Satellite Access Services

Satellite systems are unique in that they can effectively provide access, trunk and international links through the same physical infrastructure due to their inherent wide-area coverage. Satellites are increasingly being seen as a flexible delivery mechanism which can meet a diverse set of needs, from Internet access to global packet-based private networks. This paper analyses the access capabilities of existing satellite systems in terms of capabilities and limitations and looks at future system proposals which aim to fully integrate satellite systems into terrestrial networks for the delivery of advanced services. The long-term objective is to give service providers an additional access technology option for both national mass markets and global connectivity.     

LEO satellite communication networks—a routing approach

In the modern world of telecommunications, the concept of wireless global coverage is of the utmost importance. However, real global coverage can only be achieved by satellite systems. Until recently, the satellites were in geostationary orbit and their high altitude could not allow real‐time communication such as cellular networks. The development of LEO satellite networks seems to overcome this limit. However, LEO satellite systems have specific characteristics that need to be taken into account. In the same manner, the TCP/IP standard was developed for terrestrial network. The need is then to come up with a solution that would permit the use of TCP/IP on LEO satellite networks without losing too many packets. The idea is to develop a routing algorithm that maximizes the RTT delays compared to the TCP timer granularity. For that matter, we use an FSA‐based link assignment that simulates the satellite constellation as a fixed network for a predetermined time interval. In this configuration, the problem becomes a static routing problem where an algorithm can find the best solution. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IPv6 networks over DVB‐RCS satellite systems

Satellite plays an important role in global information infrastructure (GII) and next generation networks (NGNs). Similarly, satellite communication systems have great advantages to support IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) networks as a technology that allows universal access to broadband e‐services (audio, video, VPN, etc.). In the context of DVB‐S2 (digital video broadcast‐satellite) and DVB‐RCS (digital video broadcast‐return channel via satellite) standards, this paper presents the current SatSix project (satellite‐based communications systems within IPv6 networks) within the European 6th Framework Programme, which is implementing innovative concepts and effective solutions (in relation with the economical cost) for broadband satellite systems and services using the technology presented above. This project is promoting the introduction of the IPv6 protocol into satellite‐based communication systems. Moreover, through SatSix, the industry is addressing the next generation Internet, IPv6. It also enhances its competitive position in satellite broadband multimedia systems by exploiting the common components defined by the European DVB‐S2 and DVB‐RCS satellite broadband standards. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carriage of SDH over satellite systems

This paper examines the potential of satellite systems to carry synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) transmissions and proposes a possible earth-station architecture capitalizing on the benefits that SDH equipment offers. It is shown that a range of SDH multiplexing rates are viable over satellite and that multi-destination operation of satellite systems is facilitated by using the inherent features of the SDH. The use of STM-1 (155 Mbit/s) and sub-STM-1 transmission rates as transmission sections along with appropriate integration of the multiplexing and modem equipment would:. (a) enable SDH path continuity between earth-stations, allowing the satellite network to be integrated with managed terrestrial networks to form global managed transmission platforms. (b) provide bandwidth and equipment savings at earth-stations. Several technical issues relating to SDH operation over satellite systems are considered and SDH pointer corruption is examined in some detail.     

低轨卫星移动通信系统接入方案

在低轨卫星移动通信系统中,由于卫星和移动用户间的相对运动使得呼叫切换频繁发生.为了降低星间切换请求到达率,减小系统切换开销,本文在距离优先接入方案基础上进一步提出了两种接入策略:覆盖时间优先方案和仰角加权的覆盖时间优先方案.构造了非均匀分布全球话务密度模型.并参照某实际系统参数,对不同接入方案准则下的全球话务服务进行了系统仿真,得到了相应的系统性能参数.     

Voice over IP service and performance in satellite networks

Voice over IP services have emerged as a low-cost alternative to PSTN voice service, and an attractive solution for voice/data integration in public and private networks. Satellite systems, as an integral part of the global communications infrastructure, already have an increasing portion of their capacities used to carry data packets, and with their global coverage and reach to remote areas are well positioned to enable growth of VoIP services. For VoIP over satellite, several issues need to be addressed. These include transmission and quality of service issues, as well as service-related issues such as service creation and customization, support of IN and supplementary services, and seamless integration with the PSTN. While the service-related aspects of VoIP are common to both terrestrial and satellite networks, transport-related issues are different. This article reports performance results of laboratory experiments for evaluating VoIP over satellite under different link and traffic conditions     

PCS global mobile satellites

As the new era dawns in wireless information systems, mobile satellite services (MSS) are emerging as an integral component in what has become the turn-of-the-century global communication network. It is generally agreed that the universal personal communication paradigm is the confluence of terrestrial-based and satellite-based systems. PCS users will neither know nor care if their calls are being carried by satellite or cellular. Unlike their terrestrial-based counterparts. The MSS, with their global blanket coverage, are truly able to realize the vision of communications from anywhere at any time for people on the move. The MSS are also being used in developing countries without existing wireline networks to provide rapid, ubiquitous telephone service. This article provides an overview of mobile satellite systems and concepts. The materials presented are geared toward a broad audience with engineering or management back grounds     

高速率无线个人域网(WPAN)

未来的无线通信系统大到覆盖全球的卫星网，小到个人域网。高速无线个人域网（WPAN）工作在不需许可证2.4GHz频段，最高速率可达55Mbit/s。本文阐述了WPAN的基本概念、目标应用以及媒体接入控制（MAC）层与物理层（PHY）的标准情况，还与无线局域网（WLAN）进行了比较。     

QoS Handover Management in LEO/MEO Satellite Systems

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks are foreseen to complement terrestrial networks in future global mobile networks. Although space segment topology of a LEO network is characterized by periodic variations, connections of mobile stations (MSs) to the satellite backbone network alter stochastically. As a result the quality of service delivered to users may degrade. Different procedures have been proposed either as part of a resource allocation mechanism or as part of an end-to-end routing protocol to manage transitions of MSs from one satellite to another (handover). All of these techniques are based on the prioritization of requested handovers to ease network operation and therefore enhance provision of service. This paper proposes a new handover procedure that exploits all geometric characteristics of a satellite-to-MS connection to provide an equable handover in systems incorporating onboard processing satellites. Its performance is evaluated by simulations for a variety of satellite constellations to prove its general applicability. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

High-speed satellite mobile communications: technologies and challenges

Central features of future 4G mobile communication systems are high-speed data transmission (up to 1 Gb/s) and interactive multimedia services. For effective delivery of these services, the network must satisfy some stringent QoS metrics, defined typically in terms of maximum delay and/or minimum throughput. Mobile satellite systems will be fully integrated with the terrestrial cellular systems to provide ubiquitous global coverage to diverse users. The challenges for future broadband satellite systems, therefore, lie in the proper deployment of state-of-the-art satellite technologies to ensure seamless integration of the satellite networks into the cellular systems and its QoS frameworks, while achieving, as far as possible, efficient use of satellite link resources. The paper presents an overview of future high-speed satellite mobile communication systems, the technologies deployed or planned for deployment, and the challenges. Focusing in particular on nonlinear downlink channel behavior, shadowing and multipath fading, various physical channel models for characterizing the mobile satellite systems are presented. The most prominent technologies used in the physical layer, such as coding and modulation schemes, multiple-access techniques, diversity combining, etc., are then discussed in the context of satellite systems. High-speed and QoS-specific technologies, such as onboard processing and switching, mobility and resource management, IP routing and cross-layer designs, employed in the satellite systems are also discussed.     

多层卫星通信网络自适应路由策略

单层卫星网络由于轨道高度和覆盖能力的不同,以至构成通信的单层系统往往不能满足不同业务服务质量的需求。分析了Walkerdelta型星座构建多层卫星通信网络的拓扑结构和ISL性能,提出了在统计分布模型下的多层卫星自适应路由策略,综合考虑了路径时延和ISL链路负载。仿真结果表明了多层网络自适应路由策略能够更加有效地分配网络通信量,网络具有较小的丢包率、网络平均归一化链路负载和特定路径综合路径权重,有利于降低网络平均阻塞概率和特定路径阻塞概率,获得更高的可靠性,较传统的单层非自适应路由更加有效、可靠。     

5G meets satellite: Non-terrestrial network architecture and 3GPP

With 3GPP Release-17, global 5G standards now support non-terrestrial mobile networks comprising radio access network, terminals, and core network. This enables multi-vendor interoperability as well as interoperability with 3GPP-compliant 5G systems. This paper describes the key features enabling the NG-RAN architecture defined for 5G to support non-terrestrial networks. Starting from a general overview of NG-RAN and of the new paradigms of NTN, we introduce the NTN functionality in NG-RAN specifications with respect to feeder link switchover, cell handling, terminal registration, and OAM aspects. We also discuss different scenarios combining satellite access with 3GPP-defined core networks. We also describe some further enhancements expected to be seen in the next 3GPP release (Rel-18). We believe current and upcoming 3GPP work for NTN represents a solid basis on which 5G satellite networks can be built in the upcoming future.     

Optical Communications in Space – a Challenge for Europe

The successful test of a laser communication link between an ESA data-relay satellite and an Earth observation satellite marks a milestone in the development of optical space communications. It is the right moment to look back on more than 20 years of R & D effort in Europe. The paper gives an overview of the optical space communication activities at the European Space Agency (ESA), which have started in summer 1977, when ESA placed the first technology study contract in the domain of intersatellite optical links, and reports on the most recent European systems andhardware technology efforts aimed at the development of small and compact laser terminals for global mobile communication systems and satellite-based data networks.     

A space-borne satellite dedicated gateway to the Internet

This article describes a design concept for a new and powerful satellite/terrestrial network to provide global satellite access in space to the Internet. Myriad satellite networks have been announced that are expected to provide a vast repertoire of satellite-enabled telecommunications as well as global broadband access to the Internet. These constellations of satellites will compete for spectrum, as well as for orbital positions, and will introduce widespread RF interference among themselves as well as into the arena of terrestrial wireless communications. The gateway-in-space, defined and described in this article, offers a significant solution to these challenges by providing an in-space gateway access, with all its resources, for the many individual satellite networks     

Q-Win – A New Admission and Handoff Management Scheme for Multimedia LEO Satellite Networks

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks are deployed as an enhancement to terrestrial wireless networks in order to provide broadband services to users regardless of their location. In addition to global coverage, these satellite systems support communications with hand-held devices and offer low cost-per-minute access cost, making them promising platform for Personal Communication Services (PCS). LEO satellites are expected to support multimedia traffic and to provide their users with the negotiated Quality of Service (QoS). However, the limited bandwidth of the satellite channel, satellite rotation around the Earth and mobility of end-users makes QoS provisioning and mobility management a challenging task. One important mobility problem is the intra-satellite handoff management. The main contribution of this work is to propose Q-Win, a novel call admission and handoff management scheme for LEO satellite networks. A key ingredient in our scheme is a companion predictive bandwidth allocation strategy that exploits the topology of the network and contributes to maintaining high bandwidth utilization. Our bandwidth allocation scheme is specifically tailored to meet the QoS needs of multimedia connections. The performance of Q-Win is compared to that of two recent schemes proposed in the literature. Simulation results show that our scheme offers low call dropping probability, providing for reliable handoff of on-going calls, good call blocking probability for new call requests, while maintaining bandwidth utilization high.     

Theatre in the Sky: a ubiquitous broadband multimedia‐on‐demand service over a novel constellation composed of quasi‐geostationary satellites

To meet an ever‐growing demand for wideband multimedia services and electronic connectivity across the world, development of ubiquitous broadband multimedia systems is gaining a tremendous interest at both commercial and academic levels. Satellite networks will play an indispensable role in the deployment of such systems. A significant number of satellite communication constellations have been thus proposed using Geostationary (GEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), or Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These constellations, however, either require a potential number of satellites or are unable to provide data transmission with high elevation angles. This paper proposes a new satellite constellation composed of Quasi‐GeoStationary Orbit (Quasi‐GSO) satellites. The main advantage of the constellation is in its ability to provide global coverage with a significantly small number of satellites while, at the same time, maintaining high elevation angles. Based on a combination of this Quasi‐GSO satellites constellation and terrestrial networks, the paper proposes also an architecture for building a global, large‐scale, and efficient Video‐on‐Demand (VoD) system. The entire architecture is referred to as a ‘Theatre in the Sky’. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A flow control scheme using broadcast information for Internet services in multiple-beam satellite networks

A new flow control scheme improving performance of the future broadband satellite networks is proposed and analyzed in this paper. The proposed scheme is particularly suitable for the Internet-based services in broadband satellite networks. The complexity of the proposed scheme is comparable with the existing flow control techniques, as it does not require the additional information to be provided by either the satellite or the Earth stations. The throughput and the satellite queue size performances of the proposed scheme are mathematically analyzed and simulated. The results show the significant improvement in the proposed scheme comparing with the conventional window-based and rate-based flow control techniques. Such a scheme can be used in the future satellite networks, which are an important component in the global information infrastructure (GII).     

In‐line interference mitigation techniques for spectral coexistence of GEO and NGEO satellites

The interest towards the deployment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO)/Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite systems in several frequency bands is increasing due to the requirement of low latency for real‐time systems and high demand of broadband data. When the number of usable Non‐Geostationary (NGEO) satellites, that is, LEO/MEO in space, increases, the frequency coexistence between the NGEO satellite systems with the already existing geostationary (GEO) satellite networks becomes a requisite. In this context, it is crucial to explore interference mitigation techniques between GEO and NGEO systems in order to allow their spectral coexistence. More specifically, in the coexistence scenario of GEO and NGEO satellite networks, in‐line interference may be a serious problem, especially in the equatorial region. In this paper, we provide several frequency sharing studies in the context of the coexistence of an NGEO satellite link with another NGEO/GEO satellite link. Furthermore, we carry out interference analysis between GEO and MEO satellite systems considering the case of the O3b satellite system and propose an adaptive power control technique for both the uplink and downlink scenarios in order to mitigate the in‐line interference. Moreover, we suggest several cognitive solutions for mitigating the in‐line interference and provide future research issues. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.