Description
Objective:
To design and validate Network Coding mechanisms that can exploit modern satellite networks with multiple logical paths from the satellite terminals towards their Corresponding Nodes. Also, to provide a reference implementation for Network Coding mechanisms in a representative satellite network scenario.
Targeted Improvements:
Improved user perceived quality of service (QoS). Preliminary results of network coding applied in satellite networks with multiple logical paths indicate up to 50% improvement in throughput for a subset of terminals.
Description:
There are numerous emerging satellite network scenarios where the logical path between the information source and the destination is not unique. Such logical paths can be realised with satellite user terminals that support multiple frequency bands, multiple air interfaces, or that can access to multiple beams and gateways. Recent studies have shown the merit of applying network coding to jointly use multiple logical paths in offering more flexibility, diverse service portfolios, seamless handovers, and improved QoS.
Despite the potential gains of multiple logical paths, there are currently no commonly-adopted methods that integrate such network coding into the OSI-layered network architecture.
The activity first aims to consolidate different deployment strategies for network coding in pertinent satellite system scenarios with multiple logical paths. It shall be ensured that the proposed solutions shall not interfere with the operation of other protocols including – at least – IPv4/IPv6 security, mobility, network discovery, and multicast routing protocols, IETF header compression techniques, performance enhancing proxies and data compressors at transport and application layers, Ethernet bridges, virtual LANs, and ARQ at link layer according to the following work logic:
-
Review and consolidation of satellite network scenarios that can exploit multiple logical paths between source and destination;
-
Investigation of possible network coding mechanisms that can improve the QoS and network efficiency in the aforementioned scenarios;
-
Design and validation of protocols that can support such mechanisms;
-
Dissemination of the outcomes to standardization bodies.
The protocol and its interactions with other network elements shall be validated in a real-time packet-level testbed that shall incorporate commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) network equipment.
Tender Specifics