Software Based Routing on Satellites - Redundant IP Packet Routing Architecture on Commercial Hardware with Traffic Prioritization

The growth of satellite constellations necessitates versatile data forwarding for IP packets. This paper proposes an architecture and an implementation of a redundant, space-grade, router architecture for IP packet routing based on Open vSwitch. The architecture is designed to be resilient against individual hardware failures and enables QoS routing capabilities as well as traffic prioritization. This approach permits IP routing on cost effective commercial hardware while retaining reliability.