DS-SSMA capacity for a mobile satellite system

We consider a cellular satellite system conceived to enhance the capabilities of the pan-European terrestrial system (GSM). The system adopts EHF band and highly-inclined orbits. We present a preliminary assessment of system capacity based on asynchronous direct-sequence spread-spectrum multiple access (DS-SSMA). Performance is measured in terms of error probability achieved by K users simultaneously accessing the system with a given signal-to-noise ratio.