Wireless multimedia through heterogeneous satellite networks

The transmission of multimedia services through heterogeneous satellite networks is analyzed by means of measures over a real test-bed inside the Telecommunication Laboratory at CSITE-CNR, University of Bologna, Italy. An IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) is integrated with a wired LAN and connected to a video on demand (VoD) server through the ITALSAT II Ka-band satellite link made available by CNIT (Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni). At first, the WLAN radio link is characterized in terms of mean received power for different terminal locations. After that, MPEG-1 video streams with different data-rate are transmitted from the VoD server to many wireless stations. A traffic characterization, for both the single source and the aggregated traffic, is carried out, and quality of service is measured, in terms of average dropped ratio, as a function of channel conditions, data-rate, and the number of wireless terminals requiring the service.