Transformational IP Services over Transponded SATCOM (TIPSOTS): an Architectural Perspective

The army has fielded MF-TDMA modems such as iDirect's Net Modem II and Viasat's linkway to make more efficient use of expensive, commercial leased SATCOM capacity. Under direction from OSD/NII, DoD is working to develop a single standard for such shared access IP modems for use over existing military satellites and the soon to be launched wideband gapfiller system (WGS). These "IP-modems" enable network-centric capabilities similar to those envisioned for the transformational satellite (TSAT) program, including demand assigned multiple access, QoS-based allocation of resources and constellation wide improvements in utilization, through integrated network management. Based on these developments, ARSTRAT, the WGS SSE, has developed the TIPSOTS CONOPS, which provides a foundation for network-centric communications over wideband MILSATCOM. This paper describes TIPSOTS from an architectural perspective. TIPSOTS architectural concepts break with the traditional view of SATCOM as separate from the "network." The integrated view of IP over satellite networking, motivates changes to the current approach to operations and management