Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429

www.elsevier.com/locate/comcom

Advanced solutions for distance learning via satellite

Mario De Blasia,*, Carlo des Doridesb
a
Università di Lecce, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
b
Alenia Spazio spa, Via G.V. Bona 85, 00156 Rome, Italy
Received 12 May 2002; accepted 13 May 2002

Abstract
Distance learning has aroused more and more interest during the last few years due to the convergence of several factors, namely the
growth of education as a key driver for socio-economic development, the remarkable step forward of telecommunication technology and the
number of people involved in the education process itself (user basin).
A major obstacle has resulted to be, in many cases, the cost factor induced by the telecom transmission cost which has often made the
distance learning system non-viable. This consideration has directed people’s attention to satellite systems which, due to their intrinsic
peculiarities, well answer the most important requisites: wide coverage area, high geographical penetration, low unit cost when operating in
broadcasting mode, mature technology and so affordable terminal receiving cost.
In this direction an interactive solution is offered by SkyplexNet,1 an advanced satellite telecommunication platform based on innovative
space technology and integrated with versatile network management functions.
SkyplexNet well answers distance learning service requirements, providing an asymmetrical connection to the user, namely a high rate on
the forward (receiving) link via satellite and a low rate on the return (interactive) one via a terrestrial modem: this paper describes the main
functions of the system highlighting its operational characteristics as well as the tele-education application which allows the creation of new
pedagogical education models.
q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Skyplex; Distance learning; Satellite based telecommunication

1. Introduction inherent capability to transport also IP packets.

SkyplexNet platform is based on a quite innovative
technology, namely the Skyplex on-board multiplexer [1],
designed and developed by Alenia Aerospazio and
presently operational on Eutelsat Hot Bird 5, placed at
138E. The basic idea is to avoid any kind of centralisa-
tion regarding the management of the space resource,
making available the direct access to the satellite
transponder through relatively simple and inexpensive
up-link stations. The key feature of the Skyplex system is
then the possibility to avoid the cost of long and
expensive terrestrial tails to reach the master up-link
station. Although Skyplex was initially designed for TV
broadcasting, it has revealed during the course of its
development enormous advantages also regarding the IP
based applications, due to the MPEG2-transport stream
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mario.deblasi@unile.it (M. De Blasi), desdorid@
roma.alespazio.it (C. des Dorides).
1
SkyplexNet has been co-financed by ESA, the European Space Agency.
0140-3664/03/$ - see front matter q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 0 - 3 6 6 4 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 6 2 - 7
The SkyplexNet system specifically addresses such
emerging potentialities, thus revealing its capacity to
exploit several forms of WWW multimedia contents.
The SkyplexNet system optimises separately the two
basic links of a generic satellite broadcasting system: the
first between the earth station and the satellite and the
second between the satellite and the end-user receiving
station. This is because Skyplex is capable of re-combining
a number of up-streams into a single 55 Mbps down-link
stream compatible with DVB-S standard; end-users do not
perceive any difference between a Skyplex transmission and
the one operated through a usual transparent transponder.
Firstly operating on an experimental basis on Hot Bird 4,
Skyplex technology is now operating on a commercial basis
with Eutelsat Hot Bird 5 with three transponders while eight
more transponders, with increased capabilities, will be
embarked on Hot Bird 6.
In the geographically distributed access to Skyplex
repeater, the network management and control system
have well distinct duties from those required in a usual
424 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429
satellite transparent transponder. More specifically,
the overall network management maintains the functional
control over the satellite access (co-ordination, spectrum
management, etc.), but has many more responsibilities
regarding the telecommunication transmission.
2. SkyplexNet system architecture
The SkyplexNet system will be described on the basis
of its major component elements2 involving service
provision, namely the service centre, where the content
is composed, and the client platforms, where the service
is received.
The overall functional view of the SkyplexNet system
architecture is shown in Fig. 1 which follows.
The picture also includes the network operation centre
(NOC) whose primary mission is to offer a set of
services to manage the Skyplex_Net system so that the
appropriate transponder quota is guaranteed to each
service provider. Major components of the NOC are:
(i) CMS is the customer management system
(i) NMS is the network management system
(i) NCS is the network control system
3. The SkyplexNet service centre architecture
The overall functional view of a service centre
architecture is shown in Fig. 2.
A user of the service centre may be an end-user or a
content provider. The nature of the interaction of end-
user and content provider with the service centre is
similar but the functions are complementary. The
requests of the end-user are mainly receiving services
whereas the requests of the content provider are meanly
transmitting services.
The service centre (SC) is composed of the following
modules:
Internet access server (IAS) that is the interface between
the SC and Internet. Its aim is to manage relationships with
end-users.
Transaction service (TS) system that manages:
† Information about the end-user
† Billing
† Tariffing
† Contract management
† User troubleshooting support
† Session logging and monitoring
Service scheduler (SS) that manages resources allocation
and requests the NOC for bandwidth reservation
IP gateway (IPG) that:
2
SkyplexNet project internal technical document.
† Constitutes the interface between service centre and
uplink earth station
† Packs data in DVB format and transmits them to the
satellite transponder
Content server (CS) that manages the acquisition of
multimedia content from internal (hosting case) or external
content providers
Conditional access (CA) system that provides keys for
scrambling of DVB transport stream
Packages exchange information directly or across
intermediary data storage, like the data buffer resident in
the IPG. The data buffer temporary memorises flows of
multimedia contents arriving from the content server and
directed to the IP gateway server. The data buffer provides
to the service scheduler the possibility to guarantee the
continuity of the audio/video streaming.
4. The distance learning service
The Distance learning service is provided by a video
communication service centre (VCSC) and is based on the
concept that knowledge flows from the information provider
(teaching/training centre) in form of:
† live training session
† study material on demand and the students/trainees gain
that knowledge through two complementary means:
† synchronous learning
† asynchronous learning
In synchronous learning, the interaction between
students and instructor takes places during the live
training session, at a time previously scheduled by
information provider (i.e. palimpsest): the instructor and
the student are synchronised.
In asynchronous learning the interaction takes place
between the students and the multimedia study material
from a database at any time between lessons or even in
place of the lesson itself for individually paced learners.
The teaching process must also allow the students
interact among themselves, to exchange information and
experience and to be able to work as a team.
Another dimension in distance learning services is the
symmetry/asymmetry of communication channels.
Asymmetric communication is inherent in any teaching/-
training program:
† During live lessons, a great amount of information (real-
time images, video clips, slides) flows from the instructor
to the students, while small amounts of information flow
randomly from the students to the instructor (such as
when a student asks or answers a question).
 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429 425

Fig. 1. SkyplexNet system architecture.

† When students are involved in asynchronous learning,
they need access to a great deal of information (multi-
media tutorial module). The students create and provide
less information than they receive.
other using the two way Internet connection as return /
interactive channel.
5. The distance learning client platform

The students shall receive the information flowing from Two kinds of client sites can be identified:
the information provider (live lessons, study material)
through one-way satellite broadcast channel and interact † Single end-user
with the instructor or multimedia tutorial module or each † Collective user

Fig. 2. Service centre architecture.

426 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429
The scenario in Fig. 3 shows the client site when distance
learning subscribers are single users (students/trainees at
home).
Every single end-user shall be equipped with:
† PC
† Satellite dish
† Dial-up modem
† Smart card
† Set-top-box and parallel cable/DVB receiver board
The picture shows the presence of two kinds of single
end-user:
† users with integrated receiver decoder (IRD)
† users without IRD
Users with IRD (that is the set-top-box ), shall connect
the set-top-box to the PC parallel port using a parallel cable.
Users without IRD shall plug into their PC a DVB
receiver board.
DVB has two basic approaches to the problem of
conditional access internetworking: multiple receivers,
each with a single conditional access system (the ‘Symul-
crypt’ route), and receivers with a common interface (CI),
allowing for the use of multiple conditional access systems
(the ‘Multicrypt’ route). The choice of route is optional. The
CI is an interface between a standard PCMCIA module and
a DVB receiver. The DVB – CI provides interchangeable
plug-in CA smart card readers for DVB receivers. This
allows several different CA technologies to be used on the
same receiver.
Fig. 3. Single user scenario.
The scenario in Fig. 4 shows the client site when distance
learning subscribers are collective users (students/trainees
in a remote lecture-hall).
The LAN servers receive transport streams from the
broadband channel, route live sessions or study material to
PC end-users and send questions/answers of PC end-users to
VCSC (teaching/training centre) via return channel (the
Internet). The students/trainees at their PC interact with the
LAN server via a 10/100 BaseT Ethernet.
The LAN server shall be equipped with:
† Satellite dish
† DVB receiver plug-in PC card
† Common interface (CI) for conditional access
† Dial-up modem
† Ethernet card
Every end-user shall be equipped only with:
† PC
† Ethernet card
In both cases it has been supposed that client sites have
their own local Internet service provider (ISP). Optionally,
Internet services may be provided by video communication
service centre.
5.1. Client SW
Interaction, whether synchronous or asynchronous, is
very important for every person involved in the training
process. The Distance learning SW enables the trainees/
 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429
Fig. 4. Collective users scenario.
students to interact with the instructor and among
themselves during live sessions and to access study
material (e.g. written in HTML format) on the remote
VCSC, when they need any information. The video
communication service centre appears to end-users as a
website.
Distance learning functions will be covered by the
following packages:
† Course browser
† Interaction management
† Communication
† Corporate DVB receiver (collective user option)
5.1.1. Course browser
This package enables the trainees/students to attend a
live session, to view course material and to access that
material in-between sessions.
The trainee will be able to:
† View instructor during a live session (i.e. for synchro-
nous learning) in a window on the PC screen
† Record a live session (store it on a local hard disk) for
asynchronous learning
† Access the study material at any time of the day and
download the selected material for asynchronous
learning
† ‘surf the web’ to locate course-related material
427
Distance learning SW allows the instructor to:
† display the current material on the instructor’s PC to all
trainees’ video displays
† play audio or video tapes to the trainee
† prevent all participating trainees from ‘surfing the
web’
† send an URL to all participating trainees
5.1.2. Interaction management
This package enables the trainees/students to contact the
instructor to ask and answer questions, during a live session.
The trainees will be able to:
† register to attend a live session
† answer multiple-choice questions prepared by the
instructor and shown in a window on all trainees PC
screen
† request to speak with the instructor
† contact the VCSC help desk
In the registration phase, trainees type their name, ID
and other related information which may be necessary to
access the distance learning service. If VCSC provides a
pure multicast service, registered end-users are able to
receive the service without notifying any information
(like in push services). Instead, if VCSC provides a
conditional multicast service, registered end-user are able
to receive the service only after successful access.
428 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429
All trainees participating in the live session appear on an
instructor attendance list. The instructor may be able to
show the attendance list to all participating trainees.
All trainees who request to speak will appear on an
instructor booking list. The instructor may be able to
view the booking list and select a trainee to contact or
indicate to the trainees that no question will be
answered at any given time. We have supposed above
that VCSC provides a help desk to meet trainees’
difficulties, either related to the course material or to
technical problems.
5.1.3. Communication
This package enables the trainees/students to contact the
instructor and other trainees.
The trainees/students will be able to communicate by
means of:
† e-mail
† telephone
† chat
† audio-conference (i.e. voice over IP)
E-mail package will provide an asynchronous inter-
action: for example, instructor and trainees may subscribe to
the same mailing list.
Telephone, chat and audio-conferencing package will
provide a synchronous interaction. If chat or audio-
conference services are provided by VCSC, it will be
possible to route information from instructor to
trainees/students maybe through the broadband satellite
channel instead of the interactive ground channel (i.e. the
Internet).
5.1.4. Collective user DVB receiver
On the client site of a collective user LAN, distance
learning SW provides each trainee/student with all
the functions described above. The idea is to create a
virtual classroom, with end-user PC located in the same
room or in a campus. A corporate DVB receiver package,
running on a LAN server, provides the following functions:
† web-based interface for LAN clients
† common live training sessions provisioning to participat-
ing end-users (synchronous learning)
† live training session recording on its mass storage for
asynchronous learning
† multimedia study material caching for post access and/or
download at any time by LAN end-users (proxy server
like technologies)
6. Educational system
A distinctive characteristic of SkyplexNet is its flexibility
in accepting different didactic models. Completely
asynchronous, completely synchronous, or a mixture of
these, allows training operators to add greater freedom to
their educational system.
The perspective is radically changed respect to some
past and present distance learning systems, that ‘con-
strain’ people to be at distance, even when there is no
need for this. In our opinion, the distance factor should
be one further possibility that increases the value of an
educational system. In the same manner, asynchronism
should not be the characterising feature of an educational
system, but it has to co-exist with synchronism and face-
to-face dimensions.
Another quality of an educational system is the
independence from a single technology and from the
owner of an infrastructure—a quality, this, that is desirable
for any type of communication. SkyplexNet avoids any kind
of centralisation regarding the management of the space
resources, thus reducing the dependence on infrastructure
owners.
As far as the dependence on a single technology is
concerned, integration is the solution. A technology is of
value if it is easily integrated with complementary
technologies.
The cost trade-off also suggests resorting to integrated
networks. Indeed, synchronism can be accompanied by
multicasting, and, so, the use of satellites is economical. But
asynchronism often is uni-casting and, in this case, satellites
are more expensive than terrestrial systems. So, the best is to
have both of them, terrestrial and satellite systems.
The first implementation of a SkyplexNet-based distance
learning system is the Telematic University, designed in the
framework of the MODUS Project,3 that presents ‘a new
dimension in multimedia distribution over satellite and
terrestrial telecommunication systems’ [2].
It is worth considering that although cost-affordable,
SkyplexNet-based educational systems require consistent
investments, and their design has to be evolutionary with
rapid changing technologies, able to incorporate them, as
they are available and cost-competitive. To this regard, it
should be noted that a remarkable step forward would be
made through Skyplex on-board Eutelsat Hot-Bird-6,
which will introduce new functional performance and
induced market competitiveness such as:
1. Adoption of turbo-codes on the up-link, with a consistent
reduction of earth station dimensioning and cost.
2. Increased granularity of the up-link carrier (up to
64 Kbps).
3. Ka frequency band adoption together with multi-spot
technology (more spectrum available with induced
reduction on capacity prices).
3
MODUS Project is run within ESA ARTES 3 program.
 M. De Blasi, C. des Dorides / Computer Communications 26 (2003) 423–429
7. Conclusion
An innovative tele-education system, completely coher-
ent with traditional face-to-face education, of which can be
considered an enrichment, has been presented.
It allows to transmit interactively, with good audio and
video quality, in-campus lectures to homes and remote
lecture-halls distributed in a wide area. In addition, there is a
possibility of following the lectures on demand, in
whichever moment after the in-campus lecture, and of
integrating them with courseware, exercises via Web,
chatting, access to databases and texts.
This system uses SkyplexNet, an advanced affordable-
cost satellite telecommunication platform based on innova-
tive space technology, namely the Skyplex on-board
multiplexer, integrated with versatile network management
functions.
The SkyplexNet system has been described on the basis
of its major component elements involving: service
provision, namely the service centre, where the content is
composed, and the client platforms, where the service is
received.
429
Cost considerations have been reported that suggested
the adoption of integrated technologies, terrestrial and
satellite system: argumentations for these choices as well as
the remarkable further step forward that will be possible
with Hot-Bird-6 have been presented.
Acknowledgments
The work reported in the paper has been made possible
thanks to the invaluable contribution of the partners
involved in the team of SkyplexNet, namely: Skydata sp,
GCS GmbH, ITS srl, University of Lecce.
References
[1] F. Carducci, R. Novello, On board multiplexing: the Skyplex
transponder and the multimedia highways, IAAA (1997).
[2] A. Campa, M. De Blasi, F. Tommasi, A new dimension in multimedia
distribution over satellite and terrestrial telecommunication systems,
SoftCOM (2000).