Flexible QoS Provisioning for SIP Telephony over DVB-RCS Satellite Networks

DVB-RCS satellite networks pose a challenging environment for IP telephony due to the link conditions of long delays and low bandwidth as well as the diversity of network scenarios. We have designed an architecture for providing flexible QoS provisioning under these conditions. The architecture addresses flow detection, admission control and user notification in this heterogeneous environment where it is not always possible to take active part in call signaling and endpoint cooperation cannot be relied upon. We have developed and tested a prototype implementation of parts of the architecture which indicated that scalability will not be limited by processing speed or memory usage up to the data rates encountered in satellite links.