On the downlink throughput of a broadband LEO satellite network with hopping beams

In this letter, we analyze the throughput of the downlink segment of a low Earth orbit (LEO) global broadband satellite network. The downlink design uses a set of hopping spot beams, each of which can he pointed independently to any fixed earth cell within the satellite footprint on a per-packet basis. We present upper and lower bounds on the downlink throughput as a function of the number of spot beams, the interference constraints, and the coverage area. The bounds provide insight into the interrelationship between various downlink parameters in the design process. The results are verified through Monte Carlo simulations.