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Specialist Task Force 383:
Multi-service interoperability with harmonised QoS for Broadband Satellite Systems (BSM)

Who we are:

Team Leader: Robert Mort
Team Members: Marie-Jose Montpetit
Matteo Berioli
Josef Rammer

What we do :

The STF will produce the following technical specifications:

PHASE 1

  • DTS/SES-00305: Interworking and Integration of BSM in Next Generation Networks

PHASE 2

  • DTS/SES-00291: BSM MPLS-based Functional Architecture 
  • DTS/SES-00292: Negotiation  and management of  MPLS labels (or Diffserv codepoints) with attached networks

The following draft documents are available and your inputs and comments are welcome:
DTS/SES-00305: Interworking and Integration of BSM in Next Generation Networks

For more details, see our Terms of Reference

Why we do it:

Satellite technology is an important delivery platform for diverse services such as interactive TV and mobile, high-speed internet access. Satellite services are particularly useful for rural and outlying regions, where other systems are difficult to deploy on a commercial basis. They therefore can play a crucial role in ensuring that all Europeans can access high quality information services.

It is important that satellite networks offer IP network services comparable to and competitive with terrestrial services, in particular with regard to support for multimedia applications and general interoperability of IP-services. These objectives can only be achieved if the development of satellite standards keeps pace with the rapid evolution of the interoperability for terrestrial IP network standards. A set of such open standards will enable service providers to identify and support common service platforms, and manufacturers to design competitive solutions.

The work is a further development of the ETSI TC SES/WG-BSM functional architecture which is being used as the basis for a family of IP-related satellite standards. This work to date has resulted in a new functional architecture that separates the higher layer IP-based network services from the lower layer satellite-dependent radio interface. This approach is based on the 3G network architecture (which separates the functions into "Access Stratum" and "Non-Access Stratum"). The BSM architecture is now being used to define a set of IP interworking standards that are optimised for satellite networks, but independent of any specific system and hence applicable to all satellite telecommunication systems.

The overall objective of BSM WG activity is to define this common functional architecture for satellite networks that provides a framework for efficient interworking between IP-based satellite networks and other IP-based networks, in particular fixed and mobile terrestrial networks. The resulting standards are designed to support the deployment of IP-over-satellite network services, with a particular emphasis on access network scenarios such as Internet access and remote office interconnections.

Following this approach, the NGN is seen as the future universal network based on IP into which different network technologies will be integrated. ETSI TISPAN, ITU and others have defined many of the functional characteristics of the NGN and it is important for interoperability of the BSM to specify how exactly the functional architecture defined for the BSM will be integrated within the NGN, and if necessary how BSM functions and interfaces need to be harmonised. Since NGN is a generic network, the BSM would be an example of such a network and the way in which BSM functions are aligned or otherwise with the NGN needs to be specified in one of the key outputs of the work.

An important aspect of NGN functionality is QoS. Some work on QoS has been done previously in the BSM WG’s STF 283,  resulting in Technical Specifications (TSs) on aspects of QoS Architecture, on IntServ and on DiffServ interworking (ETSI TSs 102 462, 102 463, 102 464). Further work is needed on harmonising the BSM functional definitions with the NGN architecture, taking into account the new work performed recently in TISPAN on QoS implications of NGN.

Another aspect is Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) which is often employed today as a solution for delivering quality of service (QoS) on IP-based terrestrial networks by providing QoS-based routing of flows. Compatibility between the BSM and such networks should be an essential feature, and the ability to support MPLS efficiently over the BSM is highly desirable, and will be a further part of the work.

Time plan for the work:

We intend to complete our work by end August 2011.

How to contact us:

If you would like more information, please contact the STF Leader on: mort.robert@gmail.com

 

This information is based upon STF working assumptions.
The views expressed do not necessarily represent the position of ETSI in this context.

Last updated: 2013-04-13 17:31:49