US Patent 8385817 Multi-band satellite communication fade mitigation

One or more satellites may generate multiple beams. The beams may facilitate communication over multiple communication frequency bands including a relatively high capacity frequency band and a relatively fade-resilient frequency band. The beams may overlap. User terminals and/or gateways in a beam intersection may select from among the multiple communication frequency bands to communication with the satellite(s). Responsive to detection of rain fade, some of the user terminals and/or gateways may be instructed to use the relatively fade-resilient frequency band. The multiple communication frequency bands may be assigned to the user terminals and/or gateways so as to maximize total system capacity.