Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC)

Single channel per carrier (SCPC) is a satellite communications transmission technique in which a single information channel is modulated onto each radio-frequency carrier. Each carrier occupies its own portion of transponder bandwidth and is typically associated with one user, circuit, or data stream.

SCPC is well suited to low-data-rate, intermittent, or demand-assigned traffic, such as voice circuits, telemetry, or small data links. It offers flexibility and simplicity in network design and is commonly used with DAMA systems. Compared with multiple channels per carrier (MCPC), SCPC generally results in a larger number of carriers within a transponder, which can increase intermodulation distortion unless sufficient input or output backoff is applied.