Managing video/audio- and asynchronous data streams in a DVB network

Modern satellite network based upon the digital video broadcasting/MPEG-2 standard operating on a fixed bandwidth per transponder offers two service classes. For the handling of the video/audio data stream either a CBR or a VBR service is offered using a predefined bandwidth. For handling the inter-LAN data transfer the residual value of the available transponder bandwidth may be used. This paper proposes a bandwidth allocation scheme which includes the active window control mechanism available at the transport layer. A bandwidth manager receives all bandwidth changes, performs the proposed bandwidth allocation algorithm and, depending upon the results, distributes the necessary parameter to the involved transport entities to ensue an interference free allocation of the bandwidth.