Beamforming Schemes For 6G Direct-to-Cell Connectivity Using Satellite Swarms

Direct-to-cell (D2C) connectivity, i.e., direct connectivity between satellite base stations and common handheld devices with low power and low antenna gain, requires large satellite apertures to mitigate the performance gap with terrestrial network (TN). This paper focuses on innovative distributed space segment implementations using swarms of multiple small platforms, each embedding one or a subset of radiating elements, creating a large virtual antenna aperture. The use of small satellites promises reduced production and launch costs and increased fault tolerance. This paper compares the multi-beam performance of a distributed implementation with that of a single platform implementation, using different beamforming schemes. The results show that distributed implementations overcome single-platform ones in terms of sum throughput. Furthermore, different beamforming schemes might be suitable for different system load conditions. Recommendations for the use of beamforming schemes for swarms are outlined.