Broadband satellite networks: Standards, cross-layer design, and QoS improvement

A review of broadband satellite communication networks scenario, standards on broadband satellite networks and the main specifications of standards are provided. Due to the performance of current broadband satellite system is constrained by the layered protocol architecture, typical of both the ISO/OSI reference model and the Internet protocol suite. The cross-layer protocol stack is considered to be a feasible solution. A cross-layer protocol framework is proposed, which contains three pairs of standardization crosslayer interfaces beyond the ISO/OSI layered protocol model, allow for efficiency interactions between different layers. To meet the broadband applications quality of service (QoS) requirements, constraints of resource allocations for broadband satellite networks and the necessity of mappings between QoS requirements and DBA scheme are studied. Meanwhile, an example of DVB-RCS mappings is provided.