Efficient network resources utilization for Ka-band high capacity satellite systems

An efficient resource allocation is of paramount importance to guarantee the best performance with a fair distribution of satellite capacity, even for Multi-beam High Throughput Satellites (HTS) platforms. These platforms are recently gaining relevance for broadband Internet access and are nowadays able to provide xDSL like services. Although the available bandwidth for HTS is greater than previous platforms, it is still fundamental to use it wisely and avoiding abuses, which may jeopardize the service performance of the installed user-base. This paper focuses on the commercial system using the KA-SAT platform by Eutelsat, where a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) solution is adopted to allow multi-dimensional per-user and per-application priority. Simulation and emulation tests have been executed to identify both the optimal DPI configuration and the amount of satellite capacity to procure in order to meet user requirements. Test achievements are then used to provide useful inputs for the real platform configuration in the frame of the Lift Off ESA project.