METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BEAM SELECTION FOR A MULTIBEAM, MULTI-SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

A method of designing beam patterns to increase aggregate capacity within a satellite communications system, comprising: determining (1402) a first beam pattern of a plurality of user spot beams of a first satellite serving a first geographic area; identifying (1404) a plurality of high traffic regions within the first geographic area covered by the first beam pattern; determining (1406) the user spot beams of the first beam pattern covering each of the plurality of high traffic regions; determining (1408) a normalized distance metric for each of the user spot beams of the first beam pattern covering each of the plurality of high traffic regions; and plotting (1410) a second beam pattern of a second satellite such that at least one of a plurality of user spot beams of the second beam pattern has a lower normalized distance metric for at least one of the plurality of high traffic regions relative to the normalized distance metrics of the user spot beams of the first beam pattern covering each of the plurality of high traffic region.