UNIC: A Novel Bi-directional Satellite-Based Platform To Provide TV-Centric Triple Play Services

The FP6 UNIC (UNIversal satellite home Connection) Project aims at developing an end-to-end scientific test bed for the creation, optimization and validation of new broadband interactive TV-centric services delivered over satellite, to actual end-users in the home. It is known that satellite connections provides the best and quickest solution to reduce the digital divide in less-favored areas, which has been considered as a major issue in the diffusion of broadband access. The UNIC platform employs DVB-S(2) and DVB-RCS technologies in the forward and the return link, respectively, together with a newly defined architecture for the distribution of connectivity to end-users. The aim of this paper is just to revise the UNIC service definition, its own service assessment and the relevant system architecture.