An approach for managing system capacity of a satellite communications system
is disclosed. A satellite communications system provides communication services
to a region. A terminal (101, 103) is located within the region and is configured
to transmit and receive signals over a satellite (105) having a payload
that processes the signals. The terminal (101, 103) has a predetermined
profile that includes service class information and rate information. A hub (107)
is configured to receive system capacity resource configuration data that reflect
capacity requirements of a service provider and to determine partitioning of system
capacity over the region based upon the system capacity resource configuration
data. The hub (107) transmits configuration information to the payload of
the satellite (105) according to the determined partitions. The terminal
(101, 103) is configured to transmit a bandwidth request message to the
payload. The payload selectively allocates bandwidth in response to the request
message based upon the configuration information.
