Deployment of UDL mesh satellite networks using DVB-S technology

Traditional satellite-based Internet protocol (IP) networks uses bidirectional point-to-point (PPP) links. Typical topologies include hub and spoke (star) topologies or bidirectional full mesh topologies. These topologies are not spectrum efficient since they do not fully utilize the broadcast nature of radio frequency (RF) communications. In addition, the two-hop link delays in star topologies impact the deployment of real time multimedia applications. It is possible to design a hybrid frequency division multiple access (FDMA) satellite network that fully utilize the broadcast nature of satellite links to achieve good spectrum efficiency while providing quality of service (QoS) support in the channel using unidirectional links (UDL). This is achieved using IP over digital video broadcast via satellite (IP over DVB-S), which represents a low cost means of building an interactive broadband satellite-based network compared with older technologies. The design issues for a low cost UDL mesh satellite network are discussed in this paper.