SDN/NFV-enabled satellite communications networks: opportunities, scenarios and challenges

In the context of next generation 5G networks, the satellite industry is clearly committed to revisit and revamp the role of satellite communications. As major drivers in the evolution of (terrestrial) fixed and mobile networks, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) technologies are also being positioned as central technology enablers towards improved and more flexible integration of satellite and terrestrial segments, providing satellite network further service innovation and business agility by advanced network resources management techniques. Through the analysis of scenarios and use cases, this paper provides a description of the benefits that SDN/NFV technologies can bring into satellite communications towards 5G. Three scenarios are presented and analysed to delineate different potential improvement areas pursued through the introduction of SDN/NFV technologies in the satellite ground segment domain. Within each scenario, a number of use cases are developed to gain further insight into specific capabilities and to identify the technical challenges stemming from them.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Service Platform for Converged Interactive Broadband Broadcast and Cellular Wireless

A converged broadcast and telecommunication service platform is presented that is able to create, deliver, and manage interactive, multimedia content and services for consumption on three different terminal types. The motivations of service providers for designing converged interactive multimedia services, which are crafted for their individual requirements, are investigated. The overall design of the system is presented with particular emphasis placed on the operational features of each of the sub-systems, the flows of media and metadata through the sub-systems and the formats and protocols required for inter-communication between them. The key features of tools required for creating converged interactive multimedia content for a range of different end-user terminal types are examined. Finally possible enhancements to this system are discussed. This study is of particular interest to those organizations currently conducting trials and commercial launches of DVB-H services because it provides them with an insight of the various additional functions required in the service provisioning platforms to provide fully interactive services to a range of different mobile terminal types

Mapping digital media: digital television, the public interest, and European regulation

Discussion of digital television has focused on switch-over dates, set-top boxes and the technical and economic implications of switch-over. This paper, by contrast, focusses on public interest obligations and citizenship values such as freedom, access, universality, political pluralism and content diversity. Petros Iosifidis distinguishes broadly between public interest priorities as understood in western Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. After assessing some obvious benefits of digital TV (extra channels, converged communications, enhanced interactivity and mobility), he argues that the public interest outcomes from the introduction of new technologies like the internet and digital TV will depend on how people use them, for new technology is only a vehicle by means of which public interest goals can be achieved. He then considers digital TV penetration data from across Europe, as well as the status of national digital switch-over plans, stressing that northern Europe is much more advanced in this regard than southern and eastern-central Europe. Outlining the pros and cons of digital switch-over for the public, Dr Iosifidis contends that universality and accessibility can best be ensured by maintaining public service media, which have been—and should continue to be—important conveyors of freely accessible and reliable information. Countries where television has been dominated by state broadcasters should use the new technology and in particular digital switch-over to create independent non-profit channels at both local and national levels, to foster a competitive environment and political pluralism

Delivery of broadband services to SubSaharan Africa via Nigerian communications satellite

Africa is the least wired continent in the world in terms of robust telecommunications infrastructure and systems to cater for its more than one billion people. African nations are mostly still in the early stages of Information Communications Technology (ICT) development as verified by the relatively low ICT Development Index (IDI) values of all countries in the African region. In developing nations, mobile broadband subscriptions and penetration between 2000-2009 was increasingly more popular than fixed broadband subscriptions. To achieve the goal of universal access, with rapid implementation of ICT infrastructure to complement the sparsely distributed terrestrial networks in the hinterlands and leveraging the adequate submarine cables along the African coastline, African nations and their stakeholders are promoting and implementing Communication Satellite systems, particularly in Nigeria, to help bridge the digital hiatus. This paper examines the effectiveness of communication satellites in delivering broadband-based services

QoS Provisioning in Converged Satellite and Terrestrial Networks: A Survey of the State-of-the-Art

It has been widely acknowledged that future networks will need to provide significantly more capacity than current ones in order to deal with the increasing traffic demands of the users. Particularly in regions where optical fibers are unlikely to be deployed due to economical constraints, this is a major challenge. One option to address this issue is to complement existing narrow-band terrestrial networks with additional satellite connections. Satellites cover huge areas, and recent developments have considerably increased the available capacity while decreasing the cost. However, geostationary satellite links have significantly different link characteristics than most terrestrial links, mainly due to the higher signal propagation time, which often renders them not suitable for delay intolerant traffic. This paper surveys the current state-of-the-art of satellite and terrestrial network convergence. We mainly focus on scenarios in which satellite networks complement existing terrestrial infrastructures, i.e., parallel satellite and terrestrial links exist, in order to provide high bandwidth connections while ideally achieving a similar end user quality-of-experience as in high bandwidth terrestrial networks. Thus, we identify the technical challenges associated with the convergence of satellite and terrestrial networks and analyze the related work. Based on this, we identify four key functional building blocks, which are essential to distribute traffic optimally between the terrestrial and the satellite networks. These are the traffic requirement identification function, the link characteristics identification function, as well as the traffic engineering function and the execution function. Afterwards, we survey current network architectures with respect to these key functional building blocks and perform a gap analysis, which shows that all analyzed network architectures require adaptations to effectively support converged satellite and terrestrial networks. Hence, we conclude by formulating several open research questions with respect to satellite and terrestrial network convergence.This work was supported by the BATS Research Project through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Contract 317533

5th Generation mobile networks: a new opportunity for the convergence of mobile broadband and broadcast services

© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] This article analyzes the challenges and opportunities that the upcoming definition of future 5G mobile networks brings to the mobile broadband and broadcast industries to form a single converged network. It reviews the state-of-the-art in mobile and broadcast technologies and the current trends for convergence between both industries. This article describes the requirements and functionalities that the future 5G must address in order to make an efficient and flexible cellular-broadcasting convergence. Both industries would benefit from this convergence by exploiting synergies and enabling an optimum use of spectrum based on coordinated spectrum sharing.The authors would like to thank the funding received from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation within the Project number TEC2011-27723-C02-02.Calabuig Gaspar, J.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Gómez Barquero, D. (2015). 5th Generation mobile networks: a new opportunity for the convergence of mobile broadband and broadcast services. IEEE Communications Magazine. 53(2):198-205. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2015.7045409S19820553