A resource reservation and distribution system over satellite-terrestrial network

The resource reservation and distribution system over satellite-terrestrial network, that we call the system SkyLod for short, is a platform of learning on demand via the hybrid transmission platform of satellite and ground cable network. SkyLod uses receive-only satellite links for downstream data broadcasting, and terrestrial network (like public telephone networks) to provide the upstream communication path. The broadcast nature of satellite communication makes it an efficient way to distribute the large amount of resources, such as multimedia courseware and digital library materials. We give the model of SkyLod, propose a practical approach of resource reservation and scheduling. The prototype of SkyLod has already been implemented and tested on the platform of ASIA-2R satellite and CERNET (China Educational and Research Network). SkyLod is proved to be efficient, flexible and practical in supporting bulk resource distribution.