Satellite ATM for broadband ISDN

This paper presents the development of satellite ATM for broadband ISDN based on the Research in Advanced Communications in Europe (RACE) CATALYST project. The purpose of the project is to develop an experimental ATM satellite link for the future B-ISDN services, particularly for the interconnections of the ATM testbeds which are in the form of broadband islands developed in Europe. Then initial ATM based B-ISDN can be introduced by interconnections of these broadband islands. An evolutionary approach has been adopted in the development of the ATM networks that the CATALYST project has developed the equipment to be able to interconnect the newly developed ATM testbeds as well as the existing networks such as DQDB, FDDI and Ethernet networks. In March 1994, the project carried out an experiment on the second demonstratoras the Laboratories of Alcatel Telespace in Nanteere near Paris to demonstrate the capability of the satellite ATM connections supporting data, voice, video and multimedia applications. This experiment provided a real system demonstration of satellite ATM for B-ISDN. In the light of the experiment, this paper presents the model and architecture of the ATM satellite equipment, studies the relevant issues and the impact of ATM-via-satellite on the applications and the protocols, and evaluates of satellite ATM based on some measured and simulated results.