A bandwidth allocation strategy for multimedia traffic in a satellite network

The paper proposes a bandwidth allocation scheme adapted for satellite networks. The traffic considered is divided into two categories: guaranteed traffic and non-guaranteed best-effort traffic. The control scheme is aimed at keeping the call blocking probability of the guaranteed traffic below a given threshold and at minimising the packet discarding probability of the best-effort portion in case of degradation of the satellite channel. In that way a minimum grade of service should be guaranteed for both traffic. The allocation scheme is designed as a two-level hierarchical mechanism: the upper level allocates a portion of the overall bandwidth to each station, the lower level shares the received portion between guaranteed and non-guaranteed traffic. The results show the behaviour of the algorithm and its performance.