CEENET Workshop 2001

Satellite communications

Krzysztof Muchorowski NetSat Express muchor@ids.pl

August 26, 2001

Introductory remarks

The purpose of this lecture is to give you a very general overview of satellite communication, it is not meant to be a complete description of the world of satellite communication I will often mention applications and business services I will try not to deviate from the main course, but please stop me if I do.

August 26, 2001

A few reasons of satellite revolution:

A single satellite can provide coverage to over 30% of Earths surface. It is often the only solution for developing areas. It is ideal for broadcast applications. It can be rapidly deployed. It is scalable. Depending on application, there is no need for the local loop. Transmission cost is independent on distance. One hop from the backbone, wherever you are. Wide bandwidths (155 Mbps) are available now.
August 26, 2001 3

What is a satellite?
Isaac Newton noticed first, that if we throw an object on Earth horizontally with big enough velocity, it will not fall down, but will circulate around Earth indefinitely.

August 26, 2001

 R=6400 km R=7100 km

T=84 minutes T=99 minutes (LEO)

R=11400 km
R=42350 km

T=201 minutes
T=24 hrs

(MEO)
(GEO)

So, an object placed at the orbit approx. 36 000 km above the equator will be seen at the same position in the sky from Earth.

But roundtrip time will be more than half a second!

Is this position actually stable?
August 26, 2001 5

a few remarks about LEO and MEO satellites(Teledesic, Iridium)

Teledesic: Internet-in-the-Sky

Aviation

Telemedicine

Collaborative Computing Maritime PSTN Gateway Voice Video Conferencing LAN Extension

Public Library/School

Distance Learning

Cellular Backhaul

T err estrial Ne

two rks

Internet Backbone Access Business Access

Corporate Enterprise

Teledesic P roprietary

Slid e 2 of 9 1

August 26, 2001

but ... omnidirectional antenna vs directional one what does it mean in terms of available frequency spectrum? There are (in general) three bands of spectrum available for GEO satellite communication: C, Ku, Ka. C 4-7 GHz (5 cm wavelength) Ku Ka 10-14 GHz 18-30 GHz (2.3 cm wavelength) (1 cm wavelength)

August 26, 2001

Properties of spectrum bands

C band:
large beams
The actual footprint of Intersputnik Express 3A

little rain fade (but sand storms affect it as well!) large antennas expensive amplifiers lots of noise on the ground! also circular polarization Rx: 3625 to 4200 MHz Tx: 5850 to 6435 MHz

August 26, 2001

Properties of spectrum bands (contd)

Ku-band
most widely used today smaller beams (even spot beams) smaller antennas stronger rain fade cheaper amplifiers suitable for home users as well noise on the ground is already often a problem steerable spot beams Rx: 10.95 to 12.75 GHz Tx: 14 to 14.5 GHz

Ka band (still at development phase)

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OK, so now lets take a look at how a satellite is built and launched.

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August 26, 2001

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India's GSAT Hits Problems Following its successful launch last week, ISRO's GSAT experimental satellite a series of in orbit manoeuvres have used most, if not all, of the available fuel on the spacecraft. Unfortunately, the GSLV launcher did not place GSAT in exactly the right orbit - the apogee achieved was 32,051 km instead of the 35,975 km expected. Also, the inclination of the orbit was 19.2 instead of the intended 19. The reason for this slight difference has not yet been determined. It was originally believed that the intended orbit could be achieved by a series of short thruster burns using the satellite's attitude control thrusters at the expense of the on board fuel and hence satellite lifetime.

Unfortunately, the satellite carries two different propellant tanks, which resulted in an unequal flow of fuel. The resulting imbalance created an impulse that made the spacecraft tilt. All the remaining fuel was then used in order to stabilise the satellite. Two different tanks were used because they were available. The designers were aware of the imbalance in flow rates but did not adequately compensate for its effects.
GSAT is now in a 23 hour 2 minute orbit and is reported to be out of fuel. It is not yet known what, if any use can be made of the spacecraft. [press release, excerpts, April 2001]

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Ariane 5 Satellites in Wrong Orbit

Following a perfect lift off from its launch site at Kourou, French Guiana, on Thursday Ariane 5 failed to put two comsats in the correct transfer orbit. Initial indications are that the second stage of the rocket shut down prematurely. The two satellites were intended to be placed in a 35,853 km x 858 km transfer orbit with an inclination of 2.0. They were actually left in a 17,528 km x 592 km orbit with an inclination of 2.9. Early reports are that the second stage, the Astrium manufactured Storable Propellant Stage (EPS), only generated 80% of the intended thrust and cut out 80 seconds early. It should have fired for 16 minutes 20 seconds, but this should have automatically been extended to compensate for the reduced thrust. Telemetry indicated that an anomaly occurred three seconds after ignition. Speculation is that the problem was caused by a propellant leak. The upper stage uses monomethyl hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidiser, which are fed from pressurised tanks to a single Aestus motor. In spite of these problems the second stage managed to orient itself correctly and successfully deployed the two satellites, leaving at least the possibility of recovery. The satellites left in limbo by Ariane 510 are Artemis, an experimental European Space Agency telecommunications satellite, and BSAT-2b, a Japanese TV broadcast satellite. Artemis, with a price tag of US$ 850 million, is ESA's most expensive satellite ever. It may carry enough fuel to allow it to reach geostationary orbit where it should be able to use ion propulsion thrusters for station keeping. Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System's BSAT-2b may be a different story - it probably has enough fuel to reach geostationary orbit, but would be left without fuel for station keeping. This was the tenth launch of an Ariane 5 and the third failure. Ariane 4, by comparison, which is due to be replaced by Ariane 5 in 2003 when the remaining stock of 12 launchers is used up, has had a series of 62 consecutive successful launches. Before Thursday's launch failure, Arianespace was expecting to have three further Ariane 5 launches and three more Ariane 4 launches before the end of the year. The next Ariane 5 was scheduled to launch Atlantic Bird 2 and Insat 3C in September and the next Ariane 4 was to launch Intelsat 902 on 23 August. An inquiry board has been appointed to investigate the cause of the launch failure. Preliminary conclusions are due at the beginning of August. [press release from July 2001]

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 How much does a satellite cost?

How much does it cost to launch it? How many transponders does it carry?

How long does it work?

What happens at the end of life? Inclined orbit satellites.

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Business Models

GEO MEO LEO Lease Own

August 26, 2001

15+ yrs 10 yrs 5 yrs 1 yr 5-15+ yrs

$2B $2-3B $1.5-3B $ $$

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Does Size Matter?

Large satellite Medium satellite Mini satellite Micro satellite Nano satellite Pico satellite
August 26, 2001

>1000kg 500-1000kg 100-500kg 10-100kg 1-10kg <1kg

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Other satellite issues (to close the topic)

Rights to orbital slots, landing rights.

Canada
Venezuela United States Ecuador Colombia

Peru
Guatemala El Salvador Costa Rica Panama Belize Jamaica Honduras Nicaragua

Brazil
Bolivia Paraguay Argentina

Chile Uruguay

SATMEX PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

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Other satellite issues (contd)

EIRP, G/T
Effective Isotropic Radiation Power - EIRP - often expressed in decibels relative to 1W - dBW. Ku-band satellites typically about 50 dBW, C-band satellites typically about 35 dbW G/T - gain by temperature - parameter of satellite antennas and position on Earth.

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Other satellite issues (contd)

spring and autumn equinox
twice a year, around March 21 and September 23, satellite, earth station and sun are positioned along one line C band signal are affected more than Ku band signals Stronger carriers are obviously less affected Smaller antennas are less affected because their beamwidth is wider relative to the perceived radiation beamwidth of the sun (there are fewer days of outage, with shorter durations each day). In the Fall, the farther north from the equator the station is, the later the effect occurs (in the Northern Hemisphere, the fall effect occurs after the Equinox). In the Southern Hemisphere, the reverse is true; the Fall effect occurs before the Equinox, and the further south a station is located the earlier it occurs. Satellites in locations east of the ground station have sun outage periods in the morning, and conversely, satellites located west of the station experience sun outages in the afternoon.
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(contd from previous page)

No action usually required unless:
You have an antenna tracking system, which should be put in standby or manual mode. You want to reroute traffic for the several minutes of outage each day (worst case).

For those customers with duplex service, it is important to remember that the outage for your inbound and outbound links may occur at different days and at different times during the day.

http://www.ips.gov.au/papers/richard/calc_inter.html

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Pro-s and con-s of inclined orbit satellites

Con-s:
One probably only has about a year of service left before the satellite finally dies. One will suffer a large Doppler shift One will need to add tracking to the antenna (typically +$20k for a 2.4m)

Pro-s:
Price!!!

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Hardware: ground segment

Antenna Receiving/transmitting chain Types of connection Link budget

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Antenna
Parabolic or offset diameter - gain (as a function of frequency) noise - temperature (as a function of elevation) cross-polarisation isolation de-icing (if required) wind resistance temperature variations tolerance tracking...

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Antenna (contd)

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Antenna (contd)
Various kinds of antennas
(what if we used two to transmit)

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Antenna (contd)
Flat antennas (e.g. for Inmarsat phones) (A short break from the main course of the lecture :)
Inmarsat M/B Global Coverage map

180 160 140 120 100

80

60

40

20

20

40

60

80 100 120 140 160 180

60

60

30

30

30

30

60

60

= Existing LES throughout the Global Map. LES Land Earth Station

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High Performance Outdoor Unit Antenna & RF Flat panel antenna RF Unit on rear Single cable - no rf All digital & DC Self leveling tripod Fixed mount available Audio tone for antenna pointing

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Compact Indoor Unit

5 phone / fax jacks 9.6 Kb. Data 56 / 64 Kb HSD Plug in Interfaces for RS-232,-449, V.35, X.21, and S0 ISDN Menu in 5 languages Speakerphone

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Go Anywhere Package
Entire system packs in a soft carry case Case contains:
Antenna RF Unit Indoor Unit Power Unit Cables Manual

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Great Accessories for a Great Product

The VIDEO EXPLORER
Briefcase video conferencing

TOKO BROADCAST VIDEO

Store & forward video at up to 2 Mb anywhere

STU-III Secure Phones at 9.6 Kb. Datacom Accessories & Routers Muxes, PBXs, Cordless Phones

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The Video Explorer

H.320 Video Conferencing in a Briefcase

2 way, live video Camera with 12X zoom & autofocus 6 color display supports 56-384Kb. ISDN Network weighs approx 18 lbs. Internal Phone

End of break - back to main course

August 26, 2001 31

Receiving/transmitting devices
LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) or LNB (Low Noise Block) LNA - amplifies RF signal from the antenna and feeds it into frequency converter (typically IF of 70/140 MHz) LNB - amplifies RF signal from the antenna and converts it to an L-band signal (950-2100 MHz) LNA is more precise and stable but more expensive than LNB (LO stability). Transmit power amplifiers provide amplification of signals to be transmitted to the satellite Transceiver takes 70/140 MHz signal and amplifies it to either C or Ku-band final frequency. Block UpConverter takes Lband signal and amplifies it to either C or Ku-band final frequency. What is better?

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LNB properties (example)

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Ku-band transceiver (example)

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Amplifiers
How much power is necessary?
Answer requires link budget typically, a few Watts for Ku-band, a few tens of Watts for Cband. SSPA (Solid State Power Amplifiers) will be enough in almost every case.

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Modems
Satellite modem:
modulates input digital signal into analog signal and vice versa: demodulates input analog signal to digital data.

Typical parameters
supported modulations FEC, Reed-Solomon maximum speed interfaces (on both sides) compatibility (this you never know until you try)

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Modem parameters
Modulations/coding
How many bits per symbol (cycle, 1 Hz)?
1 2 3 4 - BPSK - QPSK - 8PSK - 16QAM
(cable modems have typically 64QAM or perhaps even better now)

FEC - forward error correction

QPSK 3/4, 7/8 8PSK 2/3, 5/6 16QAM 3/4, 7/8 Turbo coding

Reed-Solomon - additional performance improvement, but extra 188/204 factor

August 26, 2001 37

Modem parameters (contd)

Interfaces:
on IDU side:
V.35 EIA-422, 449, 530 HSSI G.703 OC-3c (up to a few Mbps) (up to 8 and 18 Mbps) (up to 52 Mbps) (as above) (exactly 155.52 Mbps)

on ODU side:
70/140 MHz (to transceiver) L-band (to BUC)

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Modem parameters (example)

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IRD instead of a modem

Integrated receiver decoder (IRD) performs same functions as demodulator except that it typically provides as its interfaces:
Ethernet Video/audio outputs Audio outputs

Dont assume any compatibility between IRDs until you experimentally verify it. IRDs are children of DVB era, direct-to-home and broadcast applications.

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Redundancy
What is redundancy? When is it required? How is it done? What remains a single point of failure?

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Bit Error Rate

A demods BER performance is specified as a function of (signal energy per bit)-to-(noise power density per hertz) ratio - Eb/N0 The Eb/N0 ratio is so important because the bit error rate for digital data is a decreasing function of this ratio. To ensure that a specified BER is met, a link budget analysis must be performed in order to ensure that the required Eb/N0 ratio is provided to the demodulator.

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Bit Error Rate

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Link budget
Satellite transponders have two resources: bandwidth (Hz) and power (dbW). A proportional amount of transponder power is allocated across the transponder BW. Power Equivalent Bandwidth (PEB) is the greater of two variables:
allocated bandwidth (a function of the data rate, modulation/coding scheme, carrier spacing) allocated power (minimal power assignment which is sufficient to produce desired Eb/N0 ratio at the demodulator in the receiving station).

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Link budget (contd)

What is needed as an input to link budget?
Satellite, its performance (EIRP, G/T) location of both ground stations (elevation, rain zone) data rate required Eb/N0 ratio any other limitations (e.g. maximum antenna diameter)

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Link Budget (example)

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Link budget (contd)

Therefore, link budget calculations tell us what is the optimum modulation/coding scheme used to maximize bandwidth utilisation, how much power we need to transmit certain amount of bandwidth (i.e. how powerful BUC should we buy), how big our antenna should be etc. etc. Example calculation of allocated bandwidth:
2 Mbps data stream, QPSK 3/4, Reed-Solomon coding, standard carrier spacing: BW = 2048*10^3 /2 *4/3 *204/188 *1.5 = 2.2 MHz

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Link budget (final)

Transponder efficiency usage:
an example: two SCPC carriers per transponder, each receivable with 4.5m antenna or one MCPC carrier per transponder, receivable with 2.4m antenna. Single/Multiple Channel Per Carrier - SCPC or MCPC

Same applies to transmitting:

if two carriers need to be transmitted through the same BUC, it is necessary to reserve more power i.e. two carriers each requiring 2W will need at least 8W BUC if sent through the same transmitting system. Multiplexer makes sense in such case

Reed-Solomon is so useful as it allows to decrease antenna size (Eb/N0 ratio) while still maintaining very low BER.
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Moving up one layer to layer 2...

OK, so we have a connection, both modems are locked to their carriers, the same stream of 0s and 1s is received as it is transmitted, what next? Clear channel or link encapsulation:
HDLC PPP ATM Frame Relay or DVB

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To DVB or not to DVB?

What is Digital Video Broadcast?
World-wide standard for transmission of digital TV via satellite (S), cable (C) or terrestrial (T). Utilizes MPEG-2 compression and packet standard Supports data as well as video transmissions. Supports multiple program streams, each of which can be encrypted Supports sub-multiplexing within a program stream Provides for high degree of forward error correction

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DVB Delivers Multiple IP Services Over a Shared Satellite Link

In A Shared Link:

The satellite carrier is shared by multiple users;

User packets are interleaved;

Each site filters out its own packets.

There are many ways to do this, but DVB has several advantages.
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Multicast Is Expected To Be A Major Growth Area

SOME MULTICAST APPLICATIONS Radio & TV Networks-distribute commercials, audio & video objects to affiliates Financial Data Feeds Distance learning Corporate Training Video Catalog & Product Information Distribution Caching Feeds for ISPs and Corporate Intranets Remote Publishing and Printing (example!)

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Multiplexed, Multicast Technology Needs Supported/Facilitated By DVB

High speed multiplexed (shared) satellite uplink Secure delivery of services to entitled users Low cost, one and two-way customer terminals Quality of Service (QoS) management Servers to receive, store and reliably play out streaming data, and data packages Network management, billing, accounting, and customer support services

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b - Content Delivery Site hosts data for eventual playout to edge and end sites

An Content Delivery Network Incorporating DVB

News Feed Caching Feed Edge Sites (ES) include: ISPs, Web Host Facilities, Cable Head Ends etc. End Sites include corporate locations and SOHO sites d - Edge Sites store documents in Servers

Content Delivery Site

c - Content Delivery Site Multicasts Documents to Edge Sites and End Sites

Edge Site

Edge Site End Site

3 - ES returns document

The Net
Content Providers

2 - ISP requests document from closest Edge Site

e - End Sites store documents in local Servers or in requesting PC

Local ISP

Client
1 - Client requests document

4 - ISP returns document

a - Content Providers send web documents to Content Delivery Site

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A Closer Look at DVB Features

DVB uses a 188 byte packet format for transmission of all services DVB can multiplex multiple services on the same carrier DVB provides conditional access for security, privacy, and program selectivity For satellites, DVB provides:
QPSK Modulation (typically) Reed-Solomon coding Forward error correction rates: 1/2;2/3;3/4;5/6;7/8 potential to saturate the carrier, leading to more efficient bandwidth utilization and smaller receive antennas avoids a very annoying problem with interface speed, encountered in SCPC links (!)

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DVB Packet Format

MPEG

Overhead (4 bytes)

Payload
184 bytes

188 bytes

IP Encapsulation
16 byte header

Padded or packed area

IP Packet

MPEG Packets
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August 26, 2001

DVB Uplink Data Flow

Modulates RF carrier; applies ReedSolomon coding and FEC

Internet

IP Packets
R O U T E R

MPEG Video Transport Stream and other multimedia

IP Encapsulator

MPEG Multiplexer

DVB

Mod.

Private lines

Satellite dish

Encapsulates IP Packets within MPEG Transport Stream

Conditional Access System Controls program entitlements; key words for encryption

Muxes MPEG program streams; encodes bit stream

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DVB Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) Structure

carrier with multiple streams and substreams NOTE: IRD IRD shown in Note: in this slide is depicted as set top box: this slide is set top could also be card that fits in PC

box; could also be PC card.

LNB All PIDs

Local PIDs Only 100 Base T Port

IRD

Serial Port
Common Interface demodulates transport stream filters by PID number provides Conditional Access processing August 26,reassembles IP packet 2001 could filter on IP or MAC address

Local router

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An Example Multiplexed Carrier

PID 1 Internet Access - in the clear, submultiplexed by MAC addresses PID 2 News feed multicast - shared by all ISPs on the carrier (encrypted) PID 3 Caching feed for selected ISPs (encrypted) PID 4 Intranet for Corporation A (encrypted) PID 5 Intranet for Corporation B (encrypted) PID n Intranet for Corporation C (encrypted)

NOTE: Each PID has guaranteed bandwidth, but could burst for more, if bandwidth is available

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Summary Of DVB Benefits

Low-cost receivers ($100-300 cards; $1000 set top boxes) Tightly controlled filtering/encryption Can mix services on large carriers
statistical multiplexing reduces bandwidth costs saturated transponder operation leads to small antennas and more efficient bandwidth utilization

Standards base encourages application and enhancement development just please be careful with compatibility issues!

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Applications
Already mentioned Internet, this is why we are here after all!

VSAT networks: full-mesh, star topology not-so-quite POTS: Inmarsat system p-to-p:
voice

Internet

content delivery
broadcast: TV, digital radio multicasting: natural advantage cache'ing: passive, active, pushing content to the edge of the network
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Satellite Internet
It is not enough to say, that whatever comes in, comes out, so IP packets are fed from one side and leave on the other. There are certain specific features of satellite Internet like dynamical bandwidth allocation which are very useful. There are also certain drawbacks of satellite Internet, mostly due to the long propagation delay and its effect on TCP (maximum session speed and slow start).

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SATNET and MFNET (some history)

Early DARPA experiment 64 kb/s links 10-3 BER Demonstrated IP by interconnecting with ARPANET in 1977 Department of Energy:
Supercomputer star networks
UMd - SDSC Arizona - JVNC

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USAN

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ACTS
NASA satellite launched 9/93, ended 6/2000 20 - 30 GHz (so it was Ka-band) Steerable and spot beams Up to OC-12 speeds

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August 26, 2001

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Effect of propagation delay on TCP networks (very pessimistic)

Geostationary satellites (GEOs) have a minimum round-trip latency (i.e., delay) of 500 msec, and take 700 msec or more with framing delays GEO latency can significantly degrade performance on client/server applications such as Oracle and Exchange Server resulting in slow downs of 10 times or more Small transaction-oriented queries get queued up by GEOs high delay GEOs do not work well with fundamental Internet protocols like TCP/IP Most implementations of TCP today provide unacceptable performance (e.g., wasting 93% of bandwidth on a 2 Mbps connection) because they lack large window support TCPs essential congestion control mechanisms degrade performance over GEOs. These mechanisms cannot be removed without potentially causing the "congestive collapse" of the Internet. One proposed solution, ACK spoofing, is incompatible with Internet Protocol security (IPsec) and will not work at all with the next generation protocol, IPv6. Transaction-oriented Internet protocols also suffer from GEO delays because signaling exchange is necessarily sequential HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1, POP3, IMAP4, NNTP Hand-shaking portions of real-time protocols such as H.323 also suffer
August 26, 2001 67

Effect of propagation delay on TCP networks (more realistic)

TCP transport layer protocol guarantees delivery of data between hosts by requiring that each host acknowledge the receipt of data from any other host. If a host sends data and does not receive an acknowledgement from the receiving host it must retransmit the unacknowledged data. TCP will only transmit as much data as the receiving end can store before it must acknowledge the receipt of the data. The amount of data that can be stored is known as the advertised Window Size. After sending the maximum number of bytes, the transmitting end must wait for an acknowledgement before sending more data. Here is where satellite latency becomes an issue. With a round trip satellite latency of 500ms, no data will be sent for 500ms after the last bit of the previous message is transmitted. Actually the satellite latency is not the only latency involved. There will typically be 100 ms or more added due to the terrestrial links between the hosts and the satellite earth stations. The total latency is known as the Round Trip Propagation Delay (RTPD). The RTPD = 250 ms * 2 + terrestrial latency. Assuming 100 ms for the terrestrial latency the RTPD = 600 ms. The maximum throughput of a TCP connection is given as: Maximum Throughput Rate = Advertised Window Size/ RTPD With a 32,672-byte Advertised Window size the maximum throughput of a satellite link with a 100 ms terrestrial latency would be: Max Throughput Rate = Window Buffer size / RTPD = 32,672 / .600 = 54,453 Bytes/Sec = 435,627 bits/ Sec

Slow start is another problem...

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August 26, 2001

Effect of propagation delay on TCP networks (a bit of relief)

This effects only a single TCP session! A large number of users, even a single user with Web browser will have numerous TCP sessions, each will have its limit, so bandwidth utilisation is actually not a problem! But it is true, that there is a number of protocols, which are very uncomfortable with such large delay: Oracle, Exchange, telnet, NNTP, voice What? Did I say voice? Voice-over-IP? Has someone rang me?

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Effect of propagation delay on TCP networks (contd)

Technical issues with Long Fat Networks - no longer just a satellite problem Approaches include SACK (RFC 1072, 2018), TCP spoofing, Transaction TCP (T/TCP),
and LEO

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TCP/IP Accelerator
TCP/IP spoofing improves TCP/IP throughput over satellite. Resides on a proxy server at both ends of the link. Interfaces with the user and the host via TCP uses UDP over the satellite. UDP does not require acknowledgements. Large receive window Selective NAKs to provide guaranteed delivery Data compression. The end result is a higher speed TCP/IP connections (upto T1 rates) in high latency environments such as satellite communications. Results in higher speed and reduced bandwidth utilization. This is usually a premium service. It will not work with IPv6.
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VoIP on satellite networks

Excellent application, widely used:
10 kbps per phone call instead of 64 kbps simple setup for both termination and origination some legal problems might be on the way
(but it may only increase possible profits :-)

satellite delay is a little bit of a problem, one must get used to it. but this satellite delay is constant so there is no jitter! end-to-end bandwidth is fully guaranteed!

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IP Voice Network
Satellite

Satellite Modem Satellite dis h

Satellite Demod Satellite dis h

Route r Route r
Hub

QoS Route r IP Voice Se rv e r

Hub

Local Inte rne t

CSU/DSU

M ainframe Route r INTERNET IP Voice Se rv e r

CSU/DSU

U.S. Inte rne t

E1/T1/ISDN Analog
Telephone

E1/T1/ISDN
U.S. PSTN
Telephone Telephone

Analog

Local PSTN
Telephone

IP Voice Network
Satellite

Satellite Modem Satellite dish

Satellite Modem Satellite dish

Cisco VoIP Router

Hub

Cisco VoIP Router

NSX Router

IP Network

E1/T1/ISDN Analog
Local PSTN
Telephone

CSU/DSU

U.S. Internet

Telephone

E1/T1/ISDN
Telephone

Analog

U.S. PSTN
Telephone

Back to satellite Internet

Types of connections:
bi-directional:
symmetric asymmetric (typically 1:4)

uni-directional (receive-only)

Routing issues:
on bi-directional links on receive-only links;

Burstability
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Bi-directional satellite Internet connections

capacity may be symmetric or asymmetric, depending on needs, applications etc. typically, for asymmetric setup, 1:4 of outgoing/incoming bandwidth is assumed. one needs to assume about $10-20k for such hardware
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Receive-only satellite Internet connections

Simple to use and set up usually no problems with licensing cheap hardware ($1k-$3k) but performance is difficult to guarantee!
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Burstability
This is a unique feature of satellite networks. It works best in case of wide C-band beams, which span several timezones. It allows users to get their guaranteed capacity (CIR or CBR), but if bandwidth in carrier is available, it can be used at little or no charge.
This is often a selling point so be careful!

Surely, DVB is ideal for large, powerful carriers where burst is likely to give you most benefit.

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Routing (if we also have 2nd connection)

BGP4
Ideal case. Works for both bi-directional and receive-only links. Load-balancing remains an issue, but may be managed.

Static routing:
Option 1: static BGP announcement by the satellite provider (when we own at least a C-class), but BGP announcements must be similar! Option 2: Using IP addresses and cooperative upstream ISP Option 3: Using IP addresses and non-cooperative upstream ISP NAT and proxy (uses IP addresses from the satellite provider)

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More about routing for RO links.

Option 1: Both satellite provider and your local ISP announce your routes. The smallest block which can advertised to the Internet is a full Class C block. Option 2: Satellite provider alone announces your routes. In this option you must have addresses that no on else is advertising. Again, it must be at least Class C. With this option, your local ISP will be seeing traffic originate from within your network that does not have a source address that he has assigned to you. This option will require that your local ISP pass this traffic. Option 3: Satellite provider alone announces your routes and your local ISP is noncooperative and will block this traffic. Some ISPs will not allow you to obtain address space from other sources and will block traffic that originates with a foreign source address. The solution is to encapsulate this traffic in a GRE tunnel. Traffic will leave your network encapsulated with a source address that your local ISP will pass. This traffic will be de-encapsulated at satellite providers NOC and will then be forwarded to the proper site on the Internet. This has two disadvantages. First, traffic will have to transverse the Internet twice. Traffic destined for Microsoft.com will first arrive at satellite providers NOC and only then will it be redirected to Microsoft.com. Second, the encapsulation /de-encapsulation process takes time and is CPU intensive as every packet must be processed.
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What is Multicast ?
Multicast is the transmission of information (a lot of information, usually) that should be transmitted to various (but usually not all) hosts over an internet. One common situation in which it is used is when distributing real time audio and video to the set of hosts which have joined a distributed conference. Multicast is much like radio or TV in the sense that only those who have tuned their receivers (by selecting a particular frequency they are interested on) receive the information. That is: you hear the channel you are interested in, but not the others.

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The Problem with Unicast

When you send a packet and there is only one sender and one recipient then this is unicast. TCP is, by its own nature, unicast oriented. If you are to send audio and video, which needs a huge amount of bandwidth compared to web applications, you had, until multicast came into scene- two options:to establish a separate unicast connection with each of the recipients, or use broadcast. The first solution is not affordable: if we said that a single connection sending audio/video consumes a huge bandwidth, imagine having to establish hundreds or, may be, thousands of those connections. Both the sending computer and your network would collapse.

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What about Broadcast ?

Broadcast seems to be a solution, but it's not certainly the solution. If you want all the hosts in your LAN to attend the conference, you may use broadcast. Packets will be sent only once and every host will receive them as they are sent to the broadcast address. The problem is that perhaps only a few of the hosts and not all are interested in those packets. Furthermore: perhaps some hosts are really interested in your conference, but they are outside of your LAN, a few routers away. And you know that broadcast works fine inside a LAN, but problems arise when you want broadcast packets to be routed across different LANs.

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Multicast the Best Solution !

The best solution seems to be one in which you send packets to a certain special address(like a certain frequency in radio/TV transmissions). Then, all hosts which have decided to join the conference will be aware of packets with that destination address, read them when they traverse the network. This is similar to broadcasting in that you send only one broadcast packet and all the hosts in the network recognize and read it; it differs, however, in that not all multicast packets are read and processed, but only those that were previously registered as being "of interest".

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Satellite is the answer to multicasting!

(at least partly :-) Leverage off of Broadcast Nature of Satellite Take advantage of Low Cost DVB Receivers, security not an issue! IP Multicast News - Usenet is a perfect example! Stock Quotes, other financial data Multimedia Web Casting, active and passive cacheing Distance Learning Applications Business Applications

Pushing the content to the edge of the network.

I wanted to add a few adds about Cisco Content Delivery Networks (CDN), but there is another talk tomorrow...
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Some advices...

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How to select a satellite Internet service provider?

Which satellite: band, footprint, elevation... require link budget. Internet is already a commodity, like water, gas, electricity (almost). So, does it matter where it comes from? But (local) support quality is not a commodity! Choose inclined orbit satellites only if you know very well what you are doing. This could be well a second or third link, should not be a main one! Do not sign longer commitment than 12 months, unless you have to or receive a bonus in pricing. Look for warranty of service in the contract. What pricing you may expect?
There are Mazdas, Porsches, Ladas, Skodas, and Daewoos. Each may carry you to your destination. There are no free lunches - you get (at most) what you pay for!
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How to configure a network for satellite RO service?

If you use one of SOHO offerings (like Europeonline, Demos Internet):
install Linux (if drivers for the card are available) run either NAT or proxy for LAN

if you use a fixed capacity service offering, structure your network so that all incoming/outgoing traffic is handled by one router
access lists are easier to manage

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How to point an antenna at a given satellite?

Go to www.satcodx.com and find the satellite of your choice. Write down all analog TV stations on this satellite, see if you can find one which is in the same band range as your LNB Use elevation calculator to find roughly position of the satellite in the sky (e.g. http://www.comsym.com/IESS412.htm) Pre-program TV tuner for analog TV stations and connect a TV. Find this bird! You may want to start from another satellite, with a stronger signal. Remember about polarisation! If there are no analog TV stations on this satellite, find them on adjacent one - then fine tune with your digital receiver. When you have your antenna pointed, ground it and program your receiver to the carriers data and see if you get a lock. Sure, spectrum analyzer tuned to beacon frequency is much more professional, but for RO systems this works fine as well.
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Satellite positions in the sky in Budapest

AimSat 1.1 Satellite data for: Budapest Latitude: 4800'00" N Longitude: 1900'00" E Satellite Slot Azimuth Elev. Skew ------------------------------------------------------------Statsionsat 13 80.00 E 112.39 10.43 49.21 Gals 1/2 71.00 E 120.14 16.02 39.54 PanamSat 4 68.50 E 122.40 17.51 37.20 Intelsat 602 63.00 E 127.58 20.69 32.42 Intelsat 604 60.00 E 130.53 22.34 29.99 Intelsat 507/510 57.00 E 133.57 23.92 27.65 Statsionsat 5 54.00 E 136.70 25.43 25.41 Turksat 1B 42.00 E 150.27 30.58 17.01 Arabsat 2B 30.50 E 164.69 33.79 9.16 Kopernicus DSF2 28.50 E 167.31 34.15 7.72 Arabsat 2A&3A 26.00 E 170.62 34.50 5.85 Eutelsat I F4 25.50 E 171.28 34.56 5.47 Kopernicus DSF3 23.50 E 173.95 34.74 3.89 Astra 1/x 19.20 E 179.73 34.92 0.18 Eutelsat II F3 16.00 E 184.03 34.84 -2.65 Eutelsat II F1 Hot Bird Eutelsat II F2 Eutelsat II F4 Sirius 1A Tele-X Telecom 2C Tv-Sat 2 Thor Intelsat 702 Telecom 2B Telecom 2A Statsionsat 11 Orion 2 Tdf 1-2 New Skies 803 Intelsat 601 Hispasat Intelsat 603 Orion F1 PanamSat 3R PanamSat 1 SatMex 5 13.00 E 188.05 34.61 -5.08 13.00 E 188.05 34.61 -5.08 10.00 E 192.03 34.23 -7.35 7.00 E 195.96 33.70 -9.51 5.20 E 198.29 33.31 -10.77 5.00 E 198.55 33.26 -10.91 3.00 E 201.10 32.77 -12.28 0.60 W 205.60 31.73 -14.72 0.80 W 205.85 31.67 -14.85 1.00 W 206.09 31.60 -14.99 5.00 W 210.93 30.22 -17.69 8.00 W 214.44 29.04 -19.73 11.00 W 217.84 27.77 -21.82 14.80 W 222.01 26.02 -24.53 19.00 W 226.43 23.92 -27.65 21.45 W 228.92 22.63 -29.55 27.50 W 234.81 19.27 -34.54 30.00 W 237.14 17.81 -36.75 34.50 W 241.19 15.11 -41.01 37.50 W 243.81 13.26 -44.09 43.00 W 248.44 9.79 -50.45 45.00 W 250.08 8.51 -53.06 116.80 W ------ Below Horizont ----

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Antenna pointing (contd.)

Here is what I have chosen:
Program No 500 499 498 497 496 495 494 493 492 491 490 489 Satellite 13E 13E 16E 16E 10E 10E 19E 19E 42E 42E 5W 5W Pos 11727 11489 11095 11569 10987 11621 11494 11421 10965 11093 12585 12690 Freq (MHz) V V V H H V H H H V H V Pol Name

Hotbird 13E Hotbird 13E Eutelsat W2 Eutelsat W2 Eutelsat W1 Eutelsat W1 Astra Astra Turksat Turksat Telecom 2C Telecom 2C

RTP RTL 7 Algeria TV Syrian TV NTV Samanyolu ARD MTV ATV TRT TV5 TF1
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What will be in the future?

We will use satellites mostly for moving large amounts of data, pushing content to the edges of Internet, sending Internet TV and radio programs. We will use stronger satellites, more efficient codings into small antennas. There is and will be a market niche for DTH satellite Internet, but p-to-p significance will not grow as it did in the past. With Ka-band we will be able to set up OC-12 links and beyond. Will LEO constellations change the way we think of satellite communication?
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Conclusions?

Life will deliver its verdict, but one should not view the whole topic as satellite vs fibre war. Satellite is great at some applications, where fibre will never outperform satellites. There will be numerous applications, which will be realised over satellites for the years to come. Thank you for your time.

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