Designing the interworking of terrestrial and satellite IP-based networks

The design of effective interworking between a multimedia terrestrial backbone and a satellite access platform is a key issue for the development of a large-scale IP system designed for transporting multimedia applications with QoS guarantees. This article focuses on the design of a gateway station that acts as an interworking unit between the two segments of the systems. The guarantee of differentiated QoS for applications within the envisaged global IT system is achieved effectively by assuming that the IP IntServ model in the satellite access system is combined with a DiffServ fixed core network, in which the RSVP aggregation protocol is implemented. Thus, the design activity of the IWU mainly focuses on the following issues: seamless roaming between the two heterogeneous wireless and wired environments, efficient integration between the two IP service models (IntServ and DiffServ), and suitable mapping of terrestrial onto satellite bearer for traffic with different profiles and QoS requirements.