Channels

MIMO satellite links have recently attracted a high interest with respect to possible link capacity enhancements. It has been shown that especially in Line-Of-Sight (LOS) satellite channels maximum multiplexing gain can be achieved via the construction of orthogonal channels by means of the geometrical arrangement of the ground terminal antennae in relation to the antennae in orbit. Based on these theoretical results, the authors present practically relevant design and configuration examples for satellite communication systems, involving transparent payloads for the first time.