| ESA's ARTES Programmes

Objectives

This proposal deals with the study and the design of an Emulator for an ETSI BSM-Compliant SI-SAP Interface. The work will be based on an existing simulator of Satellite Dependent layers (DVB-RCS/S2), available at DLR.

The partners will implement the required modifications in it and will develop new modules in order to enable the real-time emulation of a DVB-RCS/S2 network with an SI-SAP-compliant access interface. It will be possible to use the emulator with real computers and real software applications (web browsers, VoIP clients, etc).

The features offered by common DVB-RCS/S2 satellite systems have to be conveniently complemented with efficient control and management capabilities and interworking with terrestrial IP networks. In this light, the SI-SAP functions provided by the ETSI-BSM architecture reveal to be of great value. The analysis of the benefits brought by integrating an SI-SAP interface into current DVB-RCS/S2 standard is the main goal of this project along with the design of an emulation tool suited to validate the system definition and to provide the ETSI BSM, the DVB Forum, and the SatLabs working groups with appropriate design guidelines.

In more detail, the overall project can be subdivided into five main objectives:

To develop a real-time SI-SAP interface emulator;
To draw the benefits of using the BSM SI-SAP interface in DVB-RCS/S2 satellite systems;
To specify a high-level design for a DVB-RCS terminal implementation to enable compliance with the SI-SAP interface;
To analyse in detail the design of an SI-SAP-compliant DVB-RCS terminal;
To disseminate the project outcomes to the relevant standardization bodies.

Challenges

N/A

Benefits

The project will investigate and demonstrate the advantages of having the SI-SAP interface Implemented in DVB-RCS terminals, typically by describing concrete situations where having SI-SAP in a terminal will avoid complex modifications/adaptations of the hardware or the need for complex cross-layer functions, compared to the case where SI-SAP is not present.

These situations may typically happen when terminals have to be integrated in systems where advanced or specific IP features are requested by the customer or the system integrator.

In the framework of the project, an emulation testbed will be developed to demonstrate key SI-SAP functionalities; this testbed may be used in the future for other validation activities related to SI-SAP features.

Features

N/A

Plan

The work to be done will be covered in 13 months and is divided in 7 separate tasks:

Task 1

Identify relevant scenarios of interest, by showing the benefits of the SI-SAP interface in terms of compatibility and interoperability.
Define the technical and functional requirements of the reference system for the deployment of the identified scenarios of interest.

Task 2

Analyse the principal implementation issues and technical requirements related to the integration of the SI-SAP interface into real DVB-RCS satellite terminal implementations.
Define the high-level functional architecture of real RCSTs integrating the SI-SAP interface.

Task 3

Detailed design of what was analysed in Task 2.
Impact assessment for RCST manufacturers.

Task 4

Define the technical requirements of the ETSI BSM emulator on the basis of the identified scenarios and the SI-SAP features analysed in Tasks 1 and 2.
Define the functional architecture of the ETSI BSM-compliant SI-SAP interface emulator.

Task 5

Design the SI-SAP interface emulator and prepare a test plan aimed at checking the effectiveness of the tool.
Develop and validate the real-time ETSI BSM-compliant SI-SAP interface emulator, and, afterwards, to integrate it in the demonstration environment.

Task 6

Define and perform the set of tests for the demonstration scenarios.

Task 7

Disseminate project results and provide inputs to ETSI BSM (and optionally to RCS-NG).

Current status

The team has concluded the design of the DVB-S2/RCS real satellite system integrating the ETSI BSM architecture, as part of Tasks 1 to 3. The implementation phase has started, by taking as reference the technical requirements drawn in Task 4 and the high-level architecture design developed within Task 5.a.

The overall implementation is depicted in the following picture, where the architecture based on the XORP (Open Router Project) is taken as baseline.

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